UNICEF announced in a statement that it, along with the international community, is providing support to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to ensure that children, teachers, and school administrations have what they need to return to in-person teaching and learning. Last week, it transferred $13.7 million to school funds and parent committees in 1,074 official schools, including 342 schools operating in the afternoon shift. The organization also began transferring the first installment of productivity payments to 13,160 contracted teachers and administrative staff, in addition to disbursing salaries to all contracted teachers.
UNICEF highlighted that increasing investment in education is essential for providing vulnerable children with inclusive and quality education, especially after their learning was disrupted over the past four years. It emphasized the need for the Lebanese government to allocate multi-year investments to keep students in school and work on bringing back over 700,000 dropouts to their studies. The UNICEF statement stressed that increasing funding alone is not sufficient to address the challenges facing education; there is also an urgent need to activate reforms and national policies aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending on education in Lebanon.
