BEIRUT, Lebanon — The future of the education sector in Lebanon never looked more uncertain. It is one of the main casualties of Lebanon’s economic collapse with private schools operating under difficult circumstances and public schools on the verge of collapse.

Schools have already been disrupted over the past three years by a series of events: mass protests starting in late 2019, the switch to online classes in 2020 because of the pandemic, and rising poverty where hundreds of students were forced to drop out.

The public sector has been for decades under-resourced, and now it is under strain. According to a report by The World Bank, in the 2020-2021 school year alone, around 55,000 students transitioned from private to public schools as a result of the financial pressure suffered by families in Lebanon.

Manal Hdaife, a member of the Public Primary Schools Teachers League, told Al-Monitor: “It’s a catastrophe on the already-overburdened sector, as for the academic year of 2022-2023 we are expecting a bigger wave of students moving from private to public schools.”