Potential Impact of Meaningful use of Technology in the Classroom
Lebanon
Lebanon Context
History
Having enjoyed periods of prosperity since its independence, Lebanon has faced several disruptive challenges as a nation. One of the main characteristics of Lebanese society is its diversity in terms of religious beliefs, nationalities, languages, and cultural and socioeconomical groups. The growing tensions between the diverse groups of its population, the political instability, and financial crisis were elements that led to a civil war resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities and in the exodus of nearly one million people.
The country has been on a willing, but winding, road to recovery ever since, never fully recovering its social, political, and financial stability, as the result of a very competitive and fragmented multi-party confessional system that weakened critical political coalitions and led to very regular changes in the government. This has severely and negatively impacted Lebanese society as a whole and has taken its toll on the Education System, posing a threat to the impactful implementation of educational reforms. Although substantial effort and progress have been made towards universal basic education, Lebanon’s performance remains far below most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the rest of the World on international student assessments (across both public and private schools).
Geopolitical instability affected Lebanese political and economic development and more than once resulted in the influx of refugees, which keeps putting an additional strain on Lebanon’s Education System. Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic led to disruptions in education for millions of children that were forced to flee to neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon. This refugee’s influx led to the creation of a second shift of instruction in the public Lebanese Schools to accommodate demand, but the process of inclusion of refugees in national Education System “remains fraught with challenges related to system capacities, persistent access barriers, quality and resources”1, resulting in the shrinking of government’s promise to provide access to all refugees in the poor result of enrolling just 202,000 out of 715,000 school age Syrians this year2. Given that the total non-Lebanese students exceeded 45% of the public student population, heavy donor financing is still falling short of the objective, and a significant share of the cost of education of Syrian refugees was absorbed by the Government of Lebanon and/or was partially offset by increasing efficiency in the system.
Despite the government’s best efforts to accommodate the ongoing influx of refugees while addressing their own systemic issues, several recent events have made the task even more complex. Lebanese economic growth has been slowing since 2011 and is now facing deepening challenges due to economic crisis, the Port of Beirut explosion, the Covid-19 pandemic, and recent civil protests.
The growing financial crisis led to 50,000 students being added into the public school system during the 2020-2021 academic year because parents could no longer pay private school fees, and this is expected to increase as the financial situation in Lebanon persists and the economic condition of families continues to deteriorate, creating the basis for the disruption of the education model grounded on the privatization of education. In addition to these factors contributing negatively to the Education System in Lebanon, the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in schools being closed over 75% of the school year between January 2020 and February 2021, effectively representing a lost year of learning for students.
The Port of Beirut explosion, occurring a few weeks before the start of the academic year, and roughly affecting one-quarter of the student population, damaged more than 200 public and private schools, 32 universities, and 20 technical and vocational education and training centres, impacting learners, educators, and communities. This event only exacerbated the challenges being faced by Lebanon’s Education System, channelling already limited educational funding towards physical school rehabilitation and reconstruction, instead of helping students catch up on lost learning.
As a result of these ongoing challenges, schools have been largely closed since 2019, following civil protests against the government and teachers’ strikes due to the impoverishment of the conditions of their profession. In addition to the obvious impact on students and the maintenance of their learning path, these protests may worsen the discredit of the educational system, while many teachers are leaving the country, putting additional strain on an already fragile situation.
The continued erosion of the Education System aggravated by the economic crisis is making Lebanese families prioritize needs such as food and health over education, increasingly turning education into a commodity affordable only by a few. In 2021, it is estimated that more than 82% of the population live in poverty, an increase from 55% in 2020, with additional impacts on human capital. Protecting and rebuilding human capital in settings of institutional fragility is challenging but paramount for leading the path for recovery, with health and education in the leading front, where ultimately lays the foundations for overcoming systemic barriers and enable a whole of society development approach.
Education
Formerly known as the “classroom of the Middle East” and traditionally a major priority for Lebanese households and a central pillar of Lebanese economy and society, the education system in Lebanon
currently faces significant challenges and risks failing both students and teachers, while eroding the public positive perception about national education.
1. A tale of two systems
The development of the education system in Lebanon was characterised by an almost unwavering dominance of the private sector in service delivery in education, with this sector enrolling nearly two thirds of students in 2021, which is one of the greatest private sector shares of primary and secondary school students in the world. The history of education system privatization created a structural dichotomy between the public and the private sectors in education and led to large inequities, by placing the economic burden of education on households, and maintaining educational success as a function of socioeconomic background.
1.1. Education Funding
Although private and public investments on education in Lebanon are comparable to OECD standards (around 4,5% in 20195 – and world Education Forum 2015 recommends 4-6% of GDP in Education to achieve SGD4), significant levels of private spending from households exceed and contrast with the government’s decreasing trend of investment in education. Government budget expenditures on education are low and below MENA region average, having decreased from 2,1% in 2015 to 1,8% in 2020.
Public funding of education has been insufficient and inefficient, especially when considering that almost 30% is invested in private sector subsidies, such as allowances to civil servants and free-private schools’ support. Additionally, within the remaining 72% expenditures on the public sector, only 2% were invested in improving education quality – such as training, curriculum, and research, allotting most expenses on school management, especially teachers’ salaries.
Over-recruitment of teachers (from 2011 to 2017 up to 123% increase of contractual teachers) remuneration discrepancies (some teachers’ salaries clearly inflated above OECD average), and allocation and workload inefficiencies have exerted additional pressure on expenditure levels of the government in Education for several years. Lebanon student-teacher ratio used to be one of the lowest in the world and yet it has not been translated into guaranteed education quality, especially when considered regional gaps in class sizes and quality of education. Moreover, this ratio might be the reflex of “politicized recruitment practices” aligned with the “institutionalized favouring of the private sector” that widen the gap between private and public sectors of education and perpetuates the high wealth inequity in terms of access to quality education.
1.2. Learning Outcomes
Lebanon is facing a severe learning crisis, with learning results exhibiting a declining trend since 2007, which contrasts with the commitment of the government and
especially with the historical strong investment from private households in education.
A perception survey9 conducted in 2016 revealed variations in satisfaction rates between parents with children enrolled in private schools and parents with children enrolled in public schools; however, and even though private schools tend to show better results, the investment by households was not reflected on highquality education. Performance of students from both private and public schools in Lebanon are far below international assessments and below MENA region average: results are declining from 2015 to 2019 both on TIMSS and PISA, and almost two thirds of Lebanese children did not achieve basic literacy by 2019.
Still, one cannot be oblivious to the wide disparity between schools and individual outcomes: Lebanon showed the highest gap in MENA region between top and bottom socioeconomic quintiles, with significant differences in learning outcomes between the wealthiest and poorest children. Students also scored differently according to school type, which reveals the persistent quality gap between the private and the public sectors of education, with the highest performing students attending private schools.
Not only socioeconomic background remains a key factor in driving inequity in learning achievement, but the system has repeatedly failed to support the most vulnerable children and guarantee access to quality education.
1.3. Education and Inequity
As a result, education system in Lebanon is highly inequitable and reveals significant gaps in schoolcompletion, with only half of 18 years old from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds still in school, evincing that a significant share of students is not progressing from primary to secondary school, and many not reaching higher education. Out of school rates are concerning (21% in primary and secondary school in 2020), compared to regional and international averages, with children from poor households having a high risk of dropping out and having significantly lower learning outcomes compared to students from the wealthiest households.
According to a recent study11 conducted among Lebanese schools, poverty is still one of the main factors impacting enrolment of children in formal education, along with other risk factors for dropping out, such as age, gender, and bullying experience. Additionally, current education system fails to support students with academic weaknesses, by focusing on needs and retaining students in school: underperforming students were 50% more likely to continue performing the worst.
The subsidization program used by the Government of Lebanon is not reaching students with the highest needs, and poorest households are not benefiting from government investments: evidence shows that “47% of total education allowances benefited the wealthiest 20% of households, while only 16% of the state’s education expenditure reached the poorest 40%”. So, financial expenditure is not linked with results and current financing system does not allocate spending according to different types of school and students, instead “it favours particular groups and is not based on socioeconomic need”.
2. Education Sector Traits and Priorities
Beyond learning results, a deeper analysis of some structuring characteristics of the education sector might be useful to understand why the Lebanese education system kept failing in holding public and private institutions accountable for outcomes and learning even before the current crisis. One identified weakness is the lack of strategies for diagnosis to sustain investments in the sector and ensure their return. Considering information management, an urgent reform is vital for evidence-based decision making.
A recent comprehensive review on Lebanese education system “targeted budgeting, teacher deployment, equity, evidence-based decision-making, accountability and quality assurance and monitoring as priorities in sector reforms”. At a school-level perspective, there were recommendations on urgent interventions addressing system reform, teacher professional development, school environment and student support. Without an efficient unified education management information system and regulatory frameworks for monitoring, evaluation and research, the system might perpetuate institutionalized failures in coordination and transparency.
Secondly, recent analysis identified that under a highly centralized Education system (which creates an administrative burden in public institutions and limits public school principals’ power), there is high fragmentation and lack of coordination between different entities in decision making, processes and execution (especially considering professional development, education data and assessment of student learning).
As a result of the system’s poor regulation, there’s been enough “space for interference by politicians and special interest groups”. In fact, Lebanon’s Education system is characterized by a variety of stakeholders, with different and often contradictory interests, that might get in the way of educational outcomes and the overall improvement of the education sector and the development and implementation of key reforms.
2.1. National Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development
After the conception of the plan for education reform during post-civil war reconstitution efforts, Lebanon’s education became a source of national pride, grounded on active community dynamics to rebuild national identity. Contemporary sector development reforms took place between 2003 and 2010, and although there are solid foundations for a renewed strategy in terms of policy framework, current curriculum is based on an outdated vision, that crystallizes old pedagogical practices since its last revision almost 3 decades ago.
A recent stakeholder consultation convened by the American University of Beirut concluded that the current curriculum “does not foster critical thinking, analysis, problem resolving, and citizenship value”, and do not equip students with the necessary skills to the 21st century. Employers report a large skills mismatch due to the inadequacy of current national curriculum: while 21% of active young people are overqualified for the roles they perform and 32% are in jobs below their qualification level in 2020, many of the country’s most talented and promising citizens emigrate.
Facing the current deep disruptive social, economic, and educational challenges, is now increasingly clear that the redefinition of educational goals “extends beyond the gains in labour productivity”, once education it’s also a “cornerstone for social cohesion, equity, and sustainable growth”, and its vital aim might be empowering students to become not only future-ready workers but also active long-life learners and committed citizens.
Poor coordination in the education sector, compounded by recent challenging events, have slowed down planed reforms (namely on Early Childhood education, learning outcomes, new curriculum, rehabilitation, and scale-up teacher’s performance), and negatively impacted the already poor learning results while exacerbated prior structural education gaps.
Concurrently, human resources were underutilized and inefficiently managed, considering teachers’ recruitment and distribution, workload policies, and balance between teaching and nonteaching related tasks. Prior to recent economic crisis, great expenditures on teachers combined with the public sector’s heavy reliance on temporary contracts teachers (which followed much less stringent requirements and spent much less hours in teaching tasks than the OECD average) didn’t prove to be efficient and represented an additional risk to quality learning. The result is that, almost half of Lebanese teachers were characterized by poor qualifications, many of them were teaching subjects in which they were not specialized, and the majority did not master content, and used traditional low quality teaching practices, both in private and public schools.
Finally, teachers receive little continuous training, especially on pedagogy and soft skills. This has become a growing concern, as adequate training on socioemotional skills and online teaching have become critical, considering not only recent events (such as the Port of Beirut explosion and the Covid-19 pandemic)23, but also structuring characteristics of Lebanese society, such as its social complexity and the history of refugees’ influx.
2.2. Syrian Refugee Response
Lebanon hosts one of the highest number of refugees per capita in the world and to face Syrian refugee crisis Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) developed a long-term vision plan for education sector development (namely Reaching All Children with Education (RACE) program 2014-2016, and RACE II 2017-2021) and coordinated efforts with international partners and donors to provide essential services for refugees as a host country. Since 2013 Syrian learners access Lebanese public education system (through the enrolment in second-shifts and also by non-formal education alternative pathways for out-of-school children), evidencing global changes in refugee education policy that requires greater effort
for inclusion within national education systems.
By 2018, Lebanon’s public-school population had almost doubled due to Syrian refugee’s enrolment with international financial support provided by RACE II. Relying on donor funding helping the government to facilitate access to education for Syrian students, from 2014 to 2018 more than 25% of public investment in education was supported by this parallel system of financing.24 Throughout a six year period, the education system was able to increase its capacity by more than 70% to accommodate refugees, which represented 37% in public-schools in 2020. The double-shift model of inclusion, by shifting responsibility to the national system, was able to refocus global education community attention and strengthen national education system with funding programs that equally benefit Lebanese and Syrian children; at the same time, defined options in both formal and non-formal education by creating pathways for out-of-school and struggling Syrian students; and finally, enabled access to certified public education for Syrian learners.
But despite the significant donations, many challenges yet remain considering the Syrian refugee education. Half Syrian aged 5-17 remained out of formal school in 2019 (out-of-school rates were 40% in primary and 90% in secondary)26 and the average transition rate for students from one education level to another was only 58,6% in 2018-2019 school year.27 According to a research conducted between 2015-201928, prior existent gaps were exacerbated in the double-shift system, particularly resources shortage, instructional time, teacher training and preparation to support refugees (many teachers are forced to manage different curricula and language needs of Lebanese and Syrian children, impacting the quality of learning for students). Other investigations29 showed that children actually attending school might be lower than the number enrolled, and revealed that many Syrians have been arbitrarily rejected by schools (claiming lack of documents or vacancies), while there are doubts considering the transition from nonformal to formal education.
Thus, there has been significant concern regarding notonly access to quality education by refugee students in the national education system, but also the ability for the double-shift system to contribute to social inclusion, given the increasing social tensions within the country: “Education can be an important mechanism for building pathways to harmony (…) however, the temporal model of inclusion—by virtue of design and separation of Lebanese and Syrian students—is unable to create opportunities for social cohesion”.
To ensure equitable access to quality education opportunities for displaced and vulnerable children, and based on the idea that integral wellbeing must be ensured to guarantee access and retainment, the government is now working on a comprehensive intersectoral strategy to nurture multiple flexible pathways, and to fortify a resilient education system through collaboration and crisis management. According to 2022 Lebanon Crisis Response Plan32, significant donations are still required to meet urgent needs of 1,5 million displaced Syrians, 1,5milion vulnerable Lebanese, 29,100 Palestinian refugees from Syria and 180,000 Palestine refugees in Lebanon. In 2021, almost 9 in ten displaced Syrian households were living in extreme poverty, with poverty levels also rising dramatically among Lebanese and Palestinian refugee populations, facing the unprecedented economic, financial, social and health crisis of the last two years.
3. Disruption of the currenty education model
Despite the recovery efforts to overcome the ongoing challenges faced by Lebanese society in recent decades, and despite having shown an often-innovative vision and solid foundations for the construction of quality education, several factors have contributed for the Lebanese educational project not yet reached its full potential.
Among them, the recent global economic crisis coupled with the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have brought significant difficulties for the Lebanese education system. During the academic year 2019-2020, discrepancies in access to quality education became evident due to school closures and the implementation of technology-based distance learning programs, which many schools that serve medium or low-income students were not able to keep up. Additionally, the ongoing economic crisis threatens to bridge the gap between those who can still afford high-quality education and those who are struggling to maintain education-related expenditures.
As a result, a significant migration of students from private schools was estimated to have increased in 17% the number of public school’s population last year33, and more students are expected to be enrolled in the public sector in the future. This process poses additional pressure on the public education sector, which was already in crisis: “even with increased investments and the ability to raise funds, government was already struggling to meet demand for school construction and rehabilitation, given the disparities in the quality of school buildings, infrastructures and availability of teaching and learning resources between regions and schools”34, being public schools at a historical position of disadvantage and with a tendency to worsen in face of future constraints and potential overcrowding.
Besides the pressure on the provision of public schools, the ongoing crisis is also affecting the education sector workforce, as many teachers have seen their economic condition worsen (public school teachers’ salaries lost 90% of their value in 2 years, especially temporary teachers which were already poorly paid compared to permanent teachers) and either are rushing to private schools or leaving the country. Ongoing teachers’ strikes and protests since 2019 have resulted on school closures, reduced school curriculum and instructional time, and years of lost learning for students; and the beginning of the present school year was still marked by postponements due to negotiations between teachers and the government.
Not only prolonged lockdown caused severe effects on quality of education, increasing learning gaps and deferring critical reforms, but also led to the growing deprioritisation of education35. As the economic situation of the country gradually declines, and many families struggle to afford education, many private schools are facing increasing economic challenges, given the lower enrolment of students and lower tuition collection from parents. Some private schools have already closed, and many keep the value of tuition low by cutting school development budget, which can compromise even more the quality of the education provided by the private sector. The private education system’s crisis impacts students and teachers, but also the economy and the community, so neither the public nor the private sector must be left alone with no intervention, under penalty of compromising the education of future generations and the chance to recover sustainably from the current crisis.
On the edge, many students might leave school and an increasingly worrying number of children might be facing multidimensional poverty and might need a more comprehensive support in health, nutrition and psychosocial services: deepening economic deprivation poses a serious risk of increased school drop-out rates, and often concerning related issues such as increasing of child labour, exploitation and risks of violence at home. The present crisis poses a serious risk on retention and enrolment, so keeping schools open and providing access to quality education to the largest number of students possible is an increasingly urgent matter in Lebanese strategic priorities.
Under recent economic contraction, Lebanese education system model is facing disruptive transformations that if not assertively addressed by strategic holistic intervention can result in the collapse of the already struggling sector, with severe impacts on inclusive high-quality education. On the other hand, with political will combined with international support and commitment of key stakeholders, this crisis might be an opportunity to reimagine the future path of the education system and ensure equity and quality are priorities for future investments on education. Only then can education fulfil its main goal of transforming people’s lives and foster the sustainable development of the country.
In 2021, MEHE developed the Five-Year General Education Plan for Lebanon (5YP) as the first nationwide education sector plan for Lebanon with an inclusive global approach, that aims to construct a more resilient education system that focus on public sector while seeking synergies with the private school sector. The 5YP designed a comprehensive strategy to address the complexity of the current crisis and envisions a future path for the education system with a focus on access, quality and governance: MEHE 5-Year Plan aims to ensure most vulnerable children have access to inclusive and quality learning and to create opportunities for students to develop employable competencies and skills and to become responsible citizens.
Led by this strategy, 2022 Education Sector Crisis Response Plan36 aims to contribute to school retainment and the integral development of children, driving changes at 3 levels: at child and community level, collaborative work between sector partners will respond to families’ needs such as social assistance or financial support, and capacity-building programs; at service delivery level, education stakeholders will coordinate multiple and inclusive learning pathways and inclusive education to overcome gender and functional diversity barriers; and finally, at institutional level, MEHE will strengthen data systems, teacher performance and training, monitoring standards, schools’ administration and resource assessment.
Technology
The Government of Lebanon understands the value of digital government in the public sector through the creation of digital transition strategies, however, “given the political, economic and social instability, chronic problems of siloed and uncoordinated policy efforts, as well as different levels of digital maturity across the administration, several previous transformation attempts have not been successful and (…) securing an effective implementation of the digital transformation strategy is a critical challenge for the Government of Lebanon”.
Technological modernization of schools has been an up-to-date issue in Education, however recent experiences such as the Covid-19 crisis, revealed the urgent need for solutions, fostering emergency digital transitions, that place connectivity and hybrid learning in policy agenda and debate. Nevertheless, EdTech adoption in education is not always accompanied by a clear and intentional definition of the strategies to implement them and to create transformative educational environments. Besides the technological domain, there are other equally important dimensions that will be affected with the integration of those resources to promote educational change, such as content, knowledge and skills, pedagogical strategies, and the key stakeholders to be involved.
To avoid short-term and low-impact solutions, Lebanon strategic planning for education sector’s transformation is aiming to move from a crisis response to a medium to long-term intervention under the 5-Year Plan. Hopefully, Lebanon might take the recent disruption of the current education model as an opportunity to fully reimagine pedagogy in education contexts, along with the integration of EdTech resources.
1. Student information management system (SIMS)
Accurate and reliable data is critical and information management is a key aspect of planning and strategic policy guidance. A strong information management and feedback loop system supports the establishment of data-driven decision-making processes, which could benefit the country’s Education sector.
However, collecting quality data requires sustained and deliberate efforts, and considering Lebanon’s education, data is not readily available in many critical dimensions, including regular publication of student enrolment, attendance, and dropouts41, particularly when desegregated by gender, refugee status and disability43. MEHE operates a database since 2000, designed to be a unique repository used by decision-makers to strategize the education sector; unfortunately, a fully operative Education Management System is still far away in Lebanon due to many challenges, such as lack of internet connectivity and ICT infrastructure, lack of ICT agents at regional levels, lack of finance and lack of support, guidance, or training for effective use of the system.
An Education Management Information System (EMIS), in order to be effective (and useful), must be planned and implemented with special attention to aspects like the enabling context (in the form of infrastructure, mindset, available budget, policies, and human resources, just to name a few), the technical robustness (to ensure that the solution is able to do what it was built for, with the technical support required to maintain and potentially expand the solution), the data quality (that will ensure the accuracy and integrity of the information collected, stored and processed in a clear and on-time fashion), and, lastly, the availability of all this information to the relevant stakeholders across the education system (policy makers, monitoring and support staff, school principals, teachers, students, and parents), so that they can make improved and data-driven decisions.
Considering Lebanon technological dimension in Education, two critical aspects for accelerating digital transition and an impactful integration of technologies in education were identified: the effectiveness of the existent Student Information Management System (SIMS) and the use of EdTech in the classroom for transformative teaching practices.
The surrounding social, economic and political context is crucial in enabling such a system, and Lebanon’s system is still fragmented, with the information not being used to its full potential due to incompleteness or unavailability, preventing its key support role in decision-making. In more recent years, some effort and progress has been seen towards this goal, but still there are multiple data systems being developed and used concurrently by different institutions. For example, the MEHE’s SIMS collects data directly from schools, but the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD), which is the body that publishes national educational statistics on a yearly basis, also collects similar data with their online data system. Additional information management systems have been deployed for monitoring specific activities such as school attendance in second-shift schools or student examination scores. This increases complexity, creating inefficiencies via duplication and potential discrepancies in the data collected.
Despite the significant investments in data systems, there is still the need of a clear policy with well-defined roles and responsibilities and the need of a unified framework for information management with standardized mechanisms for data collection, validation, storage, manipulation, reporting, and utilization, the lack of which is leading to fragmentation and divergence in vision and responsibilities for collecting and analysing data across different units at the MEHE and the CERD.
This would greatly improve a solution that could be used by all stakeholders in a more sustainable and efficient way, supporting better decision-making processes, and leading to better outcomes.2 3Following the 2021 5YP, and the 2022 Transition Resilience Plan43, MEHE is committed to work with contributing partners to reinforce governance, transparency, efficiency and learning results (in both formal and alternative learning pathways), by strengthening data collection and information sharing amongst relevant stakeholders in school, regional and national levels, and to ensure accountability, effective access to a safe, inclusive and quality learning to all children.4 5To enhance governance and managerial capacities of the education system and ensure resources are transformed into results by data-driven and evidence-based policy, 2022 Education Sector’s Response envisions higher capacities to unify data systems under SIMS: “the sector and the MEHE will ensure necessary data is migrated and that all relevant student, teacher and school information is collected, processed and reported via SIMS”44.
2. Teaching practices and EdTech Adoption
According to a recent study on Lebanese schools45, it was clear that most teachers used traditional teaching practices and resources in their classrooms, and often students showed passive rather than dynamic engagement. Additionally, although high quality teaching and learning seems to need urgent intervention in Lebanon, it was clear not only the quality gap between private and public schools, but especially between first and second shift public schools.
Most teachers spend a small amount of their time planning lessons and many of them didn’t apply their plans, especially when including interactive methods. In fact, the conducted observations concluded teachers practice should shift from rote learning and memorization towards facilitating higher order thinking, problem solving and applying knowledge in new contexts: 65% teachers did not utilize formative learning and assessment tools, 86% failed to provide practical and critical thinking, and most teachers did not encourage students to evaluate and reflect on their learning.
Considering EdTech adoption, and although Education Sector Development Plan from 2010 included the promotion of the use of informational and communication technology in the education system, 94% of the observed lesson plans didn’t include the use of EdTech and 90% of the observed classrooms didn’t provide access to educational resources that employed ICT.
Overall physical and information technology infrastructure is insufficient in Lebanese Schools, and observation revealed the urgent need to make instructional materials available to any type of school, with many teachers from public schools reporting not having access to essential learning and instructional materials, and second shift teachers reporting schools didn’t provide access to computers, tablets, or projectors. While 80% of teachers were concerned with access to learning resources needed to support teaching (such as lab equipment, tablets, computers, projectors, smartboards, and others), 75% public school teachers requested training in use of ICT and formative learning and assessment tools, revealing the importance of ensuring teachers are trained for the significant use of educational tools and resources for pedagogical purposes. At the same time, lessons learned from Covid-19 showed that reaching more students “require additional investments and political will beyond the educator sector”, “given the country’s electricity and connectivity challenges”46, which means that ensuring EdTech contributes to the promotion of good pedagogy require a strategic systemic approach.
Under 5YP and 2022 Education Sector Response47, focusing on increasing access to appropriate equipped public schools and learning centres, MEHE is committed to provide the needed ICT infrastructure, equipment, and other relevant supplies (including accessibility to children with special needs and gender-equity concerns) to support Blended-Learning adopted since pandemic. To improve learning outcomes through quality education services, additional support will be supplied not only to teachers (by expanding existing training modules from CERD and providing online training for critical educators in learner-centred pedagogy, child protection, online teaching and learning, blended-learning, teaching with technology and gender-quality learning) but also to school principals (trough managerial and financial training, empowerment to leadership in implementation of school improvement, autonomy and accountability) and finally, training modules for parents (increasing parents’ capacity to support and engage in children’s learning).
