Project profile — Education Access and Quality Learning in Lebanon

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased demand and reduced cultural, financial, and gender-barriers for enrollment and retention into formal and non-formal education and early development opportunities for children; (2) enhanced delivery of quality of educational services and learning environments for girls and boys that ensure relevant, equitable learning outcomes; and (3) strengthened governance and technical capacity of the Minister of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon in delivering gender-responsive quality education to girls and boys.

Results achieved as of March 2021 by UNICEF through the support of the Government of Canada and other international donors include: for teacher training: (1) the development and operationalization of the Teacher Training Curriculum Model (TTCM). The TTCM uses a a child-centred approach to teaching. It focuses on inclusion, child protection, gender-responsive classroom interaction and gender-based violence, to enhance the education quality in public schools. In total, 14,839 teachers (of whom 90% are women) from all regions in Lebanon received training on this model; for child protection: (2) the development of the Child Protection Policy for the education sector and the roll out of the policy in 435 schools. In all, 1,190 counsellors (of whom 95% are women) and 1,681 education personnel received training to build an inclusive child-friendly learning environment and prevent and respond to cases related to child protection and gender-based violence. Academic counsellors undertook over 22,500 visits to 350 second-shift schools for Syrian refugees to monitor the quality of education and the learning environment. They also provided guidance, coaching and support to teachers, health educators and in-school psychosocial counsellors; for inclusive education: (3) the development of the Inclusive Education Programme and the pilote of this program in 30 public schools. This is in addition to a comprehensive package for the inclusion of children with disabilities into non-formal education. Through this package, special educators, specialized equipment and services are put in place in 30 schools to facilitate the integration of children with disabilities in the classroom. Community awareness and engagement activities around inclusion reached over 3,500 persons and 5,910 children with disabilities and learning difficulties (of whom 40% are girls) received support to enroll in formal and non-formal education. Technical experts deployed to the Ministry of Education strengthened the technical capacity of its institutions; for gender equality: (4) the project supported the development of a stand-alone module on gender equality and the introduction of this module to six master trainers at the Ministry of Education. These trainers are responsible for training public school teachers on the module. Forty-five Ministry of Education counsellors (of whom 84% are women) received training on the main concepts of gender equality. The project supported the review of texts, policies and educational materials and the sharing of recommendations with the government, related to integrating gender equality and gender-based violence risk mitigation elements in the national curriculum.