Every child in Lebanon completes their secondary education

Enroll 100% of children and youth in a world class education system that matches the needs of the local and international job markets

People Centered, Efficient and Affordable Services

1.Education is a mechanism that facilitates upward socioeconomic mobility and is a key to eradicating poverty; it is the key engine for progress in all realms of life, contributing to sustainable development and establishing a Society of Knowledge

2.Education systems must be comprehensive and multidisciplinary, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and promote active participation in societies

3.Education develops citizenship in its three dimensions: national identity recognition, civic participation, and human partnership

1.Pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools

2.Primary school teachers trained to teach

3.Proportion of schools with access to the internet

4.Primary drop out rate

5.Survival rate to the last grade

6.Timms Indicators

7.Pisa Indicators

8.Education Indicators for SDG 4

1.When compared with other Arab countries, Lebanon’s public expenditure on education is consistently low. The budget of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) represented 2.4% of GDP in 2020 and 8.9% of the state budget (2012: Lebanon 1.6% GDP, Kuwait 3.8%, Egypt 3.8%, Oman5.4%, and Tunisia6.2%)

2.Yet still, the education sector constitutes one of the main contributors to Lebanon’s GDP (6.6% of GDP during the year 2011)  because private spending on education is high and exceeds public spending. Household spending on education surpasses 10% of the household’s total expenditure. This offsets low government spending, but is contingent on each families’ ability to pay

3.This low public expenditure on education and the resulting inaccessibility of quality education to low-income households has resulted in a gap in education between low-income and high-income households

4.In 2019, 52.6% of students were enrolled in private schools, and 13.1% in private-free schools. However, it is widely expected that there will be a major shift from private to public schools due to the economic crisis that has reduced many families’ ability to pay school tuition

5.Rising enrollments due to the influx of Syrian students have strained public schools

6.Secondary education lasts there years, generally from ages 15 to 18. Besides the Lebanese curriculum, international schools also offer 3 types of curricula: International Baccalaureate, the American curriculum and the French curriculum

7.Survival rate to the last grade of lower secondary general education is 88%. Factors contributing to the drop-out rate include: Tuition increases in private schools in comparison with the minimum wage, violence committed against students by teachers, and harshness of the administrative system in some schools

8.56% of Lebanon’s teachers hold a university degree, while 21% carry only a high-school degree and 5% only carry an educational or technical degree

9.The public school system has faced criticism for relying on outdated curricula and teaching methods — with an emphasis on memorization over comprehension and analysis. And while corporal punishment is officially banned, studies have found that it remains common

1.Since 2011, and average of 5 public schools are shutting down each year

2.There is a gap in the quality of education between public and private schools

3.There is a lack of a national standardized framework to consistently govern the selection, qualification, employment, monitoring, and training of teachers

4.This in combination with unstable Wi-Fi and electricity across the country has made remote learning during the pandemic especially challenging

5.In addition, children in low-income families have difficulty in attending on-line classes, as they frequently lack digital equipment and live in conditions that do not favor learning

6.A growing number of parents are unable to pay school fees due to deteriorating living conditions and their saving deposits being withheld by banks, which is expected to overwhelm the public school system

7.The economic crisis is putting pressure on children to engage in the workforce to support their families

8.In some regions, such as the Bekaa, transportation costs also represent a high barrier to accessing education

9.The MEHE has not issued any detailed report about the damages suffered by the educational sector after the Beirut Port explosion, nor has it published any work plan to rebuild and restore schools and support principals, teachers, learners, and families during this crisis

1.Elementary, secondary, and higher education in Lebanon are all overseen by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE)

• Within the ministry are the: Directorate General of Education, Directorate General of Higher Education, and Directorate General of Technical and Vocational Education
• Also under the auspices of the MEHE is the National Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD). CERD provides technical expertise on the Lebanese education system to both local and international bodies. It also develops and issues textbooks related to the national curriculum

2.1994 Centre for Education Research and Development (CERD) launches the Plan for Educational Reform resulting in the implementation of a new curriculum in 1997

3.2006 A variety of donors start funding projects with MEHE including World Bank (EDP), EU, and USAID and continue to this date

4.2010 MEHE launches a new education strategy for Lebanon called “Education Sector Development Plan 2010-2015” – not implemented

5.2012-2016 Implementation of WB Project EDP II (USD 40 Million)

6.2014 Launch of the “Reaching all Children with Education in Lebanon” (RACE) Strategy mainly to cater for the education of Syrian Refugees problems

7.2018 MEHE launches a framework to select and training teaching personnel, but it was not made mandatory and has since been removed from the Ministry website

Policy Action

1.Build a national education strategy for 2021-2022 in times of crisis based on broad participatory foundations and taking distanced-learning into account

2.Evolve the national curriculum regularly so that it keeps pace with societal and technological developments, and contributes significantly to build citizenship

3.Re-develop and enact the framework for governing  the selection, qualification, employment, monitoring, and training of teachers and increase their wages

4.Develop the capacity of educational institutions by providing education through online teaching and virtual learning platforms. Such platforms allow a wider outreach to children and would further develop the curriculum into interactive modules that could students with 21st century skills needed for employability

5.Develop public-private partnership program (PPP), which is a long-term contractual relationships between the government and a private provider for the delivery of education infrastructure and services, where twinning projects are introduced between private and public schools. PPPs can bridge the quality gap between private and public schools, encourage innovation in education, and extend access to quality education. Private schools sponsoring public schools (public school students benefiting from the private school infrastructure and expertise) will benefit from tax exemption.