Can Lebanon Save Its Future Generation?

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 Financial crises is one thing. Lebanon's education system is also in doldrums....

Photo courtesy: The Associated Press



Since 2019, children have not felt a sense of normalcy. Either it has been political upheavals, the pandemic or the rising poverty that continues to haunt the education system in Lebanon.

As of now, thousands of teachers have decided to go on strike, demanding salary adjustments to cope with hyperinflation and the currency’s free-fall. New government has come into action, but overnight change is asking for a bit too much. 

Lebanon once known for its medical facilities and top notch educational institutions can now see parents shifting their kids from private institutions to public ones. There is definitely reason behind these strikes. The currency has hit rock bottom, so much so that one month's salary is hardly enough for vehicles to be refuelled. 

There are no school buses and heating in schools has become next to impossible. It is sad to note how the start of school has been postponed several times as the cash-strapped government negotiates with the teachers’ union for an adjustment package estimated at about $500 million.

Teachers have started quitting jobs looking for better work opportunities abroad. Almost 1.2 million children await to go back to schools. Political thinkers wonder the future of Lebanon, a place that was known for having given the world one the best scientists, at one point of time.

Regular civil war has stripped the country to its bones. Parents are now seeking second hand books, car pools and other ways to save money in order children get some education and their whole academic year isn't lost. The problem lies in the fact that, no fewer than 15 percent of Lebanon’s 53,000 private school teachers have left the country, creating a large shortage, said Rodolph Abboud, the head of the Teachers Union.

What one fears is the state of affairs where children might not turn to criminal activities, out of sheer frustration and helplessness. 



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