by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Souad, a Lebanese hairdresser who asked to be identified by her surname only, used to send her three children to a private school to receive quality education, but Lebanon's steep economic crisis has forced her to move them to the public education system since 2019.
"I had to remove my three children from the private school to a public one since the beginning of the crisis in 2019 as I could no longer afford to pay their tuition fees, let alone other expenses," Souad told Xinhua.
Souad is among the growing number of Lebanese parents pulling out their children from private schools due to the increased burden caused by the economic crisis. This year alone, Lebanon's Ministry of Education expects around 100,000 Lebanese students to shift from private schools to public ones.
Souad explained that her salary combined with that of her husband, who works at one patisserie in Beirut, can barely cover their living expenses following the collapse of the local currency, the Lebanese pound.
"My children's private school asked for 300 U.S. dollars and 12.5 million Lebanese pounds (375 U.S. dollars) for one child per year compared to only 500,000 Lebanese pounds per child at the public school," Souad said.
Since 2019, Lebanon's financial meltdown, dubbed by the World Bank as one of the worst crises since the 1850s, has decimated the country's middle class.
According to the United Nations, the crisis has plunged over 80 percent of the Lebanese population into poverty. Families' savings at banks vanished while salaries were devalued by over 90 percent due to the Lebanese pound's collapse.
Ahead of the crisis in 2019, only 30 percent of Lebanese students attended public schools and the rest went to private schools.
Lama Tawil, head of the Union of Parents' Committees in Private Schools, told Xinhua that around 40 to 50 percent of Lebanese parents work in private companies and have received salaries hikes in Lebanese pounds. However, they still cannot afford to entirely cover their children's fees in U.S. dollars at private schools.
She added that 30 percent of parents employed in the public sector have not received any salary increase so far.
"This leaves us with around 20 percent of parents who can provide their children with private education without worrying about fee hikes by schools," Tawil said.
Tawil said that the decision of private schools to increase tuition fees in U.S. dollars is illegal, and schools must prepare their budgets in the local currency before submitting them to the education ministry.
Imad Achkar, director general of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, confirmed that the fee increases by private schools this year and the year before are both illegal.
Yet, "the (education) minister does not want to adopt legal measures against private schools and their directors because the national interest today necessitates the ongoing operations of these establishments as the public sector cannot cater to a higher number of students," he said.
A director of a private school in Beirut, who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity, said that private schools were forced to raise school fees and demand the parents pay them in U.S. dollars in part in order to cover the rising expenses.
"We pay a big amount of money for private generators' subscriptions; we also need to pay decent salaries for our teachers to encourage them to assume their duties and responsibilities fully," the director said.
Lebanese caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi, who met on Tuesday with the representatives of international organizations and donor countries to solicit donations for Lebanese schools, warned that tuition fee hikes would lead to more dropouts from private schools while disabling public schools from offering quality education to all their students.
He also warned that Lebanon would not be able to provide educational services to non-Lebanese on its territories if Lebanese students fail to access proper education. ■
