Save the Children’s Humanitarian Response to the
Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon
Education
More than 80% of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon – as many as 330,000 children aged 6-17 years are currently out of school. Education assessments have highlighted a number of barriers to learning
including differences in the Lebanese curriculum, unfamiliar teaching methods, transportation costs,
bullying and limited psycho-social interventions to help traumatized children.
Save the Children is working with partners to ensure that 40,000 Syrian children – many of whom have
been out of school for up to two years - will return to school this year. UNHCR is targeting a total of
70,000 refugee children as part of its back to school campaign.
But public schools remain under-resourced and unable to respond to the accelerating numbers of
refugees. The public school system currently has capacity to accommodate little more than the 300,000
students Lebanese students that are currently enrolled.
The second shift for the registration of children in public schools has opened in selected schools across
the country. However, there remains a lack of clear guidance from MEHE regarding the role of IPs. The
signed SOPs leave little room for Save the Children to monitor teaching/learning quality as well as
respect of child safeguarding rules by teachers.
The participation of Syrian children in the public education system has been set at a ceiling of 73,000
children (43,000 in 1st shift and 30,000 in 2nd shift). Using UNHCR’s current registration/ awaiting
registration data, there are an estimated 400,000 children of school going age in Lebanon, which means
that the public education system and the Ministry’s ceiling fails to reach 327,000 Syrian children. To
address this deficit, Save the Children’s Lebanon programme will also focus on delivering communityowned, -driven, and managed education, and potentially working in consortia with other INGOs. We
hope to have as many as 100,000 refugee children in formal education in non-formal centres –
community centres, informal settlements and collective buildings – this year.
Save the Children is also working to help provide extra classrooms, the rehabilitation of school premises,
support to teacher training and incentives. Schools in areas with high numbers of refugees also need
support with running costs related to extra students and assistance to institute second school shifts. As
part of our back to school programme 12120 teachers and refugee children have received teacher
boxes, and School-in-the-Box kits, providing them with much needed stationary.
In the Bekaa Valley and in the North of Lebanon, Save the Children is the principal partner for UNHCR
and MEHE for the delivery of non-formal education and the Back to School campaign.
So far we have reached more than 40,000 children through our education activities around Lebanon.
Save the Children’s Programming in the Northern Regions
Non formal Education:
 On Average 1659 children are supported in 10 schools through ALP and remedial classes
 Partnering with 2 LNGOs
 Active member of the Education Sector Working Group
 93 teachers were trained on the new Accelerated Learning Program curriculum to familiarize
them with the new materials.
 Classroom management, positive discipline, active learning and remedial strategies training was
conducted on 16th and 17th of November, to improve the performance of our teachers who are
teaching in our centers. 95 teachers and 4 supervisors attended the training
Back to School campaign:
 Community mobilization and registration of children into formal schooling, both 1st and 2nd shifts
or community- based education opportunities
 8508 children were registered in the first shift of the Back to School campaign in Akkar and Wadi
Khaled, and nearly 2000 students in Tripoli.
Stationary Distributions in Public Schools:
 603 teachers have received teacher boxes, and 6254 Lebanese and Syrian students received
school-in-a-box kits in 35 schools in Akkar
 5263 Lebanese and Syrian students received school-in-a-box kits in 28 schools in Tripoli.
Save the Children’s Programming in Bekaa Valley
Non formal Education:
 On average, 2515 children are participating in ALP (in 10 schools)
 120 teachers are involved in these activities
 90 teachers took part in a training on classroom management, held by the American University
of Sciences and Technology
Back to School campaign:
 Community mobilization and registration of children into formal schooling, both 1st and 2nd shifts
or community- based education opportunities
 10,000 refugee children will receive school bags, stationery and books, and receive support in
the payment of school fees.
 3944 children are registered for back to Back to school campaign in 46 schools, 1849 in the
second shift.
Future plans
We are working to ensure that by September 2014 all Syrian and host community children are able to
access formal education. We will work with the Lebanese government and MEHE to help devise viable
solutions, including but not limited to the recruitment of more teachers and if appropriate the building
and /or rehabilitation of more schools.