More than 60 students are attending a school in Ghobeiri under the rain and in the cold. Located behind Beirut’s Sports City, the school is hosting its students, who have no place in a public or private school, on the ground of an open-sided tank tent.
The mayor of Ghobeiry, Maan Khalil, posted on his Facebook account the picture of the school.
He captioned it saying: “A picture from a school in Lebanon and not in a country from the tenth world and below. A school in Ghobeiry welcomes students of the appropriate age to join the school according to the law.”
“This school is under a tank tent with exposed sides on the ground and the students write on a small wooden table,” mayor Maan Khalil described the unacceptable condition in which these young students have to learn.
He reported that there are about 64 students, and not all of them are Lebanese but also Palestinian and Syrian nationals who are destined to join this type of school.
Lebanon’s economic crisis is forcing families to pull tens of thousands of children out of private schools that educate most students in the country, and transferring them into a long-neglected state education system that is already struggling to cope.
The Education Ministry estimated in July that 120,000 students were expected to join public schools next year as their parents could no longer afford to send them to private ones.
However, no crisis does justify permitting young students to suffer harsh days through a winter that is barely starting and a cold that will just increase and remain for several months.
The state, which is self-claimed bankrupt yet is still investing in large purchases, notably the $55.5M for Humvees among others, does have more than enough to at least ensure a safe venue for these young students, and repair damaged schools.
