At least 20 per cent of private school pupils in Lebanon are likely to move to the struggling public education sector during this school year.
Private schools and universities are becoming increasingly unaffordable with fees paid for in dollars, but the expected move will take place as the public education sector itself is near collapse, raising questions over whether public schools will be able to handle the additional strain.
“We can’t quantify accurately until December 31, when we can count the number of dropouts and pupils who migrate from private to public schools,” the education ministry's director general, Imad Al Achkar, told The National. “But this is our estimate.”
The move from private to public education can be traced back to the beginning of Lebanon's economic crisis, which began in 2019.
In 2020-2021, about 55,000 Lebanese pupils transferred from private to public schools, according to a World Bank report — even before a policy of fees needing to be paid in dollars was adopted by most private schools.
The majority of Lebanon’s private schools — comprising 70 per cent of the nation's education sector — have increased their tuition fees and switched to demanding dollar payments in recent months, in a bid to protect the private education sector from the local currency’s more than 95 per cent plunge in value.
Lebanon’s caretaker education minister Dr Abbas Al Halabi has since last year called the dollar payments illegal and stressed the need for private tuition fees to be charged in the local currency.
“It is rejected by the ministry and declared illegal,” Mr Achkar agreed.
Private school administrators maintain that tuition must be paid for in dollars to cover expenses, maintain the quality of education, and pay teachers.
Most of the country's economy is dependent on the dollar, while the majority of residents are still paid in Lebanese pounds. That contradiction has created an impasse for the education sector.
Ministry of education officials acknowledge that the law will require amendment as the education sector slips into further chaos, according to the director general.
Officials and educators worry the public school system will be unable to absorb more pupils from private institutions.
Already, public schools are struggling under the weight of Lebanon’s economic crisis. Thousands of public school teachers have been sporadically on strike since January, demanding a rise in wages, transportation stipends and better teaching conditions.
The latest public schoolteachers' strike coincides with an overall public sector strike that began two months ago and paralysed many of the country’s operations.
Mouluk Mehrez, the head of secondary education association, said she would not even characterise the open strike as a strike because “we are genuinely incapable of working. We don’t even have the transportation money to get to school".
“Three years ago we made $2,000” a month, she said. “Now it’s $80. The collapse was fast and we lost the value of our money at a time when everything in Lebanon depends on the dollar.”
Although the public school year is set to begin in September, teachers say they will continue their strike until their demands are met.
Around two thirds of Lebanon’s population now lives in poverty due to an economic collapse that first began showing signs in 2019.
The majority of goods and services in the struggling nation are now priced either in dollars or their equivalent in local currency. State electricity is scarce, with the vast majority of the country’s residents depending on privately-owned shared generators, paid for with dollars.
Meanwhile, the majority of Lebanese salaries have not risen to keep pace with inflation. A breakdown in goods and services has come to characterise life in Lebanon, and the education sector is also on the brink of collapse.
Mrs Mehrez said that although the teachers' syndicate had recently met with the caretaker education minister and the prime minister, they were still not close to a solution that would end the strike.
“With respect to the public sector: If there’s no teachers there are no engineers, no doctors, nothing,” she said. “The collapse of the teaching sector means the collapse of the whole country.”
Mr Achkar agreed: “Our country was built on education. We can’t risk losing it.”
Employees at the education ministry are also on strike.
“We will not have an easy year. I can tell you that,” Mr Achkar said.
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Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Habib El Qalb
Assi Al Hallani
(Rotana)
Ferrari
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EGYPT SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ahmed El Shennawy, Mohamed El Shennawy, Mohamed Abou-Gabal, Mahmoud Abdel Rehem "Genesh"
Defenders: Ahmed Elmohamady, Ahmed Hegazi, Omar Gaber, Ali Gazal, Ayman Ahsraf, Mahmoud Hamdy, Baher Elmohamady, Ahmed Ayman Mansour, Mahmoud Alaa, Ahmed Abou-Elfotouh
Midfielders: Walid Soliman, Abdallah El Said, Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed, Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan, Amr Warda, Nabil Emad
Forwards: Ahmed Ali, Mohamed Salah, Marwan Mohsen, Ahmed "Kouka" Hassan.
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
Palestine and Israel - live updates
The%20specs
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The biog
Name: James Mullan
Nationality: Irish
Family: Wife, Pom; and daughters Kate, 18, and Ciara, 13, who attend Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)
Favourite book or author: “That’s a really difficult question. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt, The Secret History. I’d recommend that, go and have a read of that.”
Dream: “It would be to continue to have fun and to work with really interesting people, which I have been very fortunate to do for a lot of my life. I just enjoy working with very smart, fun people.”
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The years Ramadan fell in May
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics
