Lebanon's schools are crumbling under the weight of the country's economic collapse as the political leadership -- which caused the crisis through decades of corruption and mismanagement -- balks at taking any measures to resolve it.
Since the meltdown began in late 2019, over three-quarters of Lebanon's 6 million people have been plunged into poverty, their assets evaporating as the currency's value shrivels and inflation rises at one of the world's highest rates.
Teachers are demanding adjusted salaries, a transportation stipend, and health benefits. The government only offered to partially cover transportation, saying it didn't have the budget for more. Though schools partially reopened last week after some teachers returned to work, most chose to continue striking.
Even before the strike, more than 700,000 children in Lebanon, many of them Syrian refugees, were not in school because of the economic crisis. With the strike, an additional 500,000 joined their ranks, according to UNICEF. "The classrooms are basically empty because teachers are demanding their rights and they're dark because there is no fuel," Ghalib told the AP.
Hussein Cheaito, an economist and nonresident fellow at The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, a Washington-based think tank, says the crippled education system will further "deteriorate the social fabric" of Lebanon and deepen poverty.