CAROLINE BAZZI

Beirut – People in Lebanon are making preparation to return to school for the new school year. The schools in the country have been closed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The schools are going to reopen this year but parents, students and teachers face high prices of school supplies as they are making preparations for the new school year.

Everything is getting more expensive

Most students in the country couldn’t begin learning online from their homes due to ongoing power outages. Journalist Karen Elian Daher, mother of two, thinks children should go to school. “Children have learned from their homes for two years. But they should learn from schools. We face problems such as high costs of school uniforms and books. We also face high prices of petrol. When we send our children to school back, we will face a petrol crisis. Monthly school fee has also increased. So the cost of a student is half or a million Lebanese pounds. The school cost is expected to increase by 30%, maybe more. Therefore, we do not know whether the schools will reopen or the school year will be delayed.”

“The prices of books also increase”

Karen Elian Daher added that many schools haven’t determined yet when they will start the new academic year. “If the schools reopen, parents will flock to gas stations to drive their children to schools. There will be chaos and some parents will not be able to drive their children to schools,” Karen Elian Daher also talked about the high prices of school supplies, “The price of books, which were 10 dollars (15,000 pounds), is now 200,000 pounds. The school supplies are very expensive now.”

She quits her job

Randa Hegazy, mother of two, is a teacher. “When the economic crisis started in Lebanon, I was a teacher at a school. I was affected directly from the crisis and had to quit my job after working at that school for 15 years. I started working for a private school to earn a livelihood for my family. “The salary of a professional teacher is not more than 120 or 150 dollars.  For example, in the past, if we were paid 100,000 pounds (about 60 dollars at that time) and that salary was enough for us because the exchange rate was 1,500 but the dollar exchange rate increases. Shouldn't we receive 500 or 600 dollars per month now?”

They haven’t been paid since last year

Teacher Meysa El-Heq told us teachers in the country have suffered from the economic crisis. “We are paid very low. Our salary is not enough to buy our needs. The price of petrol is very high and we haven’t been paid since last year. We are ready to return schools if the government finds a solution for us. The government should improve the conditions of teachers.”