Many of Lebanon’s children ‘may never get back to school’

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1.2 million children in Lebanon have been out of school.

Lebanon’s dire economic crisis faces the risk of turning into an “education catastrophe”, a leading humanitarian organisation has warned, with vulnerable children facing the possibility of never returning to school. In a report published on Thursday, Save the Children said since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1.2 million children in Lebanon have been out of school. Over the past year and a half, the pandemic has exacerbated the socioeconomic inequality, with more than half of Lebanese families living in poverty. The situation for Palestinian and Syrian refugee families in the country is even worse at 70 and 90 percent, respectively.