Nearly nine schools in Lebanon remain fully occupied by displaced families as the country’s new academic year approaches, Lebanon’s Education Ministry told Reuters, even as the government works to reopen classrooms for the roughly 100,000 children the United Nations warns could otherwise lose a year of schooling.
Of almost 80 public schools that had been converted into shelters during the war between Israel’s military and Hezbollah, Lebanese officials say nearly half have now been emptied of displaced residents and will reopen purely as schools. Another 30 will operate as hybrid spaces, holding classes while continuing to shelter some families, and the education ministry says roughly 50 additional public schools were destroyed or severely damaged in the fighting, with more than 200 others suffering lesser damage.
Why are families still sheltering in schools months after the fighting eased?
Thousands of Lebanese families from the country’s south remain unable to return home roughly six months after the latest round of fighting began, either because their houses were destroyed or because ongoing security concerns near the Israeli border have kept them away. Many families are packed into rented apartments with relatives, while others have had nowhere to go beyond the schools the government converted into emergency housing.
Lebanon’s Education Minister Rima Karami said during a tour of southern Lebanon that every student would have access to a classroom for the 2026-27 school year and that public schools would hold in-person classes wherever feasible. She added that no family sheltering in a school would be forced out “without an alternative being offered,” acknowledging that the ministry cannot simply evict displaced residents to make room for students.
The United Nations has said the disruption threatens to jeopardize schooling for roughly 100,000 children this year, on top of the education already lost during earlier phases of the conflict. Aid officials say double shifts, temporary classrooms and remote learning arrangements are being explored for districts where school buildings remain unavailable, though funding for those workarounds remains limited.
Lebanese officials have not given a timeline for when the nine fully occupied schools will be freed up, saying it depends on progress finding alternative housing for the families living inside them and on the broader security situation in the south. The education ministry said it is coordinating with the housing and social affairs ministries to identify temporary shelters that could allow the remaining schools to reopen before the term is too far underway.
Sources: Al-Monitor · Al Jazeera · Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
