- Title: Lebanon's public schools reopen amid war and displacement
- Date: 12th November 2024
- Summary: AMCHIT, LEBANON (NOVEMBER 11, 2024) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF AMCHIT SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOL'S BUILDING THAT IS HOSTING DISPLACED PEOPLE LAUNDRY HANGING IN FRONT OF WINDOWS DISPLACED PEOPLE GATHERING DISPLACED CHILD PLAYING WITH TOY GUNS DISPLACED PEOPLE GATHERING OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED LEBANESE WOMAN, FADIA YAHFOUFI, SAYING: “Of course, we w
- Embargoed: 26th November 2024 13:34
- Keywords: Israel Lebanon conflict displaced education school students war
- Location: AMCHIT AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: AMCHIT AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA001906712112024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the quiet seaside town of Amchit, 45 minutes north of Beirut, public schools are finally in session again, alongside tens of thousands of internally displaced people who have made some of them a makeshift shelter.
As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in September, hundreds of schools in Lebanon were either destroyed or closed due to damage or security concerns, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Of around 1,250 public schools in Lebanon, 505 schools have also been turned into temporary shelters for some of the 840,000 people internally displaced by the conflict, according to the Lebanese education ministry.
Last month, the ministry started a phased reopening, allowing 175,000 students - 38,000 of whom are displaced - to return to a learning environment that is still far from normal.
At Amchit Secondary Public School, which now has 300 enrolled students and expects more as displaced families keep arriving, the once-familiar spaces have transformed to accommodate new realities.
Two-and-a-half months ago, the school was chosen as a shelter, school director Antoine Abdallah Zakhia said.
Today, laundry hangs from classroom windows, cars fill the playground that was once a bustling area, and hallways that used to echo with laughter now serve as resting areas for families seeking refuge.
Fadia Yahfoufi, a displaced woman living temporarily at the school, expressed gratitude mixed with longing.
"Of course, we wish to go back to our homes... No one feels comfortable except at home," she said.
Zeina Shukr, another displaced mother, voiced her concerns for her children's education.
"This year has been unfair. Some children are studying while others aren't... Either everyone studies, or everyone is deprived and the school year should be postponed.," she said.
OCHA said the phased plan to resume classes will enrol 175,000 students, including 38,000 displaced children, across 350 public schools not used as shelters.
"The educational process is one of the aspects of resistance to the aggression our country is facing," Education Minister Abbas Halabi told Reuters.
Halabi said the decision to resume the academic year was difficult as many displaced students and teachers were not psychologically prepared to return to school.
In an adjacent building at Amchit Secondary Public School, teachers and students are adjusting to a compressed three-day week, with seven class periods each day to maximize learning time.
Nour Kozhaya, a 16-year-old Amchit resident, remains optimistic. "Lebanon is at war, but education won't stop. We will continue our education in order for us to be able to pursue our dreams," she said.
Teachers are adapting to the challenging conditions.
"Everyone is mentally exhausted... after all this war is on all of us," Patrick Sakr, a 38-year-old physics teacher, said.
For Ahmad Ali Hajj Hassan, a displaced 17-year-old from the Bekaa region, the three-day school week presents a challenge, but not a deterrent.
"These are the conditions. We can study despite them," he said.
(Production: Kuba Stezyski, Joelle Kozaily, Ghassan Kadouh, Riham Alkoussa) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None