Study targets at-risk Syrian, Lebanese students

Lebanon's Ministry of Education and Higher Learning last week launched a two-year, $3 million education programme that seeks to improve education outcomes for Syrian refugees and low-income Lebanese students.

"Research for Results", funded in partnership with the UK's Department for International Development, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, kicked off November 8th.

Based on its research into student performance, the programme will make recommendations on how to improve the quality of public and private education.

It will review the factors that contribute to continued school attendance and dropout, particularly among low-income Lebanese students and Syrian refugees.

Additional goals are to develop a contingency plan for refugee students and identify obstacles that impede the development of curricula for this population.

The education system and the relevant authorities will be evaluated, and the resulting data will be used to improve the quality and efficiency of education services and ensure all students have access to them.

This will take the form of a "set of studies on schools, the Education Authority, how citizens perceive the education sector and the educational outcomes they expect", said Ministry of Education director general Fady Yarak.

"The programme has added importance because it takes into account the new circumstances impacting the education sector as a result of the Syrian displacement to Lebanon," he told Al-Mashareq.

The ministry’s figures indicate there are 1.1 million students in formal education, 50% of whom are enrolled in private schools, 34% in public schools, 13% in free private schools and 3% in schools affiliated with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

"We found that about 40% of Syrian children, or about 200,000 out of 500,000 school-age students, are enrolled in school," he said. "So it is imperative to know the quality of services being provided to ensure that every child on Lebanese territory, including Syrians, has access to a good education."

Contingency plan for refugees

The programme, which will study schools, the education sector and some of the more successful initiatives, will pave the way for a contingency plan for refugee students, Yarak said.

It will develop various types of curricula for this population, he said, from formal education conducted via afternoon sessions to non-formal education, in order to accommodate as many children as possible.

"The research will examine the impact of the Syrian presence on the education sector, so we can deliver a quality of education that meets aspirations, within [the limits of] Lebanon’s resources," he said.

This will enable education policies and decisions to be developed based on accurate facts and figures rather than estimates and guesswork, he said.

"The curriculum shapes the student’s perspective and outlook," he said, adding that educational material is drawn from Lebanon's Constitution and laws.

Curricula are designed to encourage "full citizenship, to curb the phenomenon of violence and extremism", he added.

"Lebanon’s social environment is historically and traditionally open to others and is a model of Lebanon, and education on citizenship is a fundamental part of our project, and includes Syrian students as it does Lebanese students," he said.

Improving academic environment

The World Bank "is concerned with improving the learning environment for Lebanese and Syrian students alike", said Haneen al-Sayed, co-ordinater of the World Bank Human Development Programme in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

"We are working, through all programmes and plans, to alleviate the impact of Syrian displacement on all sectors, including the education sector," she told Al-Mashareq.

"One of the five studies will address the impact of the Syrian displacement on student learning in view of the presence of 500,000 school-age [Syrian refugee] students, only 200,000 of whom are in school," she said.

The research programme will offer teachers training so they are equipped to serve Syrian as well as Lebanese students, she said, in order to improve the learning environment for all students.

Additional initiatives to benefit Syrian refugees and low-income Lebanese students include the provision of textbooks, stationery and transportation without charge, she added.

Identifying and resolving problems

The programme's research should address "several issues to be of benefit to Syrian students, including school violence, the school environment and how to tackle the foreign language problem", said Maha Shuayb, director of the Centre for Lebanese Studies and a Lebanese American University lecturer.

Based on field studies she conducted on Syrian students in several Lebanese regions, she said, "the main problem they face is the curriculum, as Lebanon is determined not to modify it, and also the afternoon session problem, wherein students do not receive standard academic education".

One of the studies will focus on afternoon session education, she noted.

"So it must take into consideration some of the successful models of this type of school run by Syrian civil society organisations, and what is being taught in public schools," she said.

The studies must examine those models and incorporate them in order to make them available to all, she said, and should offer the Lebanese curriculum to Syrian students, but in the Arabic language.