Education minister Rima Karami toured the south to assess schools hosting displaced people, while parliamentarian Edgar Traboulsi warned that dozens of public schools remain shelters, blocking the academic year.
Dozens of public schools across Lebanon continue to serve as shelter centres for displaced people as the academic year begins, creating major obstacles for state education, according to accounts from government and parliament. Education minister Rima Karami visited Sidon, Nabatieh and the eastern Bekaa region to assess school conditions and needs. Parliamentarian Edgar Traboulsi told Sawt Kull Loubnan that the Ministry of Education and the government have presented no clear plan to evacuate schools used as shelters and return them to students, nor to provide alternatives for the displaced.
Karami said the ministry has classified schools according to the specific challenges they face. Some regions will operate with 100 per cent in-person teaching after the ministry succeeded, working with the governors, in evacuating a number of schools. Other regions still need school buildings for shelter, requiring schools to be shared or to host multiple schools simultaneously.
Karami said a limited group of schools may be unable to open for in-person classes immediately. The ministry will ask those schools to begin remote teaching temporarily while searching for actual centres to receive their students. She confirmed that the ministry is calling on teachers to return to their schools where possible and circumstances permit.
The ministry set a 15-day preparatory period to identify where families, teachers and staff are located and where they have decided to stay, whether in displacement areas or regions closer to their home villages. The ministry will use this information when assigning teaching staff, allowing displaced teachers to work in their area of displacement while encouraging teachers in their home regions to return to their schools.
Karami stressed that the ministry will ensure a school seat for every child in the south and Nabatieh, with additional attention and resources to help them overcome the difficult circumstances. She praised Sidon's role during the crisis in welcoming those seeking shelter and assistance.
Traboulsi rejected justification for school closures and mergers based on insufficient student numbers. He said the ministry's years of threatening to close certain schools deterred parents from enrolling their children, even as schools meeting the minimum required number of students are being closed and merged. He called for clarity on any delays in finalizing the file of full-time positions at the Lebanese University, saying the government may take a position within two days.
