Private schools and universities in Lebanon are in economic crisis

Private schools and universities in Lebanon are in economic crisis

BEIRUT: The future of thousands of Lebanese students is at stake as private educational institutions assess their ability to continue operations in the next academic year, due to the economic crunch facing Lebanon.. "If the economic situation continues, private schools will be forced to close down for good, a move that will affect more than 700,000 students, 59,000 teachers and 15,000 school administrators," said Father Boutros Azar, secretary-general of the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools in Lebanon, and coordinator of the Association of Private Educational Institutions in Lebanon.. Over 1,600 private schools are operating in Lebanon, including free schools and those affiliated to various religion societies, Azar said.. The number of public schools in Lebanon, he added, is 1,256, serving 328,000 students from the underprivileged segment of society and 200,000 Syrian refugee students.. The development will also have an impact on private universities, whose number has increased to 50 in the past 20 years.. Dr. Tarek Majzoub, the minister of education and higher education, ended the academic year in public schools and gave private schools the right to take a call on this issue.. Azar said: "What I know so far is that 80 percent of the Catholic schools in