“Lebanon Debate”
In light of the escalating controversy over the mechanism for calculating grades in schools, and after the decision to cancel this year’s official exams, educational questions are increasing about the standards of equality and justice between students in the public and private sectors, especially with the different deadlines and procedures adopted by the Ministry of Education for submitting grades.
In this context, the head of the Union of Parent Committees in Private Schools, Lama Al-Taweel, said in an interview with “Lebanon Debate” that “the mechanisms of the Ministry of Education have fallen the government into the trap for the second time, whether it was unintentional, and in this case the mistake can be corrected since most people do not make mistakes, or it was intentional, and then it is considered collusion and a blow to the government in its own backyard and planned by those aspiring to return and take over the Ministry of Education.”
Al-Taweel added, “The mechanism that was adopted for rehearsals or secondary school exams is unfair to a section of students, especially public school students, while we know very well those who have sought over the years to strike the official sector with failed policies in favor of some private schools, who have tried to federalize education since the beginning of the war and have failed, and have used the same methods in unfair plans and mechanisms.”
She continued: “When we called for justice for students, we were careful not to fragment the educational body, but it turned out that the concept of justice among some is sectarian, regional, and class-based.”
Al-Taweel touched on the issue of the approved deadlines, asking: “Why did the Ministry give private schools a deadline to submit students’ grades until July 15, while it asked public secondary schools to submit grades on June 12? What is the purpose of that?”, considering that “these are legitimate questions drawn up by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.”
In this context, she called for “correcting this error as soon as possible, deleting the phrase until 3/1/2026, and adopting the evaluation according to what each school has completed in terms of exams until the academic year stops, to prevent injustice to a large segment of students, especially since there was no prior statement to the students regarding the approval of grades until March 1.”
Al-Taweel concluded by stressing that “success at the end of the year is an acquired right for students who took more than one assessment and succeeded, and it should not be taken away or shortened by the first semester. Rather, each school should be left with the authority to determine the assessment according to what it accomplished during the year.”
