Lebanon’s economic crisis has pushed thousands of families to transfer their children from private to public schooling for low-cost education. Now, the same crisis is cutting the school week short and "chipping away at children's futures", parents say.
Tarek Fakih, 45, wears multiple hats to make ends meet. He is a real estate broker by day, driver by night, and a concerned father-of-three around the clock. He says his children's education is key to securing a brighter future, but even that seems unattainable with another year of four-day school weeks on the horizon.
father of three
Lebanon’s Education Minister, Rima Karame, announced on Wednesday that the four-day week at public schools would continue in the coming academic year. While some research suggests the measure can improve children’s welfare, the motives for implementing it in Lebanon are different.
The shortened week, introduced two years ago after Lebanon’s financial collapse, was intended as a compromise for public school teachers – fewer working hours in exchange for lower salaries.
But for students and parents, it also means losing more than a full month of learning per school year.
Lost learning time
"Our children have already been through so much," said Mr Fakih, referring to Lebanon's overlapping crises, including the coronavirus pandemic, economic downturn, the 2020 Beirut port blast, and Israel's war on Hezbollah in Lebanon last year. "They haven't had a proper school year in some time, which means they're not properly learning, and it will affect them and their futures."
A report by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and Cambridge University’s REAL Centre last year, warned that children in Lebanon were facing “near-catastrophic” gaps in their schooling due to the recent war and years of successive crises.
Mr Fakih says he is most worried about his eldest daughter, Tala, who begins her final school year in September, before going off to university. "It's a crucial year for her, I just want to see her graduate and shine," he told The National solemnly.
Temporary fix
The continuation of the shorter school week comes as Lebanon's government attempts to meet teachers' demands for higher pay after the severe depreciation of their salaries under the country’s compounding crises.
Ms Karame said it was a temporary fix while the Education Ministry works on readjusting teachers' salaries, with the hope that this will be the final year it remains in place.
The minister said she had hoped to move back to five days-a-week schooling, but “current circumstances do not allow it”. She said the current annual government budget allocated the ministry only enough funding to operate public schools for four days.
public school principal
In order to make up for lost time this year, class periods will be 50 minutes and the school day will be extended by half an hour, she said.
Teacher burnout
Lebanon has been bearing the brunt of one of the worst economic crises in its history since 2019. The economic collapse pushed more than half the population into poverty.
The sharp depreciation of the Lebanese lira, by more than 90 per cent, meant that salaries were effectively slashed, while the cost of basic goods skyrocketed.
Manal Hdaife, a public school principal and member of the primary teachers' union in Lebanon, told The National that teachers have no issue returning to a five-day work week, but only with higher salaries.
"We can't work the same number of hours for less pay. We demanded a shorter school week after we lost more than half of our salaries," she said. "We'll go back to teaching five days a week, even six if they want, but only if we're properly compensated."
Education system in crisis
The crisis was one of many blows dealt to education in Lebanon. Once globally praised, the country's education sector was on the brink of collapse in 2021, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Lebanese government is abandoning schools, teachers, and parents to muddle through the acute economic crisis and the pandemic on their own," Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at HRW, told The National previously.
The four-day school week was an attempt to address teachers' demands without disrupting education in public schools.
“They wanted to do five days, but they can’t,” said a senior humanitarian source, pointing out that it was one of Ms Karame's main promises when the new government took office earlier this year.
“The teachers aren’t into it because of uncertainty over their salaries. They want more money to [work] more days.” Ultimately, the source said, “less teaching” meant “less learning”.
Families left to cope
His concerns about the impact on children's education have been echoed by some families.
For Sireen, Leen and Aleen, the four-day school week means more idle time. The sisters, aged 9, 12, and 15, respectively, spend the longer weekends scrolling through TikTok at their grandmother's home.
"I don't like seeing them spend so much time on screens, but what else can they do when they're not at school?" their grandmother, Fadia, who has been looking after them since their mother passed away in 2023, told The National.
A widow with little financial support from her other children, Fadia enrolled the girls in a public school in Beirut to pursue their education despite circumstances.
"I will do whatever it takes to make sure they go through school," she told The National. "Their mother would have wanted them to study, graduate, and be successful – it's all she ever wished for them."
