Home / Proper Action Is Needed On Lebanon Syrian Refugee Education Crisis

Proper Action Is Needed On Lebanon Syrian Refugee Education Crisis
It is important that the Lebanese government lift up the barriers by providing education to all...

by Himani Verma / 03 Apr 2021 13:16 PM IST / 0 Comment(s) / 383

In the upcoming Ministerial Conferences in Brussels on Supporting Syria and the Region, Human Rights Watch, it is expected that the government will address the unprecedented education crisis that the Syrian Refugee children in Lebanon are facing. It is important that the Lebanese government lift up the barriers by providing education to all.

Due to the situation, schools have been closed, and people have faced a lot of financial issues. This situation has also affected the education in refugee hosting countries supported by Brussels' Conference, including Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. However, education in Lebanon is actually falling. Due to the political, financial, and food crisis, the Lebanese actually have dragged into poverty. Also, due to this, the rate of dropout, child labor, and child marriage has increased a lot.

It's been years since the donors have promised about providing quality education to all the Syrian Refugee children, but still, the Lebanese children are getting nothing. And no one can guess about the government's plan. There are inexcusable obstacles stopping people from humanitarian groups. It is important for the donors of the Brussels Conference to take a look over this matter and insist on providing quality education to Lebanese children.

As per the statistics available for the year 2018-19, among the 660000 school-age Syrian children in Lebanon, only 42% attend the school. Also, 9 percent got an education in private schools. Also, during 2019-20, the situation of education has deteriorated. The schools get closed due to widespread strikes and protest against government corruption in October 2019. In early 2020, children came back to school, but due to the covid, the schools again get closed. In March 2020, the education ministry gave an announcement regarding distance learning, but still, nothing has been done for the same. Also, there are no such clear plants regarding the reopening of schools.

In the year 2020-21, around 190000 students in Lebanon get enrolled in the public school while on the other hand, around 25000 students who were supposed to get Re-enrolled in grade 1 did not appear. These statements are given by the officials of the Education Ministry in the meetings with the groups related to education. Since September 2019, due to the covid situation and school closure, students have missed the classes for more than one year. Even after getting shifted to the special 2nd shift classes in the afternoon, some received no education due to school failure.

Education Restrictions

It is important for the education ministry to get pressurized for lifting up the restrictions that have been enrolled in the public schools. Also, the bans imposed on the humanitarian groups must also be removed. There are several refugee children who are not able to attend their schools, maybe because of transportation or due to the misconduct of public schools. According to the 2019 report, 29% of the 443 students have not been enrolled in their schools because the public schools have refused. The schools are refusing Syrian children to take examinations because they are not having a legal residency in Lebanon.

There are a lot of humanitarian groups working towards providing education to the refugee children by operating some non formal schools near their communities, but there also they are prohibited from teaching the normal school curriculum. They are only allowed to teach basic numeracy and literacy. According to the education ministry, it is necessary for the students to get enrolled in public school.

Another major factor is that the education ministry is not allowing the out of school citing students to get enrolled unless they have completed the special accelerated learning program run by the donor-funded special people. For the last two years, the Ministry of Education has not offered such programs and also not providing distance learning options. More than 6500 students have not got an education even after being enrolled. On the other hand, the nongovernmental groups are not allowed to teach their staff.

In the year 2000 2020, the education ministry gave his statement to the groups that the children will get enrolled in the public school only if they have completed the basic literacy and numeracy course. Also, it is important for them to clear the placement tests. Add such a situation; it is necessary for the ministry to teach the students regarding the same so that they can easily clear the tests conducted.

In the year 2020, around nine unlicensed private schools were shut down were around 5000 siren students what studying. Among those 5000, only 800 students are given spaces in public schools. In order to get enrolled in the private schools, the two humanitarian groups have paid for 3000 children, but still, 1200 students are left out. As for the statistics available, before the pandemic and the financial crisis, around 70% of the Lebanese children were enrolled in private schools, but in the year 2021, around 40,000 children were transferred to public schools.

Accountability and Transparency

There's a particular set of the amount the donors provide for the education of Syrian refugee children. Also, from the year 2015 -16 to 2018 19, the cost of around $440 million has been paid as the school fees of the Lebanese children. Along with all this, the humanitarian groups also get funded to provide nonformal education to the children. However, the funding to humanitarian groups to Lebanon has been reducing at each Brussels conference. In 2017 it was $1.3 billion, and in 2020 it reduced to $944 million.

It is important to consider the fact and provide adequate funding that can fulfill the education requirement of the Libyan children. Even the reports given by donors regarding funding are also unclear. As for the statistics available, the total funding in the year 2018 fell from 24%, and then in the year 2019-20, the percent fall by 9 percent. Despite these figures, the education ministry is still refused to run back-to-school campaigns to promote enrollments. Also, they are not citing the lack of funding issue.

It is important to follow the right lead to provide education funding to each student and teacher. Also, the Lebanese authorities should distribute the funding aid in U.S. dollars. The foreign governments transfer the donations to Lebanon for paying to the teachers in U.S. dollars; however, the funds get deposited in the Lebanese lira. The Lebanese lira rate is well below the market rate. Even there were several teachers who have gone on strikes and demanded the payment in dollars as their wages collapsed. Along with all this, the school directors also refused to reopen 80 of the 2nd shift schools this year. They said that the education ministry had not paid them for the month's schools were closed during the year 2019 twenty.

The Education Ministry is required to publish regular data regarding the education information management system so that the attendance and enrollments can get tracked easily. According to the statistics available, during the year 2019-20, the attendance of Syrian children attending the 2nd shift school was 23% lower than the number of students enrolled.

Lack of Learning due to School Closures

The education officers available in the humanitarian groups also stated about how government lacks in supporting the teachers in creating online lessons. Also, they fail in monitoring the quality of education given to the children. Each week, the children are given only a link to one YouTube video. Stating regarding the same, the teachers said that the education ministry does not provide them proper reimbursements for the same. They do not provide those laptops and no charges for mobile data usage. In the year 2018, the donors funded the United Nations for purchasing laptops for the public schools, but those never get distributed. Even the company that imported the laptops claimed that around 2300 laptops were destroyed in the Beirut port explosion, and they sold it to private buyers.

According to the statement given by the staff at humanitarian organizations to the Human Rights Watch, The Teachers and students are only having access to the free Microsoft's Teams platform, but in practice, very few second-shift classes are getting the online material for Syrian refugee children.

Underprivileged internet access, the high-priced cost of data, and the lack of any expedients other than a parent's smartphone are also the major causes of the limited Syrian children's online access. In order to send the assignments and voice messages, the teachers are only having the facility of WhatsApp. They further added. The TV classes were also broadcasted for Grade 9 and Grade 12. But here, the problem is only half of the Syrian refugee families are having access to the TV, and most refugee children in Syria get dropped out before secondary school, and only less than 1 % get the chance to complete grade 9.

The children have a full right to get equal education, and they are not liable to repeat the last year. However, the Brussels conference has failed even to list education in the official agenda. Also, Leicht stated that the donors should work towards maintaining the promise is regarding quality education for all. Also, they should use their leverage to aid the Syrian refugee children with all the best needs.

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