Lebanese children 'miss out' on education as crisis takes toll

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Rana Hariri doesn't know when she'll be able to send her children back to school, as Lebanon's grinding economic crisis thrusts the fate of public education into uncertainty.

Lack of funding for the school system has precipitated repeated teachers' strikes and school closures, resulting in children being increasingly pulled out of the formal learning system, and in some cases being forced to work.

Hariri, 51, says her nine-year-old daughter Aya "repeatedly asks me: 'When will I go back to school?' But I do not know what to tell her."

Lebanon's public institutions have been crumbling since the economy collapsed in late 2019, pushing most of the population into poverty and dealing a heavy blow to state schools.

Public sector workers, including teachers, have repeatedly gone on strike as the value of their salaries crashed after the Lebanese pound lost more than 98 percent of its worth against the dollar.

"My children stayed at home for three months last year due to the strikes," said Hariri.

She had hopes that her 14-year-old daughter Menna would someday become a doctor.

But now, "I just hope she'll be able to go to school in the first place," she said, sitting at her friend's house surrounded by her four children.

"For the past four years, teachers have failed to secure their rights, while our children miss out on basic education."

Public sector teachers earn the equivalent of $150 to $300 per month, while the education ministry has sounded the alarm over lack of funding.

Hariri took her anger to the streets, protesting alongside teachers who demanded better wages at a sit-in in September.

The school year is due to begin in early October, but amid uncertainty over the start date, her two sons, aged 13