The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to education, shutting down schools for months on end. Now, with vaccines driving down infection rates, students in Lebanon are back in school, but some will not find their way back into the classroom this year.
Lebanon’s multiple crises – a collapsing economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the severe economic and social repercussions of the August 2020 Beirut Port explosions, and political instability have combined to plunge more and more families into poverty.
Her voice breaking, Nadia, 36, says money is so tight, she won’t be able to send her three children to school this year. “Like all children in Lebanon, mine have missed school for over a year. The difference is, though, when every other child returns to school, mine won’t. When term-time begins, their seats in the classroom will remain empty.”
The road leading to the school is mountainous and has no sidewalk. Since there are no buses, Nadia says she won’t be able to send her children to school until she can afford the taxi fare.
As prices keep rising and work is increasingly difficult to find, 15 per cent of families in Lebanon had to stop their children’s education as they struggle to buy basic food, medicine and other essentials, according to a survey conducted by UNICEF in April 2021.
Poverty is one of the most obstinate barriers to education, with children from the poorest households almost five times more likely to be out of primary school than those from the richest.
Like many others in Lebanon, Nadia’s husband has found it almost impossible to get work over the past year, sometimes going more than a month without earning any money.
Nadia and her family live in her husband’s home village of Hiyata, 35 kilometres outside Beirut, where, she says, they had “12 happy years” until their lives were turned upside down a year ago. “We always led a simple life and, while my husband was able to find work, had enough to get us through the days. We had enough to give us the confidence to start a family, thinking we’d be able to provide for them as they grew.”
“We’re still able to eat, although I worry the day will come when we can’t. I worry about paying the rent. We’re already falling into debt. So far though, we’re able to manage”, says Nadia. “My children are old enough to understand why I can’t buy the things they want, and they can see where and why we’ve made cutbacks in every area of our life”. She stresses that her priority is her children’s education, “even if I must go to the street and beg for money.”
UNICEF’s work
UNICEF partner Himaya has supported Nadia's family for over a year through activities, access to a safe space for the children, psychosocial support and, when face-to-face activities were suspended due to the pandemic, by staying in touch online and sharing internet safety booklets and child rights booklets.
UNICEF is enhancing its social protection, education, child survival, child protection and youth development programmes to reach more vulnerable children and young people facing the impacts of this compounded crisis.
