Education Minister Abbas Halabi on a tour of an official examination center. (Credit: Ministry of Education)
The public school system in Lebanon has had a dismal record for the third year in a row.After two years of failed online education during the COVID-19 lockdown, classroom teaching has been limited to the bare minimum during the past year — sometimes much less in some schools.The 104 school days set by caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi, at a rate of four days per week, were already largely insufficient, in a context of a multifaceted crisis, growing discontent among teachers and a school program reduced by half.This is well below the European norms that set a normal school year at an average of 181 school days – for example, 36 weeks of five days, at a rate of 55 minutes per period.But when the number of school days can drop to 50 days a year with 45-minute classes in some public schools, one has to wonder if students are really...
The public school system in Lebanon has had a dismal record for the third year in a row.After two years of failed online education during the COVID-19 lockdown, classroom teaching has been limited to the bare minimum during the past year — sometimes much less in some schools.The 104 school days set by caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi, at a rate of four days per week, were already largely insufficient, in a context of a multifaceted crisis, growing discontent among teachers and a school program reduced by half.This is well below the European norms that set a normal school year at an average of 181 school days – for example, 36 weeks of five days, at a rate of 55 minutes per period.But when the number of school days can drop to 50 days a year with 45-minute classes in some public schools, one has to wonder if students are...