Lebanon (MNN) — It’s a challenging year ahead in Lebanese schools.
Lebanon’s Minister of Education recently announced that, instead of a standard five days of school a week, government schools will be open four days a week.
Instead of raising salaries for teachers, teachers in the country are now supposed to teach only four days so that they can find another part-time job on Fridays.
As private schools continue to teach five days a week, there is a deficiency in the education of students in public schools.
In southern Lebanon, the war that Hezbollah started with Israel is wreaking havoc. The six months of severe shelling that occurred last year have left villages destroyed and cities wiped out.
Many schools, both private and government, remain demolished, meaning that many in the south will go without opportunities for education for the second year in a row.
Camille Melki with Heart for Lebanon says that private schools are now carrying the brunt of the work because government schools are not operating properly. However, because of the economy, private schools have been forced to raise their tuition costs by 30 to 60 percent compared to last year.
This economic crisis affects not only Lebanese nationals but also Syrian refugees living in the country.
“Most international donor agencies stopped providing aid in June,” says Melki. “(They) have said there will be no medical support or educational support for refugees who are living in Lebanon anymore. The little aid that the UN and large government agencies were providing to the refugees has stopped.”
Heart for Lebanon will provide education support to 1,300 families this school year.
Six hundred of these students will study in one of Heart for Lebanon’s two schools in the Bekaa Valley or in southern Lebanon, receiving free education. These are students who would not otherwise have an opportunity to study anywhere else.
The other 700 students will receive scholarship support to attend other schools in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon. These are partner Christian schools for families that can afford some, but not all, tuition expenses.
600 students will attend one of Heart for Lebanon’s schools this year. (Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)
“It’s our opportunity at Heart for Lebanon to stand in the gap, provide the proper academic education that students need, but also provide a holistic approach to a child’s spiritual, social, and emotional upbringing,” says Melki.
Between the death and destruction in Syria and Lebanon, most of the children that Heart for Lebanon provides education for have experienced trauma.
“We’re providing a safe environment where teachers are loving and caring for, supporting, and encouraging students; providing social care, and emotional care, but first and foremost, also providing spiritual care to the students and to their families,” says Melki.
Please pray for the education system in Lebanon and for the students who will be ministered to through these schools this year.
(Header photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)
