A sustainable solution for the Lebanese eduction sector : a public policy approach

Abstract

Lebanon has swiftly turned from an inspiration to the region in terms of its educational policies and academic achievement since the 16th century, to a country lingering way behind. The analysis of a data set describing the Lebanese public education sector showed aggressively low student per teach ratios in several public schools with the cost of a student in some public schools tripling that of the average cost of a student in the private sector. Those numbers could well describe the high levels of corruption and the severely harmed accountability system. Adding to that an almost obsolete curriculum, political clientelism, and the lack of 21st century teacher training has well led to dramatically low academic results in PISA and TIMSS assessments. On the other hand, Lebanon is one of the few countries were only thirty percent of the total number of enrolled students are part of the public sector. The strong presence of religious schools and their social, economic, and political impact over history have placed them as an inevitable choice from their communities. Nevertheless, seventy percent of the student population does not get any return on tax in the education spectrum further increasing social desegregation. After a thorough reading of international models and their related public policies, this research presents a strategic reform plan. This plan is comprised of public spending revision and administrative reform, transparency and reporting, teacher recruitment and training, parental school choice empowerment, and finally educational innovation and curriculum reform.