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<TD class=red>Monday, January 22, 2007</TD></TR>
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<TD class=manchettebig>Schools in Lebanon get a failing grade</TD></TR>
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<TD class=manchettesmall vAlign=center height=20><EM>Despite heavy spending, sector requires 'long and deep reform'</EM></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<P class=articletext align=justify>BEIRUT: The Lebanese are known to boast in their educational achievements, but evidence - both anecdotal and empirical - is piling up to suggest that Lebanon's schools are producing young people who simply lack the skills they need to compete in a globalized world. In 2003 Lebanon was one of 60 countries to participate in an international exam used to assess math and science knowledge at the primary school level. Eighth graders across the country sat for the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) - and scored well below the average in each category by both regional and international standards.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>The results punctured any illusions about the quality of instruction in a country that prides itself on a well-educated, multilingual workforce. The average math and science scores in Lebanon were 433 and 393 respectively - out of a possible 700 - compared to the international averages of 467 and 474. Though Lebanese students outperformed their counterparts in other Middle East and North African countries in math, in science they ranked last among regional participants.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>"Even the highest-quality schools in Lebanon are not producing competitive students at the international level," the World Bank said in its study of the TIMSS results "Evidence suggests that Lebanon might be losing its human capital edge. The trend, if true, can be reversed, however, through a long and deep reform of the education sector."
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<P class=articletext align=justify>With its new reform program, the government aims to do just that. Last week the minister of education and higher education, Khaled Qabbani, announced the completion of a "penultimate draft of the national education strategy," which is currently being reviewed by Parliament's Education Committee before being released to the public. Supporters say that if it is approved, the strategy will be the first comprehensive national education policy in the country's history.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>During a workshop held at the Grand Serail last week, Qabbani outlined his ambitious reform program aimed at correcting what he identified as the main problems in the sector: the unequal distribution of schools and teachers between the six mohafazat (governorates); the low quality of infrastructure and atmosphere at schools; the absence of a fully fledged education policy; and antiquated administrative procedures at the Education Ministry .
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Over the next three years Qabbani plans to rationalize public spending on the school system to make infrastructure and technology uniform across districts, and to upgrade training for teachers and the ministry staff. Ultimately the government's goal is to provide universal, free, equal-opportunity education to all Lebanese citizens.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>They will have their work cut out for them.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Lebanon is one of the only middle-income countries that does not offer free, compulsory primary schooling to all citizens for nine years. Since traditionally the state has failed to provide quality public schooling, the vast majority of Lebanese who can afford to educate their children at private institutions - and even many who cannot - do so. Some 60 percent of Lebanese students are currently enrolled at private schools, where annual fees average $1,800. According to the government's own figures, Lebanese families spent between 11 and a whopping 25 percent of their annual household income on education expenditures in 1997.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>The Education Ministry recently reduced public-school registration fees, from between LL40,000 and LL90,000 per year to between LL10,000 and 30,000. Even the reduced charges are a considerable financial burden that many students at schools in low-income districts cannot afford. The World Bank has linked a variety of environmental factors to Lebanese students' TIMSS achievement, and access to basic education in general. Children from rural, low-income, unilingual households where parents had only primary education performed significantly worse in both science and math than those from urban districts and/or higher-income brackets.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Though the Lebanese government budgets a healthy sum for education spending - $600,000,000 in 2006, second only to defense and security - the TIMSS results serve as evidence that at least some of the money is not accomplishing what it is supposed to. Political considerations have traditionally influenced the allocation of personnel, instructional resources, and government funds, cementing chronic underdevelopment and poverty in the perennially neglected regions outside of the capital.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>The government acknowledges the unequal distribution of schools between regions in its latest economic reform program, which notes that "some schools suffer from a severe shortage while others have an abundance of teachers."
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<P class=articletext align=justify>According to the Education Ministry's own statistics, teacher qualifications are also dubious: Despite despite an existing law which requires primary-school instructors to have a specialized teaching degree and one year of training, and high-school teachers to have an advanced degree, some 33 percent of public-school teachers in basic education only have a high-school diploma.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>In crucial fields like math, languages, and science the rate of unqualified teachers exceeds 80 percent.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>The World Bank paid particular attention to one aspect of the TIMSS results, namely that pupils with weak second-language skills, usually from "disadvantaged backgrounds and lower-quality schools" where teachers lack adequate linguistic training, performed below the already sub-par national average. Another implication of poor science scores, said the bank, is that schools in low-income, rural districts lack the proper resources, such as lab equipment, for science instruction.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>The government says it plans to introduce a teacher-evaluation system to monitor the quality of instruction, and has also proposed a series of early-retirement schemes to shed unqualified educators.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>One of the most pressing issues on the table is the high level of dropouts and repetition of grades across the country, especially in poorer regions.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Haneen Sayed, the lead operations officer responsible for the World Bank's human-development work in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, told The Daily Star that a large portion of dropouts occur in grades four and seven, when there is a "quantum leap in the curriculum." She said the government's reform strategy contains two programs that will alleviate the financial burden of education for the poor, and "identify weaknesses in lower income brackets."
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Under the plan, the government will target subsidies at certain areas to cover costs of school-related expenses such as books, transportation, stationary, and daytime meals - on condition that recipients remain in school until the age of 14. The Education Ministry will also establish remedial centers to help poor students and provide technical training in various specialized disciplines. Poor households will also be exempted, either partially or fully, from public-school registration fees.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Sayed said waiving the $13 million of annual school charges that go to the ministry will reduce dropout and repetition rates in poorer districts.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>"In effect this does mean spending on the sector should increase, but this should be accompanied by reforms that cut the fat," Sayed said of the proposed programs targeted toward the poor. "There has to be reallocation. It the behooves sector to fix its own house before asking for more money."
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Experts say the ministry could reduce spending by consolidating existing schools with low attendance if an alternative facility exists within 2 kilometers. But most importantly, they say, the government needs to reduce expenditures and streamline bureaucracy at the ministry. Qabbani said the ministry had sought the help of an international consultancy to develop a new financial model, but the minister declined to go into detail.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>"The whole web of money flowing to education is unclear. No one goes what goes where, and spending is fragmented, " said Sayed.
<P class=articletext align=justify>"The fact is that the ministry only receives 65 percent of funds [earmarked for education] and the rest is directed through other agencies," she said. "Even the body that is supposed to account for the entire sector does not have full idea of what funds are spent on."
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Sayed added that organizational restructuring at the Education Ministry, which is chronically overstaffed and disorganized, is another opportunity for the government to cut some fat.
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<P class=articletext align=justify>Nothing was done to streamline bureaucracies when three portfolios merged to create the Education Ministry. To this effect, the ministry is planning go online and implement staff re-training programs over the next three years.</P></DIV></div></body></html>