The war in southern Lebanon is confronting the education sector with a new test as the academic year approaches, with schools among the institutions hardest hit by Israeli bombardment and destruction.
Education officials say rebuilding them is no longer just an academic priority. It is essential for the return of thousands of families to border villages.
As damage assessments continue and repair work is prepared, fears are mounting that delays could prevent thousands of pupils from resuming their education normally. The concerns come alongside UN warnings that the crisis could deepen and official calls to protect educational institutions.
Minister calls for a halt to attacks on schools
Education and Higher Education Minister Rima Karami said educational and social institutions remained a main target of the Israeli enemy, citing the destruction of the Abdul Rauf Fadlallah Educational and Social Complex in Ainata, in the Bint Jbeil district.
“This systematic destruction of educational and care institutions proves, time and again, that the enemy is seeking to make the return to occupied villages more difficult, because schools are central to keeping families in their towns and villages,” Karami said in a statement.
“Faced with this bitter reality, we renew our appeal and call on major and influential countries to pressure Israel to stop demolishing educational institutions and homes, particularly as we are still at the start of negotiations aimed at achieving calm and securing an Israeli withdrawal from our territory.”
Her comments came after the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in early July that at least 100,000 children in Lebanon could fail to return to school at the start of the next academic year unless urgent action was taken before September to repair damaged schools.
UNICEF said 340 public and private schools had sustained varying degrees of damage, while 17 had been completely destroyed in the governorates of Nabatieh, South Lebanon, the Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
Ministry figures show scale of destruction
The warnings are also reflected in figures from the Education and Higher Education Ministry, which show the extent of the damage inflicted on the sector.
Ministry data issued in early July showed that 352 public and private schools had been damaged, including 26 that were completely destroyed. More than 125,000 students were affected.
Of 239 damaged public schools, 20 were completely destroyed, 27 sustained severe damage, 63 suffered moderate damage, and 129 sustained minor damage. The damage affected 71,446 students.
Another 113 private schools were damaged. Six were completely destroyed, 26 sustained severe damage, 39 suffered moderate damage, and 42 sustained minor damage, affecting 53,761 students.
The damage also reached vocational and technical education, with 35 institutions affected. Four were completely destroyed, including two public and two private institutions.
The ministry said the destruction of public schools was concentrated in the south. Eight schools were destroyed in the Bint Jbeil district, seven in Marjeyoun, four in Tyre and one in Nabatieh, making those districts the hardest hit in terms of educational infrastructure.
Southern schools need extensive repairs
While the ministry figures offer a nationwide picture, field information obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat shows the scale of the damage in southern Lebanon and the work required before the next academic year.
Education sources in the south said an initial assessment found that eight schools had been completely destroyed in frontline villages, while about 100 others needed varying levels of repair and maintenance before they could receive pupils.
Most of the schools destroyed were in frontline villages, the sources said.
Damage elsewhere ranged from direct shell strikes to the wider effects of bombardment. Windows, doors and ceilings were shattered, buildings were cracked and classrooms and other educational facilities were damaged.
Many schools in relatively safer areas were also used as shelters for displaced people during the war, damaging furniture and equipment. Those schools now need classrooms repainted, facilities repaired and desks and chairs replaced, the sources said.
The most urgent task is to replace shattered glass and repair windows and doors before winter, the sources said.
War threatens the right to education
Concern is growing not only over the physical destruction, but also over its impact on the future of thousands of students.
That has prompted parliament’s Education Committee to step up contacts with the relevant authorities.
MP Bilal al-Hashimi, a member of the committee, said schools and educational institutions were protected under international laws and conventions and that continued attacks threatened the future of thousands of students.
“The parliamentary Education Committee is closely following this issue, and we are working to bring it before the relevant authorities to put an end to the targeting of educational institutions, because what is happening cannot be ignored,” Hashimi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Educational institutions are civilian facilities dedicated to education and must not be targeted under any circumstances. International laws and resolutions guarantee the protection of schools and children’s right to education, and no one has the right to deprive them of that right.”
Hashimi said the committee remained in contact with the relevant international bodies.
The continued destruction of schools, he said, threatened the future of students in southern Lebanon, inflicted serious damage on the education system and violated children’s right to continue their education.
