As the school year commences in Lebanon on September 15, thousands of displaced families remain sheltered in public schools, uncertain of their return home due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The situation creates significant anxiety for families and poses a substantial threat to the country's education system.
In the southern city of Tyre, approximately 200 families are living in a school gymnasium, occupying makeshift living quarters. Many of these families originate from villages further south that have been devastated by the recent hostilities or are under Israeli occupation. Fatima Khashab, an 11-year-old displaced from Mansouri, expressed her mother's concerns about their children missing out on education. "Our children are deprived of school, and we don’t know if they are going to learn this year or not," said Randa al-Taki, Fatima's mother.
Lebanon's economy has historically relied on its educated youth who often work abroad and send remittances home. This system is now under strain due to a confluence of crises since 2019, including an economic collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and now the ongoing conflict. Education officials estimate at least four years of learning loss, with some students falling significantly behind their grade level. Save the Children reported that a sixth grader may be performing at a second-grade level.
During the peak of the latest conflict, which began on March 2, about half of Lebanon's public schools were repurposed as shelters, disrupting education for over 250,000 students. Nasser Yassin, director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Beirut, criticized the reliance on schools for shelter, stating, "We should not respond to a displacement crisis by creating a long-term education crisis."
While a fragile truce has allowed many of the 1.2 million displaced people to return home, approximately 350,000 remain displaced, with about 21,000 living in collective shelters. Some families have been displaced multiple times, including during the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict in September 2024. Malak Abu Sari, another 11-year-old, and her family are among those sheltering in the Tyre school, their home having been destroyed.
Lebanon's Ministry of Education has outlined plans to manage the situation, aiming to reopen schools while continuing to provide shelter. Strategies include consolidating families into fewer locations, relocating them to unused buildings, or allowing schools to operate as shelters with reduced capacity. Georgia Hachem, an adviser to Lebanon's education minister, stated, "We have a solution for every single shelter, and no student will be left without a seat."
However, significant challenges remain, including approximately 340 schools damaged by the war, with about 30 destroyed and lacking funds for repair. Additionally, some schools are inaccessible in occupied areas. Online classes, previously offered, are often unfeasible for families in shelters due to limited internet access and a scarcity of devices. "Maybe there’s one device in the family and you have five kids who are going to learn," noted Nora Ingdal of Save the Children.