91�鶹������Ʒ����

On 7 August 2019, Lebanon’s Minister of Education and Higher Education Mr Akram Chehayyeb and UNESCO Beirut’s Director Dr Hamad Al-Hamami launched the “National Strategy for Alternative Education Pathways: “Meeting the diverse learning needs for the vulnerable and marginalized children and youth in Lebanon”, at the Ministry of Education in Beirut.

The launch event was attended by the Director General of Education at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon Mr Fadi Yarak, in addition to other senior Ministry officials, representatives of embassies in Lebanon, diplomatic missions of donor countries, academics, as well as representatives of international organizations and UN agencies and local associations working on informal education.

Ms Rachel Samaha, who is in charge of the informal education program at the Ministry's comprehensive education unit, explained the priorities of the said national strategy, summarized in three main areas, namely: (1) Provide the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups of Lebanese and non-Lebanese groups, especially refugees, with alternative educational pathways that help them to acquire the basics of education, which they may have missed due to school drop-outs, and give them the opportunity to attend formal education; (2) Provide these groups with the knowledge and skills needed to help them achieve a better quality of life; (3) Strengthen and promote the institutional educational system, particularly with regards to the informal education tracks so as to meet the different educational needs in Lebanon.

For his part, Dr Al Hamami asserted that in the Arab region, “we need more than any other region for such models and alternative paths due to the protracted crisis in some countries of the region, where the disruption of the formal paths of education and the destruction of educational facilities and infrastructures for years have prevented millions of children from continuing their education in their own countries and displaced many to neighboring countries, all of which increased the challenges and burdens on the educational system of host countries.”  This has spurred UNESCO and other UN organizations alongside governments and the international community to support Arab countries in reviewing the prevailing policies and developing strategies to respond effectively to the unfolding crisis, through developing “national policies and strategies for alternative and informal education pathways in the Arab countries,” Al-Hamami added noting the leading role of Lebanon in this realm.