Students during an official exam in Lebanon. (Credit:Marc Fayard/Archives L'Orient-Le Jour)
Amid escalating tensions and closures in Lebanon's borders, Education Minister Abbas Halabi reaffirms the June 29 date for the Lebanese Baccalaureate exams, prompting concerns among students facing disruptions from the ongoing conflict.
"The Lebanese Baccalaureate exams will begin on June 29. They will be conducted in person and will be unified for all candidates in Lebanon, including those from border regions in the South where schools have remained closed," stated Halabi.
With less than ten days until the official end-of-school exams commence, the minister’s statements to L’Orient-Le Jour put an end to rumors of canceling the general exams in favor of certificates. This cancellation has been demanded by many students in border regions, where Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been engaged in escalating strikes since Oct. 8.
Out of a total of 45,000 candidates across the country, 1000 private school students and 540 public school students hail from conflict-affected areas where educational institutions have closed, according to Ministry of Education figures.
Consideration of learning outcomes
Discussing the exam content, Halabi assures that "the curriculum actually studied by students in conflict zones will be taken into account during the unified exam that all senior students across Lebanese territory will take." In other words, all Lebanese candidates will be evaluated based on the learning outcomes achieved by students in South Lebanon. In this context, Halabi explained that he cannot award two diplomas of different levels. "It is important to give all students in Lebanon an equal chance to obtain the same diploma," he insisted.
The school year for students in border areas has been particularly challenging. Classes, primarily conducted online, have been regularly interrupted by bombings, power outages, and internet failures. Consequently, these classes have been less consistent when compared with those in other institutions. Senior students at the Collège des Sœurs des Saints-Cœurs in Jdeidet Marjayoun interviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour expressed their concerns. "Yesterday morning [Wednesday], Israeli aircraft dropped five bombs near Marjayoun where I still live, unable to leave. It is impossible for me to study in this atmosphere of insecurity," shares Emilie. "We have accumulated gaps and are mentally exhausted," says Georges. "We cannot complete the curriculum because the situation keeps deteriorating. All of this deeply worries me," adds Céline. A mother of a student from Hebbarieh, speaking anonymously, criticized the Ministry of Education's “lack of communication.”
Sense of injustice
Since the beginning of the conflict, Georges and his classmates have knocked on every door to convey their struggles to the authorities, demanding special measures for candidates from South Lebanon. "The Minister of Education promised to take our situation into consideration," Georges recounted. He advocates halving the exam syllabus. His classmate Céline goes as far as requesting assessments based on school grades or issuing certificates of completion — without conducting the exams.
"Senior students from border zones are worried. They feel unfairly treated because they experience war daily and fear while moving around. They had only one day of in-person classes and did not take any mock exams," laments Salim Hajj, principal of the public secondary school in Rmeish (Bint Jbeil district). The sense of injustice is shared by displaced candidates who sought refuge in safer areas.
Having relocated from Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) at the start of the war, Hadil attends online classes from Beirut where she now lives with her family. She worries about the "gaps" compared to other students in the country, attributing this to "the challenges of online education and poor internet quality."
Safe zones
Halabi aims to reassure by explaining that each candidate from conflict-affected regions will receive a list of exam centers in safe areas. "We will indicate the centers located in safe zones. The students will have the freedom to choose the center they prefer to go to," he specified. This measure follows the announcement on Tuesday by Hanadi Berri, director of technical education, authorizing students from the South and Nabatieh governorates to take exams at centers different from those initially assigned to them.
"We are not satisfied with the lowering of standards caused by the two successive curriculum reductions since April, but we accept these measures to ensure the conduct of official exams. Cancellation would have been a national disaster," assessed father Youssef Nasr, secretary-general of Catholic Schools in Lebanon and coordinator of the group of private educational institutions.
For students remaining in conflict-affected regions, the situation remains challenging. "How can I sit for the exams amidst the noise of shells and Israeli aircraft? How will I travel from Hebbarieh to an exam center when Israeli airstrikes target people on the roads?" asks Céline. "I don't know if my parents will allow me to risk my life to attend the exams."
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour and translated by Tasnim Chaaban.