The Minister of Education Rima Karami in a classroom during her tour of the Baalbeck district, in Bednayel, on July 14, 2025, during the Lebanese baccalaureate exams. (Credit: NNA.)
BEKAA — Lebanese Education Minister Rima Karameh began a tour Monday of official exam centers in the Bekaa, starting with two in Bednayel, an area hit by Israeli strikes during the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, reports our Bekaa correspondent.
During this tour, Karameh stated that “despite the difficult circumstances Lebanon is going through,” the holding of these exams proves that “challenges do not weaken us and are not an obstacle to our determination to make education a priority for the Lebanese.”
The minister had also made other tours in the South on July 10 and in the North on July 12. Since 2019, the school year in Lebanon has been undermined by economic collapse, interruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and more recently by the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2023/24.
In Baalbeck, the minister greeted the students, calling them “very dynamic.” “As I noted during my tours in other regions, there is a general sense of relief,” she said. “There was certainly some tension at the start, fueled by rumors that the exams would be difficult, but they were not.”
The minister also thanked the teaching staff and educators, as well as “everyone present in each school, especially in the Baalbek-Hermel region, because I know how difficult conditions have been — and remain — for everyone.” “They show everyone what resilience and the ability to face trials really mean. We are proving that nothing can make us bend,” she added, before thanking the “great team” at the Ministry (of Education) who “work continuously.”
The minister mentioned the establishment of a 24/7 emergency hotline at 01-772050 to answer all questions from candidates. “Official exams are not designed for just one class or one school, but for the whole country. Naturally, there are differences in how students interact with the questions. That said, all remarks have been taken into account, recorded, and will be considered carefully,” she explained.
In another facility, the minister was welcomed by Abdel Ghani Dirani, head of the regional department for vocational education in Baalbeck-Hermel, and by the center's director, Walid Hammoud, praising the efforts “behind the scenes” for preparing the exams. During the tour, Karameh mentioned “a strategy developed by the general directorate,” specifying that the ministry is working with donors aware of the importance of strengthening vocational education, and that these partners will support them along the way.
The official exams are being held with a total of 42,728 candidates across 229 centers and about 9,400 teachers participating, including 7,800 as proctors, according to the ministry's director general, Fadi Yarak.
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