Israel’s war creates ‘lost generation’ of Lebanese students

Beirut, Lebanon – Israel’s war has created a ‘lost generation’ of schoolchildren in Lebanon, widening social divides and damaging national cohesion, according to education experts.

Israel has destroyed schools in southern Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of students to flee. Hundreds of educational facilities have been turned into temporary shelters for thousands of displaced people, disrupting a school system already battered by economic crisis.

Some schools have shifted to online learning and other programmes to reach students, but experts say many are still being left behind. In an effort to make up lost time, the focus has narrowed to science and maths, while subjects such as civics are neglected.

In a country as sectarian as Lebanon, that could lead to a dangerous future.

“The mission of the education system is to build citizens,” said Carlos Naffah, an academic researcher. “We don’t want to face the fact that we have lost a generation.”

Temporary patch

On 2 March, Israel escalated its war against Lebanon for the second time in less than two years. The move followed Hezbollah’s first response to months of Israeli attacks, including more than 10,000 violations of the November 2024 ceasefire between the two sides.

Since March, Israeli attacks have displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon, including 500,000 school-age children, according to UNESCO. Not only have hundreds of thousands of students lost their homes, but many of the schools they attended are inaccessible.

According to UNESCO, 339 schools are located in active conflict zones in Lebanon, while hundreds more are operating as collective shelters, affecting the education of an additional 250,000 children. Another 100 schools are in high-risk areas that may soon become inaccessible.

With many students unable to attend school, some institutions have switched to online learning. But experts say this has limits, especially for children from low-income families. A series of overlapping crises has meant every school year since 2019 has been disrupted for one reason or another.

“Hybrid learning has become the de facto norm in Lebanon over the past few years due to continuous instability, from the October 2019 revolution to COVID-19, the economic crisis and the current war,” said Tala Abdulghani, a senior researcher at the Asfari Institute. “However, it often proves ineffective, particularly for disadvantaged students, due to limited internet access, electricity shortages, lack of devices and unstable living conditions.”

The Ministry of Education, in coordination with UNESCO, has proposed other solutions such as running multiple shifts in public schools and setting up temporary learning centres. They have also integrated psychosocial and mental health services for students.

“Children are losing routine, stability, friendships and normalcy,” said Maysoun Chehab, a senior education specialist at UNESCO. “Many carry trauma, anxiety, fear, insecurity due to repeated displacement, exposure to violence and prolonged instability.”

Widening inequality

Experts say the Education Ministry and NGOs are supporting students as best they can, but the economic crisis and a global decline in humanitarian aid make it harder for families to find solutions.

“Poverty has increased dramatically, adding more pressure on families struggling to survive,” Chehab said. “Families face impossible choices between paying for transport, food, heating or keeping their children connected to education via the internet.”

Chehab said those choices lead to dropout rates, rising child labour and early marriage. “All of this is happening while humanitarian funding is under immense pressure, and education emergencies are among the most underfunded areas worldwide.”

Even before the conflict with Israel began in October 2023, Lebanon’s education system was in poor shape. The economic crisis had eroded a once-thriving middle class, with Lebanon’s Gini coefficient – which measures income inequality – rising from 0.32 in 2011 to 0.61 in 2023, according to the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. A 2024 study by ESCWA ranked Lebanon among the top 1% of the world’s most unequal countries, even before the latest Israeli attacks.

“The war has an uneven impact across the country, with educational inequality increasing as geography and socio-economic status increasingly determine whether children can access learning,” Abdulghani said. “In the south, many students have stopped attending school altogether due to displacement, insecurity and schools being located in conflict zones.”

Overlapping shocks

Students and school-age children are the primary victims, but the education system has also been deeply affected by the hardships faced by teachers.

“What we are seeing is the emergence of a deeply unequal education, where some children continue learning while others face prolonged disruption, loss of knowledge, trauma and isolation,” Abdulghani said. “This is beyond economic barriers, infrastructure collapse, limited access to distance learning and the huge psychological burden.”

Public-school teachers in Lebanon have struggled for a living wage for years. With low pay, many take extra work such as tutoring. In recent years, the economic crisis and currency devaluation have cut their salaries by about 80%.

“Teachers are the backbone of any education system, and they are paying a huge price,” Chehab said. “Since 2019, 30% of the teaching force has left the country or changed careers.”

Many teachers are among those displaced, facing threats to life in addition to economic hardship.

“The education system could survive one shock, but these are overlapping shocks stretching over years,” Chehab said.

Most experts say current Education Minister Rima Karami is competent, but structural factors such as economic crisis, political corruption and lack of humanitarian aid require much more. One researcher called for ‘out-of-the-box thinking’.

“The fear is that without serious nationwide intervention, these disparities will leave long-term consequences and push an entire generation behind,” Abdulghani said.