Helping transition out-of-school children to formal education

Out-of-school Syrian children who want to enter the public school system in Lebanon now have a mandatory pathway of entry to catch up on missed education and enter closer to age-level. MERATH is coordinating with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and local education working groups to hopefully enable the children completing their remedial education at our partner centers to transition to formal schooling if they choose.

In previous years, out-of-school non-Lebanese children could enter public school provided they found a place and passed entrance exams. While the registration process did prove challenging from school to school, national regulations were limited, and many children were able to pursue an accredited education. The scenario also resulted in the majority of children placing into grades well below their age-level, with little opportunity to catch up in the future. A twelve-year-old learning alongside a class of seven-year-olds is not ideal for anyone, and likelihood of drop-out is very high.  

This year, MEHE both simplified re-registration for children already in school and formalized an integration pathway for out-of-school and pre-school children. Older children must now complete one or more short courses through a MEHE-regulated Accelerated Learning Program prior to entering public school. Eligibility restrictions for KG and Grade 1 students may be more lenient, but children coming from a regulated Early Childhood Education program have priority for registration.

In this context, MERATH has been coordinating more closely with MEHE to ensure that the children completing their non-formal education at our partner centers are able to transition to formal schooling as smoothly as possible.

MERATH also attends regular coordination meetings organized by UNICEF and MEHE to leverage resources among education actors and prevent overlap of services.

PLEASE PRAY

That international donor funds increase to allow for more places in the public school system to accommodate the approximately 666,500 school-aged Syrian refugee children in the country

That more Lebanese private schools would have the funding and the willingness to open scholarship programs for refugee children

That the quality of the education provided in the non-formal education programs we support constantly improves and that more and more children can benefit from it

That all of MERATH partner programs get the government’s official recognition

That many of, if not all, the children enrolled in the supported programs can be referred to the accelerated learning programs run by the government and then transition to formal education

That everything the children learn will make them strong adults who can direct their own future

That the families and entire communities of the children will in turn be positively impacted and empowered

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