Recommendation 81: Develop a national strategy for the reduction of poverty depends on supporting the poor and the poorest families.
Recommendation 82: Encourage national investments to create new jobs for youth to support the economic cycle.
Chapter Eight: Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities
Education is one of the most integral aspects vital for the nurture and complete development and growth of a child. Lebanon’s educational sector is witnessing several challenges in formulating inclusive educational programs and preserving a high quality of educational curriculums. As of 2011, the public spending on education has constantly decreased from 2% of the total government 2008 annual budget to 1.6% which is less than half of what other Arab countries allocate for their educational sector43. This reality has affected the overall quality of public schools leading parents to abstain from enrolling their children at public government owned schools adding the burden of cost of primary education onto Lebanese families who in return, have put their children in private schools because of a lack of confidence in the services provided. Moreover, it is of great importance to mention that 54.4% of the teachers in public schools and around 30% of elementary school principals do not hold university degrees44. The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education launched the Quality Education for Growth National Education Strategy in 2010, a project expected to come to a close in 2015. This strategy aimed at reforming the public and higher education to meet the country’s development and construction needs45, however no progress has been made available despite the project’s end date.
In 2011, Law 150 was adopted on compulsory education until the last stages of elementary education for children in Lebanon. However, to this day, the failure of parents to not enroll their children in schools is not considered a criminal offense and is not punishable by law. There are various barriers to education, such as refugee status, people affected by conflict and finally weak school administration and underspending from the Ministry. According tothe UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring report, out of a total 423,500 eligible primary school age population, 12,463 are out of school46.
The plight of the Syrian refugees and the war in neighboring Syria has had its fair share on the already weak educational sector in Lebanon. As of 2014, there have been around 420,000 refugees aged 6-14 who are in need of educational services and many of these children have already been out of school for 2 or more years47. The overall enrolment rate, according to a study conducted by the UNHCR in December 2014 was around 31% for primary school education and less than 2% for secondary education where unfortunately, 80% of refugee children are now out of school48 either working in un-dignifying conditions or begging as street children. Such figures highlight substantial problems for the generations of the future.
Lebanon has taken some steps to ease restrictions on secondary school enrollment; In March, the Ministry of Education stopped requiring Syrians to present transcripts to take the Brevet “ intermediate official exam “, which is required for admission to secondary schools. Furthermore, a UNESCO program now covers secondary school enrollment fees for non-Lebanese students.49
The integration of children with special needs in public schools still lacks progress in the absence of a national guarantee of the right of persons with disabilities to access education in Law 220/2000. Many obstacles still exist in the path of ensuring access to education, including the absence of statistics, data, and studies related to persons with disabilities. Moreover, the absence of appropriate infrastructure and environment compatible with persons with disabilities. According to the ‘Background paper prepared for the Education for ALL’ issued by the UNESCO in 2014 in Lebanon, ‘The majority of children with disabilities are in special care institutions, and private schools have a policy of automatically eliminating students with disabilities’.50 PWDs enrolled in regular official schools make up only 1% of PWDs who are of schooling age. A Survey conducted by LPHU to assess the accessibility of 70% of official high schools in Beirut showed that only 0.04% of them were equipped to receive students with disabilities.142 The Ministry of Education has taken only one step during the past four years in developing a strategic plan for the educational integration for PWD; however after allocating a budget for its implementation, this plan wasn’t submitted to the Cabinet to be adopted and worked on.51
Games and leisure are of prime importance for the development of a child’s intellect. It helps them grow and understand how they can overcome failure and teaches them how to strategize, evaluate and finally gives them a practical hands-on approach on decision making. According to a study conducted by ALEF as part of a project by Manara Network, 62.55% of all children targeted52 in the interview stated that there is an absence of safe, child- friendly areas utilized for recreational activities.
Recommendation 83: Ensure the right to compulsory and free education for all, and increasing the age for the compulsory and free education to the age of 15 as per the international standards.
Recommendation 84: Adopt an oriented strategy towards improving the quality of public education especially in the rural areas on the basis of a program that reduces dropping out and adapts the school environment with the basic needs of the children and persons with disabilities, and works on prohibiting the double-shift schools
Recommendation 85: Ensure the allocation of efficient resources to education in state budget raising the expenditure rate of the state budget on education just as the developed countries, particularly in the field of scientific research
Recommendation 86: Guarantee the enrolment and education for Syrian refugee children.
Recommendation 87: Adopt a comprehensive education strategy and the integration of students with disabilities in the general education system
Chapter IX: Special Protection Measures
First: Refugee children
Palestinian refugee children:
According to the study53, conducted by UNRWA, the number of Palestinian children registered at UNRWA amounts at 495,000 children, while the number of Palestinians actually living in Lebanon ranges between 260,000-280,000 children. The study covered 12 refugee camps in Lebanon in addition to the surrounding areas (outside the camps). It covered 2974 families of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and 1,050 Palestinian refugees from Syria. This study is extremely important because it also documents the situation of more than 430,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria and living now in Lebanon. The situation of these refugees has been taken into account in the said study.
This report covers the situation of all Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon regardless of the time of their entry, their registration at UNRWA and legal status at the Lebanese authorities. By measuring the rate of poverty, the rate of extreme poverty dropped to the half, with respect to the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, from 6.6% to 3.1% since 2010, while the general poverty rate is still the same at 65% over the past five years. The category of youth is the most affected by poverty among the refugees, as 74% of teenagers are living under the poverty line, while 5% of them live in abject poverty. As for the suffering of the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon from poverty, it can be described as the worst suffering, as 9.2% of them are living in abject poverty (as 3,500 individuals are unable to meet the basic food needs), while 89.1% of them are generally poor (35,000 individuals are unable to meet their basic food and non-food needs). The average monthly per capita expenditure of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon is less than half the average per capita expenditure of a Lebanese national, i.e. USD 195 against USD 429 respectively. However, the average monthly per capita expenditure of the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon is less than the average monthly per capita expenditure of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, which is less than USD 140.
Educational attainment and decent employment opportunities are considered to be from the most important preventive measures of fighting poverty. The increase of educational attainment and attendance rates is relevant to the increase of expenditure among Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees from Syria. It is worth mentioning that the enrollment rate of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to education is significantly high, especially at the primary stage. The rate of enrollment in secondary education among Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon increased from 51.1% to reach 61.2% since 2010. However, the enrollment rate of Palestinian refugees from Syria in education is less than the enrollment rate of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. The reasons for that include the remoteness of schools and universities, restrictions on movement, and lack of ability to buy school supplies. The enrollment rates of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon differ from those of Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon according to the educational stage. While the enrollment rates of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon amount to 97.2% in primary stage and 84.2% in the preparatory stage and 61.2% at the secondary stage, the enrollment rates of Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon amount to 88.3% and 69.6% and 35.8% in the same stages respectively. It has been found that the enrollment rate of Palestinian students, who came from Syria and living inside the camps, in schools is much higher (93.7%) than that of students living outside the camps (82.6%), which indicates that the restrictions imposed on students regarding their movement might have a negative impact that makes them refrain from getting education outside the camps.
The factor of unemployment contributes to spreading poverty among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The unemployment rate among Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon amount to 23.2% (by a significant increase from the rate of 2010 which amounted to 8%). Such rate amounts to approximately 31% among women. On the other hand, the unemployment rate among the Palestinian refugees from Syria is still alarming as it amounts to 52.5%. Such rate amounts to 48.5% among men and reaches a spectacular level among women up to 68.1%. Approximately 80% of the labor force among Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are either self-employed or wage-workers. The main source of income of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon is self-employment at the rate of 41% followed by wage-work at 37.8% and the aids of UNRWA through the social safety network program at 33.5%. The Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon do not only suffer from unemployment, but also the vast majority of them are working in low-paid jobs that are in most cases are characterized by cruel and exploitative and unsafe working conditions. For example, 53.4% of the workers (from the Palestinian refugees from Syria) receive daily wages, and the majority of them (97.7%) only have verbal agreements with their employers, which allows the employer to terminate their employment at any time without prior notice. Moreover, 98.2% of the workers do not get sick or annual leaves.
The study mentioned that the health conditions and access to health services of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon heavily rely on UNRWA services, as most of the respondents agreed on that, and this was confirmed by the study. The rate of suffering of at least one individual of a chronic disease amounted to 81.3% among the families of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, while it amounted to 83% among the families of Palestinian refugees from Syria. 63% of respondents in the study from amongst Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon reported that at least one family member is suffering from an acute disease during the past six months, while such rate amounted to 75% among the respondents from Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon. In addition, the families of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Palestinian refugees from Syria reported that 10% of their members are disabled. The health conditions of Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon improve by the increase of educational attainment and employment levels.
The levels of food insecurity among Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are similar to the levels of 2010; however, the number of families that suffer from acute food insecurity is increasing. The levels of prevalence of (moderate and acute) food insecurity remain, in general, without a significant change from the study of 2010 (61.5% in 2010 compared to 62% in 2015). There is an increase of four percent in the rate of acute food insecurity and a similar decrease in the number of families classified as suffering from moderate food insecurity. 38% of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon have food security, while 38% suffer from moderate food insecurity and 24% suffer from acute food insecurity. In addition, there is an alarming rate amounting to 27% of the children among the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are living in families suffering from acute food insecurity. It appeared that the Palestinian refugees from Syria are more vulnerable, as only 6% of them have food security and 63% of them are suffering from acute food insecurity. The Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon are subject to legal restrictions as well as restrictions on their movement. In addition, their access to the labor market is unsafe, and they are subject to exploitative work conditions. Such factors might explain the gap existing among the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon with respect to the rates of food security.
The housing conditions of the Palestinian refugees are extremely hard, as the houses are heavily overcrowded and suffering from lack of maintenance, power supply, adequate sanitation networks and waste disposal sites. In addition, the houses suffer from moisture and water leakage. These conditions prevail in most of the houses of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon and living in camps. While 46% of the Palestinian refugees from Syria are living in extremely hard and overcrowded housing conditions, this number significantly decreases among the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, as it amounts to 9%. This is concluded from the fact that the housing places of 78% of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon suffer from moisture and 62% of the houses suffer from water leakage and 52% of which suffer from poor ventilation and 55.2% of the extremely poor lighting. On the other hand, 81.1% of the houses of the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon suffer from moisture, and 68% from the water leakage, and 56.4% from poor ventilation, and 57.6% of which are considered to be very dark.
The Palestinian refugees from Syria are living in constant fear of deportation, which is linked to marked declination in registration of students, who are not living in camps compared to camp residents and Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon, in schools. Approximately 60.6% of the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon fear of being deported and 67.8% of them have fears concerning the safety of their families. Moreover, 57.1% of Palestinian refugees from Syria feel insecure because of the social environment around them. Regardless of the region or the camp or group, the living conditions of the participants in the study improve and they earn some general welfare and their sense of security gets promoted when they have decent work and advanced educational attainment. By using a multi-dimensional poverty index, including education and employment in addition to the expenditures, about quarter of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are poor compared to 64% of the Palestinian refugees from Syria. Therefore, any policy linking between improvement of the means of access to the labor market, work conditions, employment opportunities, increase of educational enrollment, and quality of education at the various educational levels and stages will serve and benefit the mental, physical and financial aspects of both the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees who came from Syria to Lebanon.
Despite the amendments, which were introduced in August of 2010 to Article (95) of the Labor Law and Article (9) of the Social Security Law and resulted in cancelling work permit fees for the Palestinian refugees who were born in Lebanon and cancelling the policy of reciprocity with respect to calculation of end of service gratuity and work injuries, such amendments had no positive impact on their work conditions, as such study confirmed that less than 3.3% of the Palestinian refugees have formal work contracts registered with a notary public and are able to submit an application for obtaining a work permit to maintain their acquired rights. The refugees face one of the worst conditions that are increasingly deteriorating due to the social and economic situation which is getting worse in Lebanon and the continuation of the crisis in Syria. Approximately two-thirds of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are poor, and this percentage has not changed since 2010. In addition, the discriminatory laws against them impede their ability to improve their living conditions and livelihoods.
The deteriorating infrastructure, lack of recreational places, dilapidated alleys, deteriorating water and wastewater treatment systems, contaminated water, and tangled electric wires extended next to open drainage channels constitute a grim picture of the situation in the camps where more than 63% of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon reside.
Based on the foregoing and due to the restrictions imposed on many of their rights, the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon depended on UNRWA as the main source of aid and provision of services since 1950. UNRWA provides such refugees with primary and secondary and vocational education, health care, relief, social services, infrastructure services, camps development services, protection services and services of responding to emergencies. UNRWA also works closely with the government authorities and other non-profit international organizations and institutions for provision of resources and refugee services.
The number of Palestinians, who lost their identity documents, in Lebanon is estimated at 4,000 people. The Embassy of Palestine issues a certificate for proving citizenship after the applicant provides a proof that he is of a Palestinian origin and has entered Lebanon after 1967. In 2008, all the concerned Lebanese official bodies agreed to provide the individuals who lost their identity documents with “ID Cards” valid for one renewable year.On 2014, the total number of Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon (0-18 years) registered with UNRWA amounted to 133,842 children including 16,955 displaced children from Syria representing 12% of the Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon.
There are no obstructions that prevent Palestinian students from entering Lebanese public schools. However, through practice, we found out that a lot of departments of public schools refrain from registering Palestinian children in their schools under the pretext of lack of seats or reaching the required number.
The Palestinian refugees benefit from the services of public and private hospitals and any of the other health services provided by the Ministry of Public Health (vaccination programs, essential drugs, training programs, etc.) through contracts entered into by UNRWA with hospitals for provision of health and therapeutic services. UNRWA has contracted with 13 government hospitals. It should be noted that UNRWA has recently reduced the health services as a result of the debts due on it and the lack of funding from donor countries in the United Nations, which exposes the Palestinian refugees to the risk of dying at the doors of hospitals, especially children, as a result of UNRWA’s policies of reducing the health coverage.As a result of an agreement concluded between the Ministry of Public Health and UNRWA, the Palestinian refugees can now buy the medications of cancer through the clinics of UNRWA at the reduced price at which the government hospitals get them.
UNRWA provides free comprehensive primary health care services to the Palestinian refugees through 28 health centers in the camps and gatherings outside the camps. UNRWA’s health program was developed to include full hospitalization services to the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. UNRWA has been working since 2014 on integrating mental health services and psychosocial support in the primary health care centers affiliated to it through improving the abilities of capabilities of diagnosis, referral and provision of services. UNRWA has been providing medical services since 2014 to the girls who suffered from rape and sexual assault as part of the hospitalization program.
Recommendation 88:The Lebanese government should ratify the refugee convention and provide Palestinian refugees with their basic human rights in relation to access to identity cards, health services, quality education, work and decent housing.
Recommendation 89: UNRWA should plan its programs with Palestinians in Lebanon and Palestinians coming from Syria based on needs assessments as there is a discrepancy between the provision of services and the actual needs on the ground within and outside Palestinian camps.
Recommendation90: Enhance coordination between municipalities and Palestinian Popular Committees to improve the infrastructure in the Palestinian camps.
Syrian refugee children:
Education
With the continuing Syrian refugee influx, increased demands are placed on the Lebanese public education system to accommodate the refugee population. In June 2014, the MEHE released the RACE Strategy, which aims to ensure that 470,000 vulnerable school-aged children — those affected by the Syria Crisis including underprivileged Lebanese children — are able to access quality formal and non-formal educational opportunities. RACE further seeks to improve the quality of learning for all children in Lebanon. RACE is in the process of being reviewed to develop a RACE II Plan.54
In the 2014-15 academic year, a total 101,362 Syrian and other non-Lebanese children were enrolled in Lebanese public schools (first and second shift), which represents about 25 percent of the total number of refugee school-aged children. For the new school year, the MEHE has indicated that 200,000 non-Lebanese, including Syrian children, can enter first and second shifts (45,000 first shift and 155,000 second shift) in an effort to integrate more school-aged refugees into the formal system. In total there are 1,278 Lebanese public schools and of these 259 will be open for a second shift. This is a considerable increase from last year where only 144 were open for a second shift. In order to ensure education closest to areas where the most vulnerable families live, the MEHE and the UN conducted a vulnerability mapping supplemented by quantitative assessments conducted at the field level. Based on that exercise, the number of schools opening for a second shift has increased significantly. Health and psychosocial counsellors will be present during this academic year 2015-16 inside the schools to enhance and support the well-being of children who have faced difficult circumstances.55
It must be highlighted that there have been substantial efforts by the government to ensure the right to education for all boys and girls (aged three to 18) in Lebanon with the support of the international donor community. As from the onset of the crisis, Syrian children were allowed to enrol in public schools and required documentation was waived. Since 2013, an increasing number of second afternoon shifts) were offered. This number had risen to 259 public schools running second shifts in September 2015, allowing the enrolment of 200,000 Syrian children during the academic year 2015-16. This is in addition to 10,000 Syrian children attending the MEHE-led Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) as well as MEHE’s efforts to ensure quality standards from non-formal programmes as well as clear pathways from formal to non-formal education via the establishment of a Non-Formal Education Framework. However, the speed at which this framework will be developed, the availability of funding to ensure its implementation, partnerships with the civil society and the timely development of clear operationalisation plans will determine to which extent the Framework will effectively contribute to ensuring the right to (quality) education of Syrian children.56
The present education system does not allow for the equitable access of quality education by all children. There are regional disparities in the number of teachers, the availability and condition of school buildings and infrastructure, and of learning materials and equipment, with major shortcomings particularly in rural areas. Rural and/or deprived areas have also been the most affected by the Syrian influx, resulting in additional pressures on the system and further affecting educational quality.57
In terms of retention, the quality of education in the public sector is a major factor contributing to the dropout rate, caused by a lack of clear criteria and insufficient teachers’ qualification, curricula, and a poor school environment. In addition, physical and humiliating punishment – though forbidden in public schools as per the Official MEHE Decree No. 95 dated June 9, 2012, and reminder No. 104/196023/4/2013 – is a widespread practice which contributes to students’ aversion to school and their eventual dropout. Dropout rates of Lebanese have slightly increased since the Syrian influx. Similarly, the dropout rates for Syrian children are estimated to be high, although dropouts are not systematically tracked.58
