In light of the current collapse, it is imperative to recognize that the damage has affected all sectors of the state without exception, whether in varying proportions, and whether some of them have received unique attention and thus had greater chances of survival.
The education sector may be the most affected, and the most unable to continue. Basically, this sector was historically marginalized in Lebanon, and further marginalized following the Taif Agreement. Unfortunately, in this crisis, rather than developing strategic plans to save it, restrictions on it are being added. Even when some political parties have tended to show support in this field, it went exclusively to the private sector, at the expense of the public sector – when the issue is supposed to be reversed, or at least a merger between the two sectors is done.
The crisis indications in the education sector were evident on several levels, starting from the most basic student rights to the most extreme duties in educational policy - and in between. In our article we try to shed the light on most of these aspects, gradually from top to bottom:
Authority's View of State Sectors
It is no secret that education is not a priority of the ruling authority. This can be seen (for example) when reviewing the budget of the Lebanese University over the years; whereas the cumulative total “trimming" from 2005 to 2014 reached about 210 billion Lebanese Pounds, rather than consolidating or at least maintaining this budget, which is currently only about 370 billion LBP per year, and in Lebanese Pounds of course. Beyond the figures, the prevailing logic does not usually consider the education sector as a productive sector. The focus is often on the banking and tourism sectors (even though they rely on the rentier economy), or on agriculture and industry as the driving sectors of the productive economy. The education sector is being ignored, although it is at the heart of the "production" process, if we look at the student as a knowledge value that can evolve and develop its society at the same time.
Strategy of the Administrations
Private university administrations opted for adopting the so-called "hook policy", even if they did not explicitly declare it. They decided not to price tuition fees in dollars (and this is required), so they issued circulars declaring the maintaining of $1 = 1500 LBP. However, that comes on the condition that the second semester pricing is subject to change. This means that the administration will adopt the official exchange rate in the first semester installments, for students to register, and then adjust it (most likely according to the platform price, 3900 LBP) in the second semester, making up the difference, and more. Thus, the student has eaten the bait and got stuck with the hook, having to pursue his university year at a higher cost.
Teachers and double exploitation
Here, we're in the category of the affected people. Teachers, are in part essentially unprepared to offer classes online, having for decades been prisoners of the same monotonous curriculum. The other part is prepared, but bear the responsibility to update the study materials, individually (without any additional allowance), to bridge the huge gap between the requirements of distance education and the study material that exists in the first place. This should have been at the core of the ministry's missions since even before the time of the coronavirus. Not to mention the implications of the integrated method of education, in terms of health risks or in terms of prolonging the sessions to make up for the difference, but without considering it in the salaries. In facr, several schools and universities have deducted from the salaries of their teachers and employees, or even expelled some of them without prior notice.
Students, the weakest link?
As for students, they are the base of the pyramid. From registration difficulties to graduation and unemployment, they bear the brunt of the collapse. Even those who escaped and pursued their studies abroad, they became captives of bank circulars that seized their accounts and the transfers of their parents and hindered their academic career.
Internally, changes in the student structure are numerous, most notably "internal migration", first from private to formal education: for example, it is estimated that the Lebanese University will receive 5,000 – 6,000 additional students this year due to 1) the displacement from private universities, 2) the return of immigrant students who will not be able to complete their studies abroad after the exchange rate collapse, 3) those who have graduated under pass statements. Secondly, "internal migration" also means a student's exit from education in general, mainly because of his inability to secure registration fees, thus heading towards disguised unemployment. All this necessarily entails a blow to the level of education in Lebanon. Not to mention the high cost of books, stationery, transportation and communications...
In this context, Rana - who is a "former" student at a private university says: “I preferred to continue my education at the Lebanese University, for financial reasons. I just finished my second year, and have 3 years left. I can complete them at my former university if the tuition fee pricing stays at 1,500 LBP, but this does not seem certain, and I do not like to venture and be fooled in the middle of the year when the new rates are approved, which will prevent me from continuing, and thus I would have lost a university year.” At the same time, most final year students venture without changing their university, as they reckon that “even if we’ve been duped, and the pricing changes, it will be in our final university semester. It is bearable”. Rana adds: “The impact of these decisions is not just about financial matters. This reluctance and loss towards making our choice (dependent on unknown data), also adds psychological pressure on us”. As for the independent student clubs, they pointed out that the deteriorating financial situation will change all students’ approach to education, as they are now looking for the cheapest, regardless of the level, and they even no longer have the "luxury" to repeat their year, or start a new year if they intend to reduce study hours to work in parallel with those hours, and this in turn entails new problems.
But even so, students cannot be considered the weakest link, for a simple reason: their awareness of their rights. This puts them at the forefront of the revolutionary and activist groups in Lebanon. Most of them, thanks to the October 17th uprising, became more concerned with public affairs, and were able more than once to turn their internal issues into public opinion issues, and have started for months now organizing themselves into secular and democratic-oriented grassroots student organizations.
The horizon is almost blocked
Accordingly, solutions seem non-existent. Just as the crisis in the education sector is part of the entire system crisis, the solution of the first requires solving the second. However, rearranging the sector is possible with specific and urgent steps, to reduce the consequences of the collapse.
Administratively, a few measures related to public sector policies have become urgent. Such as determining the staff at the Lebanese University and high schools, as a cause and a consequence of the suspension of political quotas recruitment. On another level, some teachers find this to be the right moment to reposition vocational education at the forefront, and remove negative stereotyping from it. Vocational orientation would reduce the overcrowding of university education, provide the labor market with the professions required of it today, and partly solve the problem of disguised unemployment.
Economically, there is no solution but to restructure the general budget of the government, in a way that gives priority to productive sectors, including education. On the other hand, stop the waste gutters, and reinvest the capabilities of graduates in business and scientific research inside the country – rather than recruiting foreign companies. As for confusion, it is present in the file of distance education, and there seems to be no escape from "sacrificing" a generation because of the patch up policies.
“A crisis that shall pass?” No, this time the crisis is structural. If it is not addressed radically today, it will subsequently carry worse collapses. The time has come, then, to rearrange our priorities, and to realize that the education sector — thanks to the knowledge and manpower it produces — is the basic guarantor for the survival of society.