Lebanese youths abandon education as the crisis struck

Lebanese youths are abandoning education due to rising poverty. Young people are skipping meals and cutting back on health care because of the economic crisis.

United Nations research published a report on this matter in January. The report showed that 30 percent of those aged 15-24 in Lebanon had dropped out of education. Reportedly, the 2021-22 academic year is seeing the loss of 30,000 students who had to drop out of educational institutions due to rising poverty.

Before the economic crisis, Faraj Faraj thought that the university could open the way towards financial independence. However, his dreams got shattered in 2021. Reportedly, the soaring costs of education forced the 19-year-old to drop out of studying just over a year ago, before he had finished secondary school. He reportedly said, "I don't have a family who can help me complete my education, and there is no work.” He also said that when he was at a state school, the cost of transport had become hard for him to bear because of the crisis.  

Faraj, his parents, two unemployed brothers, and two younger sisters who are still in school sleep between two rooms in a small apartment in Beirut's Borj Hammoud. The town was damaged by a massive explosion at the city's port in 2020. Faraj is training to become a hairdresser in a program supported by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. 

Lebanon’s economic crisis

In an October 2021 UNICEF survey, 12 percent of families said they send at least one child to work. The coronavirus pandemic and the port blast affected children and youth’s education. The financial system of Lebanon collapsed in 2019 because of decades of corruption. Reportedly, poverty has risen to 80 percent, and many struggles to afford meals and medicines.

The World Bank ranked the Lebanon economic crisis as among the most severe globally since the mid-19th century. The World Bank Lebanon Economic Monitor Fall 2021 report also categorized the crisis as the top three most severe economic collapses worldwide since the 1850s.