October 26, 2026
The public education file in Lebanon is heading towards further escalation on the ground, with the Association of Contracted Teachers announcing the implementation of a sit-in on Monday morning at the Hasbani Bridge (the entrance to Hasbaya), in protest against the decision of the Minister of Education, Rima Karami, to merge classes in public schools. The protest is organized at nine o’clock in the morning in cooperation with the parents’ committees, the Hasbani Municipalities Union, and local activities, in defense of the continuity of the public school and in rejection of the decisions that the association deems unfair to students and teachers alike.
The association explained in a statement that the crisis began with the Minister of Education issuing a decision, coinciding with the start of the academic year, ordering the suspension of 3,500 teachers employed and contracted by the Fund from teaching, which resulted in the disruption of public schools and the reduction of school hours until 10:30 in the morning, in addition to many classes remaining without educational staff. She pointed out that after a month of protests, the minister retracted her exclusionary decision, but replaced it with a new mechanism requiring that classes with fewer than 15 students be merged with other classes, bringing the number of students in one classroom to about 36 students.
The association warned of the serious educational and social repercussions of these measures, especially gathering students of different levels and ages into one classroom, and dividing the 45-minute educational session between two classes, which reduces the actual teaching time for each group to only about 22 minutes. She also drew attention to the fact that many schools, especially in villages, occupy narrow residential buildings whose spaces do not accommodate these increasing numbers of students.
The association stressed that these measures ignore the fundamental differences between city and village schools, and would exacerbate the educational loss accumulated since the 2019 crisis and the Corona pandemic, in addition to raising school dropout rates. She reported that some parents have already begun withdrawing their children from public schools and transferring them to the private sector, which threatens the closure of entire classes and schools in the villages of the Hasbaya District, and threatens the future of contract teachers, especially those who have spent long decades in the public education sector.
The association concluded by criticizing the decision to lay off a number of contractors without prior warning or compensation, calling for unified efforts between the union, families, and municipalities to protect public education and ensure its survival. This escalation comes at a time when public schools in Lebanon are suffering from serious structural challenges represented by the lack of educational staff, scarcity of resources, and increasing living burdens on families, which puts the Ministry of Education before a difficult test to balance between rationalizing the distribution of resources and ensuring the quality of education and the continuity of schools in rural areas.
