Attachments
Introduction
While public schools in Lebanon remain functional and second shift schools were able to open their doors to Syrian students in the last month of 2023, Lebanon’s education system is still struggling to meet the needs of children and families in the country. As in previous years, children in primary school lack the foundational literacy and numeracy skills that are required to succeed both academically and later in life. Furthermore, approximately 476,994 children, or 25% of all children in the country, remain out of all forms of education. The depth of the learning crisis in Lebanon requires immediate action to ensure all children have access to a quality, inclusive and equitable education that mitigates the learning loss incurred over the last four years.
Increased investment and coordinated efforts to mitigate learning loss and the overall deterioration of learning through school- and community-based outreach, catch-up and remedial support are urgently needed.
In addition, renewed efforts around accelerated education and learning continuity across all grade levels are necessary to avoid a decades-long crisis in learning. This is true whether schools are open or not, but increasing local capacity to provide some form of education during any interruptions in the current school year is essential. For children who will be registering in school this year, documentation requirements have been clarified compared to last year, with some of the documentation requirements alleviated a positive development.
For first grade students and for any new students, any identification documentation will be accepted and proof of address from the mayor will need to be provided for new students only.
However, updates on the registration process from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) limit registration in the second shift to those children who were previously enrolled, along with children transitioning from Early Childhood Education (ECE) to Grade 1.
This means that children older than age 8 who have completed the MEHE Basic Literacy and Numeracy are effectively unable to transition to any form of formal education.
For students who were able to register successfully, the school year commenced on 9 October 2023 with first shift students and on 27 November 2023 for second shift students, meaning that students in second shift have experienced a significant delay to the start of the academic year as compared to first shift, with limited opportunity to make up learning days in the classroom.