- Title: Teachers' strike and soaring fees: Lebanon’s public school pupils miss class
- Date: 27th September 2022
- Summary: DEIR QUBEL, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 19, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER CLAUDE KOTEICH CHATTING WITH HER SON AT THEIR HOUSE VARIOUS OF KOTEICH'S DAUGHTER AND SON LOOKING AT LAPTOP SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER, CLAUDE KOTEICH, SAYING: "You know, high school teachers' level (of salary) some two or three years ago was very acceptable. We used to get a salary high enough that I could afford to put them (my kids) in private school." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER, CLAUDE KOTEICH, SAYING: "When we reached this current period where our situation receded that much as public high school teachers, I simply decided to move them (my kids) to public schools with me - like the students I am teaching and other people in Lebanon." VARIOUS OF KOTEICH'S DAUGHTER PLAYING THE GUITAR VARIOUS OF KOTEICH'S DAUGHTER AND SON WORKING ON LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER, CLAUDE KOTEICH, SAYING: "I was stuck between yes and no – waiting for our salaries to change, or if the education minister wanted to fulfill our demands. When we remained in our place, I took this decision decisively and at once, without give or take... I won't be able to put my kids in private schools even if I received a discount because private schools (fees) increased a lot." KOTEICH GESTURING / HOLDING A NOTEBOOK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER, CLAUDE KOTEICH, SAYING: "I found the number was very high and out of this world for me, so my decision originated from trust. It was a decision I took and I don't regret it at all." VARIOUS OF KOTEICH SPEAKING DURING INTERVIEW BEIRUT, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 22, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AT A PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS HANGING OUT IN CLASSROOM DEIR QUBEL, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 19, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER, CLAUDE KOTEICH, SAYING: "I noticed that their (my students') worries are beyond educational - they started to think about how they can make a living. They took on responsibility very early. I teach high school classes, this age is supposed to be thinking of their homework." BEIRUT, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 22, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EMPTY HALLWAY AT A CLOSED PUBLIC SCHOOL VARIOUS OF CHAIRS PLACED ON CLASSROOM TABLES AT A CLOSED PUBLIC SCHOOL VARIOUS OF BOOKS ON SHELVES AT A CLOSED PUBLIC SCHOOL (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE UNITED NATIONS' CHILDREN'S AGENCY UNICEF, EDOUARD BEIGBEDER, SAYING: "We have as well worrying numbers of an increase of children being more and more employed in the labour (in Lebanon), and some girls getting into early child marriage." VARIOUS OF SCHOOL BOOKS PILED ON TABLE AT A CLOSED PUBLIC SCHOOL (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE UNITED NATIONS' CHILDREN'S AGENCY UNICEF, EDOUARD BEIGBEDER, SAYING: "This is really where we're at a crossed roads, there's a kind of race against the clock to ensure that on the fifth of October (first week of October), we will have the right (kind of) opening and maintaining the school, bringing the out of school, enlarging the access to the public school and the private school and ensuring proper motivation to the teacher to ensure quality." PARENTS DROPPING OFF THEIR CHILDREN AT A PRIVATE SCHOOL VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING IN THE SCHOOL'S PLAYGROUND / AUDIO OF SCHOOL BELL RINGING VARIOUS OF TEACHERS INTERACTING WITH STUDENTS STANDING IN LINES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER, ABIR GAYELIAN, SAYING: "We are noticing that many parents are not being able to keep (their children) in private schools. They are having to move their children to public schools, and this is really affecting the psychology of children because they got used to a specific atmosphere. We weren't living this financial crisis before, parents were previously able to make it work in some way and secure their children, now making a living has become very hard. You feel the psychology of children getting tired, even from just hearing about the situation and what is happening in this country." BAGS PLACED ON CLASSROOM TABLES AT A PRIVATE SCHOOL / SIGN HANGING IN THE BACK READING (English): "WELCOME BACK. THE BOOKS MISSED YOU" BAGS ON CLASSROOM TABLES VARIOUS OF SIGN IN CLASSROOM READING (English): "THIS IS YOUR YEAR TO SHINE AND... LEARN, MAKE A DECISION, BE UNIQUE, BE PATIENT, HELP OTHERS, BE KIND, BE POSITIVE, MAKE FRIENDS"
- Embargoed: 11th October 2022 13:19
- Keywords: Lebanon crisis schools teacher
- Location: DEIR QUBEL AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: DEIR QUBEL AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Education,Middle East,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001815527092022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:School teacher Claude Koteich, her teenager daughter and 10-year-old son should have all been back in class weeks ago – but a crisis in Lebanon's education sector has left them lounging at home on a Monday afternoon.
Lebanon's three-year financial meltdown has severely devalued the country's pound and drained state coffers, pushing 80% of the population into poverty and gutting public services including water and electricity.
It has also left public schools shuttered so far this academic year, with teachers waging an open-ended strike over their severely devalued salaries and administrations worried they won't be able to secure fuel to keep the lights and heating on during the winter.
Koteich, 44, has taught French literature at Lebanese public schools for exactly half her lifetime.
"We used to get a salary high enough that I could afford to put them (my kids) in private school," she told Reuters in her living room in the mountain town of Deir Qubel, overlooking the Lebanese capital.
But since 2019, Lebanon's pound has lost more than 95% of its value as other costs skyrocket following the government's lifting of fuel subsidies and global price jumps.
From a monthly salary that was once about $3,000, Koteich now earns the equivalent of $100 – forcing her to make a tough choice last summer over whether to put her children back in costly private schools or transfer them to a public education system paralyzed by the pay dispute.
"I was stuck between yes and no – waiting for our salaries to change, or if the education minister wanted to fulfill our demands," Koteich said.
By September, there had been little progress on securing higher salaries given Lebanon's depleted state coffers. At the same time, her children's private school was asking for tuition to be paid mostly in cash dollars to guarantee they could afford to pay for expensive fuel and other imported needs.
That would amount to a yearly fee of $500 per student, plus 15 million Lebanese pounds, or about $400.
"I found the number was very high and out of this world for me," she said.
So as their former classmates don their private school uniforms, Koteich and her two children still have no clear idea when they will return to class.
Lebanon's education system has long been heavily reliant on private schools, which hosted almost 60% of the country's 1.25 million students, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.
However, the strain on households from Lebanon's financial collapse has forced a shift: around 55,000 students transitioned from private to public schools in the 2020-2021 school year alone, the World Bank has said.
But public education has been historically underfunded, with the government earmarking less than 2% of GDP to education in 2020, according to the World Bank - one of the lowest rates in the Middle East and North Africa.
And the combined stresses of recent years – from an influx of Syrian refugees starting in 2011 to the COVID-19 pandemic and the port blast which damaged Beirut – has beleaguered schools.
"I noticed that their (my students') worries are beyond educational - they started to think about how they can make a living... This age is supposed to be thinking of their homework," Koteich said.
The head of the United Nations' children agency UNICEF in Lebanon told Reuters that about one third of children in Lebanon – including Syrian children – are not attending school.
"We have worrying numbers of an increase of children being more and more employed in the labour (in Lebanon), and some girls getting into early child marriage," said Edouard Beigbeder.
A UNICEF study this year found that 38% of households had reduced their education expenses compared with just 26% in April 2021. This trend makes a return to class ever more important.
Some hope schools will re-open in October, although there has been no such indication from the government.
"There's a kind of race against the clock to ensure that on the fifth of October (first week of October), we will have the right (kind of) opening," Beigbeder said.
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