Lebanon

AME EDUCATION

SECTOR PROFILE

Education Structure

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. World Bank EdStats

Lebanon

Education System Structure and Enrollments 2007

Education Structure

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics,

• Compulsory education in Lebanon is from grades 1-9.

Lebanon

Education Configuration and Enrollment Percentages % Net

Enrollments% Gross Enrollments

Classification Level/Grade Ages 2007 2007

Pre-primary Pre-school 3-5 64% 67%

Pre-university

Primary, grades 1-6 6-11 83% 95%

Lower Secondary, grades 7-9 12-14

73%

87%

Upper secondary, grades 10-12 15-17 75%

TVET Secondary 15-17 14%

TertiaryUndergraduate study 17-22 N/A 52%*

Graduate study 22+* Includes all of secondary. ** Includes all categories of post-secondary.

Population Structure

• 53% of the population is under the age of 30 but that age group is not projected to grow much larger in the nearer term.• Good educational opportunities for these young people are necessary to support national economic growth.

Lebanon

Source: International Labor Organization

Relevant Policies:

• Social Action Plan Toward Strengthening Social Safety Nets and Access To Basic Social Services, 2007. http://www.economy.gov.lb/MOET/English/Navigation/News/SocialActionPlan2007.htm

• Development Plan for Education in Lebanon, 2008. [in French] http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/format_liste1_en.php?Chp2=Lebanon

Education Policy

Lebanon

Education Access: Pre-university

• Secondary enrollments have increased at a marginally greater rate since 1990 at an average of 7.2% than primary education at 5.4%.• Enrollments are quite high indicating the strength of the system to draw children to school.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank EdStats

Lebanon

Education Access: Tertiary

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

• Despite rising university enrollments (18% since 2000), distribution of students among levels of study has remained remarkably stable. • Higher education produces few graduate degrees, perhaps an indication of difficulties of students to matriculate through the system.

Lebanon

Education Access: Gender

• Girls are more successful at accessing secondary education with an enrollment rate 7% higher than boys’ rate. • Gender parity (0.97) has nearly been achieved at the primary level with almost equal boys’ and girls’ enrollments.

Source: World Bank EdStats

Lebanon

Education Quality: Teachers

Lebanon

• Lebanon has approximately 88,000 teachers in general education.

•11-13% of all teachers, grades1-12, are trained but no further information can be found on the process or requirements of professional development.

• The average teacher to pupil ratio for grades 1-12 is 11:1 which seems sufficient to cover all classes but may be low in efficiency terms.

• Information on teacher recruitment, deployment, qualification standards and training in the public and private sector is limited.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Education Quality: Completion

Source: World Development Indicators (WDI)

• Completion rates declined 13% from 1999-2005 but have since seen a slight rise. • Girls are consistently more successful at completing primary school.

Lebanon

Education Quality: Testing

• Lebanon students achieved the highest mean math score (449) of MENA participant countries on the 2007 test but continue to rank at the low-intermediate level internationally (31 out of 45). • 2007 mean TIMSS scores improved an average of 18 points from 2003 scores.

Source: Trends in International Math and Science Study 2007

Lebanon

Education Equity: Academic Disparities

Source: Lebanon Ministry of Education

• Expenditure on pre-university private education amounts to 6% of the GDP.• Approximately 60% of all Lebanese children attend private school.

Lebanon

Education Efficiency: Expenditure

Lebanon

• Lebanon is the lowest spender on education in the region but together with the large expenditures of the private sector, education is well-supported in the country.

Source: World Bank EdStats, World Bank 2008, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education

Education Efficiency: Expenditure

Source: World Bank EdStats

• As a result of focused spending on pre-university levels , enrollments have consistently increased. Now the government needs to focus on improving quality of education in the classroom.

Lebanon

Education Efficiency: Repetition

• Repetition rates at both levels are quite high and have not declined significantly over the years.

Source: World Development Indicators (WDI)

Lebanon

Education Efficiency: Repetition

Lebanon

Source: Lebanon Ministry of Education

• Using repetition as an indicator of quality, private schools provide a better education than public schools do.• Private schools have minimal percentages of two or more year repeaters while public schools have 4-11% more across all levels.

Education Efficiency: Repetition

Source: World Bank EdStats

• Lebanon is the poorest performing country in the region as far as public expenditure on education and addressing the repetition issue.

Lebanon

Education: Conclusion

Successes:• Access: High primary and rising secondary enrollments. Approaching gender parity at primary. On track to attain UPE.• Quality: Improving scores on the TIMSS. Highest math score regionally.

• Equity:

• Efficiency: Equitable division of budget across education levels.

Challenges:

• Access: Lower access rates for males from secondary level on up.

• Quality: High and intractable repetition rates. Poorly qualified teachers.

• Equity: Parallel education system offered by the private sector which favors wealthier students.

• Efficiency: Inadequate education expenditures to address repetition rates.

Lebanon