BEIRUT — On iconic Hamra Street in Beirut, many children wander unattended. Some of them dig in garbage containers. Others try to sell flowers or clean the shoes of passersby. Most of the girls sit on their mothers' laps while holding their younger siblings. They keep their hands outstretched, follow pedestrians ask for bills.

“These kids should be at school, but they are in the streets working because they are just fighting to survive," said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF’s representative in Lebanon. The 2021-22 academic year is seeing the loss of 30,000 students who had to drop out of school.

The economic crash in the Mediterranean country has impacted all sectors of its society. Children suffer the consequences of one of the worst crises in history in different aspects of their lives, but their education is seriously at risk. According to UNICEF, 15% of families in Lebanon have stopped their children’s education. One in 10 children has been sent to work while Lebanese society witnesses an increase in child marriage among younger girls, especially from the Syrian refugee community.

“We are the ones responsible for our own education," said 16-year-old Jaden. Besides going to a Lebanese public school four to five hours a day, this Syrian teenager tries to learn more by attending classes at the centers run by the Spanish nongovernmental organization 26 Letters.