Lebanon’s school year of 2019-2020 has certainly been a stressful one for students, parents, and the educational institution as a whole.
With nearly 2 months left of the academic year, the Education Ministry has finally revealed its educational program moving forward.
On Friday, May 8th, Minister of Education and Higher Education Tarek Al-Majzoub held a press conference in which he detailed the dates on which educational institutions will reopen.
Schools, colleges, and universities will open again on Thursday, May 28th, and will remain so until the end of July, after which students will enjoy a 2-month summer break.
The 2020-2021 school year in Lebanon will begin after the end of the summer vacation, in October.
Classes that start on May 28th
For all university students and pupils enrolled in the upcoming official exams, in-person classes will begin on May 28th. This includes Grade 9 (Brevet) students, despite their official exams being canceled.
Minister Al-Majzoub said that weekly schedules for the aforementioned levels will be determined individually by the administration of each institution.
Administrators will also specify the date of each level’s final dismissal, depending on the requirements of each one. They may also choose to have 6-days/week of classes when needed.
Classes that start on June 11th
Exceptionally for Kindergarten and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grades of elementary school, education will continue, exclusively online, until the end of May.
After that, the pupils will automatically advance to the next grade and attend their new school year in October. Teachers will compensate for the materials missed in the past year in the 2020-2021 academic year.
For the rest of the educational levels, classes will resume in-person from June 11th until the end of July, with partial schedules and reduced materials that each school will determine later on.
Official exams
For all four sections of Grade 12 (Baccalaureate) and its equivalents, the first round of the official exams will take place in the second half of August, one month before the second round, which will be held in the second half of September.
Students partaking in this year’s official exams will exceptionally take on two groups of materials; the first is obligatory and the second is selective.
As for Grade 9 students, they will be automatically promoted to Grade 10 under two conditions:
- The student’s name must be present in the official lists of Grade 9 students, within the administrative deadlines.
- The student must physically attend the remainder of the school year from May 28 to the end of July.
Free applicants for the Brevet exams, on the other hand, will still undergo one round of official exams, in the second half of August.
The Education Minister said that the return to schools in Lebanon will be accompanied by proper health and social measures, in coordination with local health authorities.
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