Approximately half a million Lebanese students have abandoned their schools since the Israeli-Lebanese war erupted roughly one month ago. More than 350 public schools have been converted into shelters for displaced families, while thousands more remain shuttered due to ongoing combat and airstrikes. Both students and teachers face an education crisis of unprecedented severity that threatens to leave lasting scars on an entire generation.<\/p>\n
Atef Rafiq, head of the education department at UNICEF in Lebanon, stated: “We are witnessing an educational collapse since the first days of the war.” The crisis reflects genuine suffering experienced by hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents who have simultaneously lost stability and educational opportunity.<\/p>\n
In a classroom converted into a shelter for displaced families at Lyc\u00e9e Abdel Qader in central Beirut, 17-year-old student Ahmad Melhem attempts to continue his studies using a tablet without internet connection. Melhem and his family fled from Beirut’s southern suburbs, which faced intensive bombardment and widespread destruction.<\/p>\n
Melhem says: “We try with all available means to continue our education so we can achieve our goals. I don’t want to regret not completing my studies despite difficult circumstances.” The student, preparing for secondary school exams, hopes to enter an engineering college next year.<\/p>\n
Melhem shares a classroom separated by plastic sheeting with several families. The cramped room contains small mattresses and blankets, with a makeshift kitchen consisting of a table and small stove where plastic plates of vegetables and tea-making supplies are arranged. Melhem placed his books and computer screen in his corner, but internet connection is unavailable at the school.<\/p>\n
His private school in the southern suburbs resumed distance learning after two weeks of war, but with severe curriculum cuts\u2014eliminating non-core subjects and reducing class duration dramatically. Although an NGO provided internet service in the crowded school yard filled with children and adults, Melhem complains he cannot “concentrate” amid the noise and chaos.<\/p>\n
Melhem says quietly: “Attending school in person is more educational and interactive. I miss group work and the science projects we used to do.” His words reflect the deep psychological and social gap created by educational disruption, particularly for students planning university entrance. The loss extends beyond curriculum to social development and peer relationships\u2014critical components of education that distance learning cannot replace.<\/p>\n
Seventeen-year-old Aya Zahran, displaced from the southern suburbs, spends her days “preparing food and maintaining the shelter” in a vocational institute converted to an evacuation center in Dekwaneh north of Beirut. The girl who previously enjoyed better educational opportunities now finds herself confined between survival duties and daily necessities.<\/p>\n
She states: “My siblings and I share one phone” to follow distance learning, but “the link my school sent us doesn’t work.” This reality embodies the enormous digital divide in Lebanon between students with connectivity and those completely cut off.<\/p>\n
Zahran’s school represents one of hundreds of public institutions lacking resources to maintain distance education, according to Rafiq. Many struggled even before the war; now the situation has become catastrophic. The resource gap is not merely about technology\u2014it reflects deeper systemic failures in Lebanon’s educational infrastructure.<\/p>\n
In response, the Ministry of Education partnered with UNICEF to launch a platform containing recorded lessons covering the official curriculum, accessible to students independently without relying on internet connectivity. UNICEF also launched a “Call and Learn” hotline enabling students to receive educational content via phone call without internet access.<\/p>\n
Nesima Ismail sat at the entrance of the vocational institute-turned-shelter, registering her children with the Ministry of Education so authorities could assess what educational services might be available. She said sadly: “The situation here is very difficult… there is no internet here, not even pencils.”<\/p>\n
The woman displaced from the Bekaa region emphasized: “My children are excellent students and I don’t want them to lose their education like we did when we were children” during the civil war (1975-1990). She stated with weary determination: “I want them to continue their education even if nothing remains for us. I hope they will have better days than we did.”<\/p>\n
Her words reflect profound fear that history may repeat itself\u2014a new generation losing educational opportunity as previous generations did. The cycle of war stealing futures appears unbroken.<\/p>\n
Rafiq warns: “There is a very large digital divide” in Lebanon regarding device availability and internet access. He adds: “Children and schools in the south have been disproportionately affected by this conflict since 2023, and the situation now is far worse.”<\/p>\n
Just one week before the current war, UNICEF had reopened 30 schools in the south damaged during the previous conflict (2023-2024). Now those same institutions may be closed again, erasing years of reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.<\/p>\n
Atef Rafiq expressed deep concern about the future of “secondary school exam students particularly” who are preparing for university entrance amid ongoing war. He warns of “the danger of educational discontinuation especially for adolescent girls, due to risks they may face when not in school such as early marriage and other horrific situations.”<\/p>\n
This warning reflects a stark reality: wars harm vulnerable populations disproportionately, and displaced girls face elevated risks of exploitation, forced marriage, and trafficking. Educational withdrawal removes one of their primary protections.<\/p>\n
Research consistently shows that girls are more vulnerable to exploitation during conflicts and displacement. Without the structure and community protection schools provide, adolescent girls become targets for early marriage arrangements made by desperate families seeking financial survival, or worse, human trafficking networks.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese government lacks resources to adequately protect vulnerable populations, while international safeguarding mechanisms are overwhelmed. UNICEF and humanitarian organizations struggle to identify and assist at-risk girls across dispersed shelters.<\/p>\n
According to a 2023 World Bank report, each day of public school closures costs the Lebanese economy three million dollars. With 350 schools converted to shelters and ongoing forced closures, economic and educational losses compound at terrifying rates.<\/p>\n
Over one month of conflict, the direct economic loss from educational disruption alone exceeds 90 million dollars. These figures exclude indirect costs: lost parental productivity as guardians must remain with children instead of working; healthcare and psychological services required to address war trauma; long-term reduced earning potential of students who miss critical educational years.<\/p>\n
Lebanon already faces massive brain drain as educated families emigrate seeking stability. Educational disruption accelerates this exodus. Families with means will seek education abroad rather than risk their children’s futures in war-torn schools. This pattern deepens Lebanon’s skill deficit and economic weakness.<\/p>\n
In tragic demonstration of war’s indiscriminate toll, Ali Shaib, correspondent for Al-Manar (Hezbollah-affiliated), and Fatima Fotouni, correspondent for Al-Mayadeen, along with a cameraman, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting their vehicle in southern Lebanon Saturday.<\/p>\n
Shaib was among the most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades. Both networks issued urgent statements mourning their correspondents, adding another dimension to war’s tragedy: the death of those attempting to document truth and suffering.<\/p>\n
The targeting of journalists creates additional crisis dimensions. Without adequate documentation of conditions in shelters, schools, and displaced camps, international accountability mechanisms cannot function effectively. Evidence of potential war crimes and humanitarian violations may be lost.<\/p>\n
Israel conducted widespread strikes on southern Lebanon Saturday dawn, targeting villages including Majdal Silm, Kafra, Al-Hania, Tollein, and Adeissiyeh. Additional strikes targeted “residential buildings, commercial structures, and a fuel station” in Nabatieh.<\/p>\n
Reports indicated strikes on border settlements including Al-Tibe with “Israeli forces attempting to advance toward the Litani River region,” reflecting Israeli strategy to establish a 30-kilometer security buffer from the border.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah announced Saturday morning attacks on Israeli military concentrations in the border village of Deble. The group stated it targeted a Merkava tank “with a suicide drone” and an Israeli military force with “a kamikaze drone.”<\/p>\n
The group also announced strikes on “Northern Regional Command headquarters” of the Israeli military north of Safed with a rocket barrage. This escalation demonstrates the relentless cycle of action-reaction with no apparent endpoint.<\/p>\n
Neither side appears capable of decisive military victory, yet both continue operations that primarily harm civilians. Schools remain targets because combatants shelter in them. Hospitals become frontlines. Families huddle in underground spaces while bombs fall above. The strategic situation produces only humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n
| Metric<\/td>\n | Figure<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Students Out of School<\/td>\n | 500,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Public Schools Converted to Shelters<\/td>\n | 350+<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Total Deaths in War<\/td>\n | 1,100+<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Child Deaths Confirmed<\/td>\n | 122 minimum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Daily Economic Loss<\/td>\n | $3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Monthly Economic Loss<\/td>\n | $90 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Schools Reopened Pre-War<\/td>\n | 30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Teacher Displacement Rate<\/td>\n | Unknown (data gap)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nEmerging Mitigation Efforts and Their Limitations<\/h2>\n |