UNICEF: Out-of-School Study

The Lebanese public education system has borne the brunt of the adjustment to the refugee inflow, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) has made an important effort to accommodate refugee children. In consultation with UNICEF, UNHCR, and other partners, the Ministry permitted the enrollment of Syrian children in state schools regardless of their legal status. MEHE also waived school fees for the 2015/2016 academic year. Despite these measures, a large number of Syrian children are not in school. Many of them were enrolled, but for a variety of reasons never started school or left during the year, and many more were not even registered. To assess the underlying causes of this situation, UNICEF commissioned InfoPro Research to hold five focus groups with Syrian refugee women who have children between six and 17 years of age which are out of school. The focus groups were held in Beirut/Mount Lebanon, the South, the Bekaa, the T5 area (Tripoli, Minieh Dennieh, Zgharta, Koura and Batroun), and Akkar.