Lebanon's Education Crisis: A Generation's Future at Risk
Lebanon’s prolonged economic crisis, the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and past devastating explosions have rendered the country’s education system nearly nonfunctional. Approximately 1.5 million children have faced severe disruptions in their education over the past six years. Half of the country’s public schools have been converted into shelters, and a significant number of families have shifted their children from private to public schools, further straining an already overwhelmed public system.
The Ministry of Education is grappling with a lack of funding, while international donors have managed to provide only 19% of the needed support. Once considered the educational hub of the Middle East, Lebanon now ranks at the bottom among Arab countries in international assessments.
School curricula have not been updated since 1997, and political disputes have even affected history and civics textbooks. The quality of education in public schools is equivalent to just 2.5 years of learning over a 12-year period. In mid- and low-tier private schools, the quality is slightly better, equating to about 4–5 years of effective education.
Experts estimate that even restoring the system to a functional baseline would require at least a decade. Lebanon’s former status as a regional leader in education has been replaced by a deep struggle to overcome systemic collapse.
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