Double Shift Educational Experience of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon: Case of Bater Official Secondary School

Abstract

Syrian refugee children face frequent interruption of education and limitations in accessing educational services as a result to their forced displacement after the 2011 Syrian Civil War. Lebanon hosts an estimate of 987,000 refugees from Syria’s ongoing conflict, out of which 490,000 of them are children of school age. The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education has opened several double-shift public schools to accommodate the number of refugee children. Around 350 schools in Lebanon are now operating on a double shift basis to provide an education for about 150,000 Syrian refugee children. The double-shift system separates the Lebanese students and the Syrian refugee children, where the Lebanese attend school in the morning shift, and the Syrians attend school in the afternoon shift.

Unfortunately, only about half of Syrian refugee children attend school, leaving more than half not in schools. This issue can, very much, be linked to the cost of enrolment, transportation, and books and stationery. The poor economic situation of Syrian families, nested within the Lebanese complex crisis also led to relying on the children to work instead of attending school child labor. This, in addition to other difficulties that Syrian refugee students face within schools, which include discrimination, language and school curriculum.