From the 1920s to the 1940s, the Shi'i monthly journal, al-'Irfan, published a myriad of articles focusing on the importance of family and education. Various articles appeared during this period, emphasizing the need to educate Shi'i children, Shi'i parents' responsibility for educating their children, and the importance that schooling has on Shi'i society. This paper will examine the changes that took place during the French mandate particularly in the 1920s and 1930s that propelled a calling for educational reform among Lebanese Shi'as. This paper will argue that the formation of the Lebanese nation propelled a sense of Shi'i identity and communitarian belonging that sought education as a way of integration into the imagined nation. As a minority in the nationalist paradigm during a time of great national uncertainty, an importance was placed on reforming the educational system within the Shi'i community as it tried to negotiate its place in society. In order to situate and integrate themselves within the new Lebanese nation, the Shi'a community made efforts to remedy its continuing educational shortcomings vis-a-vis other Lebanese sects. This paper will first look at the historical changes that took place under the Mandate, which propelled communal belonging among Lebanese Shi'as, followed by an analysis of the modifications made to the educational system as the first private schools catering to the Shi'a community were established. As the most historically marginalized and underrepresented group in Lebanon, the French Mandate brought about many changes in the way Shi'as came to conceptualize their place in the nation as a community and sectarian entity. In 1926, the Shi'as of Lebanon were formally recognized for the first time as a separate legal sect. During this time, the state of education among the Shi'as was extremely poor and lacking in comparison to the other Lebanese sects largely due to the community's political and economic marginality. This paper will look at status of education among the Shi'as during the Mandate and the efforts made among the community to combat their educational shortcomings as a means of producing Lebanese Shi'a nationals. This push for educational reform reflects the Shi'as sense of communitarian belonging, which began to emerge during this time. This paper will also examine the first two Shi'a schools, the al-'Amiliyya and al-Ja'fariyya schools, which signify this process of educational reformation made by the community in an effort to integrate into the new Lebanese nation-state as a unified sect.