Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are facing a new school year amid concerns over the impact of closing schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, and merging other schools and classes, which could increase class sizes and add to the educational and economic pressures on camp families.
School closures and student transfers
In Burj al-Barajneh camp, a resident said a decision had been issued this year to close al-Bireh School, which housed al-Bireh and Yibna schools, and convert it into a Lebanese school no longer affiliated with the agency. He added that five schools had previously been closed, also pointing to the closure of a school in Beirut and Rafah School in Tripoli.
The speaker said the successive decisions were reinforcing refugees’ fears of a gradual reduction in UNRWA’s educational institutions. He linked those concerns to a statement by the agency’s Commissioner-General about the difficulty of continuing basic services without sufficient funding, saying that declining education and healthcare services was increasing anxiety about the future of Palestinians in Lebanon.
Fears of overcrowded classrooms
Female students expressed fears that noise and the rising number of students would affect their ability to absorb lessons, as well as female teachers’ ability to explain material and manage classrooms. One speaker also noted that students had faced exceptional circumstances in recent years, from wars to the coronavirus pandemic and the shift to online learning in an environment that was not sufficiently prepared.
Private tutoring adds to the burden
Palestinian families say overcrowding is forcing them to pay for private lessons to make up for what they see as inadequate support in the classroom. This comes amid living crises affecting camp residents, including difficulties related to income, electricity and water, making additional spending on education a burden on family budgets.
Calls to preserve educational services
Parents are calling for UNRWA schools and educational services to be preserved, viewing education as a basic right and part of the rights of Palestinian refugees. A local community activist warned that the coming school year would be difficult because of what he described as a lack of planning, class mergers, rising overcrowding and declining teacher morale amid cuts to salaries and school days.
