Caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) began the distribution of funds to 1,003 public schools in Lebanon, caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced on Friday, according to state-run National News Agency.
"One thousand and three public schools' funds began to successively receive financial transfers in dollars from UNICEF ... [and] there are 158 secondary schools who [received transfers] last December," Halabi said.
He also called on schools that have not yet submitted their budgets to "complete them and hand them over to the ministry" so that they too can receive funds "to spend on operating their facilities and paying wages and allowances."
A source in UNICEF told L'Orient Today that these funds are part of the Transition Resilience Education Fund (TREF) which was launched in June 2022 in partnership with the ministry and contributing partners.
According to a statement published by UNICEF's website in June 2022, TREF is "an innovative aid modality to strengthen governance, transparency, efficiency and learning outcomes for children in the education sector."
This modality was designed to "improve the timeliness of funds disbursements to schools and teachers who provide vital learning support for children so that they can improve their learning outcomes in a safe and protective environment."
The source couldn't specify the amount allocated to the schools.
France, through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), announced on Wednesday a new contribution of 14.7 million euros to Lebanon's education sector to ensure equitable access to quality educational services for children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds and to improve the governance and efficiency of the education system. This contribution will facilitate access to inclusive, gender-sensitive education for over 90,000 children.
Since the Lebanese economy collapsed in late 2019, the country's public institutions have crumbled, pushing most of the population into poverty and dealing a heavy blow to public schools.