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The total duration in school remains intact, 12 years. The primary cycle of general education has been increased by one year, and is divided into two modules of three years each, while the intermediary cycle was reduced to three years instead of four. The first year of general education's secondary cycle must be considered common for all four different series of instruction, and the second year is common to only two out of four series. Lebanese students are not allowed to enter formal technical education before age 12, which is the age limit of obligatory education. The scholastic year was changed to 36 weeks, and 4 supplementary hours per week were added at the intermediary and secondary cycles.

The new school curricula was launched in September 1998, and the Educational Center for Research and Development had trained 16,000 teachers in public schools and 6,000 teachers in private schools on the new uses and principles of the new program. The new system took into account economic, social, and national perspectives. The principle characteristics of this new system consist of the following:

The Lebanese educational system has usually relied heavily on private schooling to accommodate the evergrowing demand for learning in the country

As to special education concerning handicapped students, there were about 10,000 handicapped people in 1975 (prior to the Lebanese civil war). During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, this number reached 13,000; it is more than 15,000 in 2001. About 2,500 handicapped people were being educated and made ready to enter the work market.

There are 1508 public and private intermediary and secondary schools for the general instruction program in Lebanon, while there are only 262 schools for the technical and professional instruction program divided between the public sector (29 schools) and the private sector (233 schools).

Education is compulsory until the end of the intermediate cycle, is available to all Lebanese students, and is attended by nearly 95 percent of school-age children

The school year starts in early October and ends in late June. The school day consists of six hours starting at 8:00 a.m. with two hour lunch break and ends at 4:00 p.m. The length of class periods ranges from 50 to 55 minutes. Both public and private schools are supposed to observe official holidays, which are decided by the government; however, Christian-administered, religious private schools take Saturday and Sunday off every week, while Moslem-run religious private schools take Friday and Sunday, and Jewish-run private schools take off all of Saturday and Sunday afternoon only.

In short, the new formal educational system of Lebanon, like in many other countries, divides the years of instruction as follows: 6-3-3 (six years for the primary cycle, three years for the intermediate cycle, and three years for the secondary cycle), followed by the higher education cycle. Primary school education is followed either by a six-year intermediary and secondary program, leading to the official Lebanese baccalaureate certificate, which was originally based on the equivalent French school diploma, or by a three- to six-year technical or vocational training program.

In addition, females appeared to have a slightly higher percentage than males with regard to attending schools and universities. After age 25 male attendance becomes almost double that of female attendance.

the literacy rate was 88.4 percent in 1997

ue to the Lebanese people's negative attitude toward manual work, especially in industry and agriculture, students of lower socioeconomic status enroll mostly in vocational and technical schools. Therefore, there is a big difference between the two major types of instruction, as well as the relative numbers of schools and students enrolled in each of these types

The brevet certificate is only required by public schools, vocational schools, and teacher training institutes. The baccalaureate part I exam has two main tracks: literary and scientific. The baccalaureate part II has four main tracks: literature and humanities, which includes language, literature, history, philosophy, education, arts, and religion; sociology and economy, which includes economic sciences, politics, business and management, law, and sociology; general sciences, which includes mathematics, physics, chemistry, and their applications at the level of engineering; and life sciences, which includes biology and life sciences, chemistry and their applications in the area of medicine, health, agriculture, and other related subjects.

Most institutions of higher education require entrance examinations besides the baccalaureate part II, which is required by law.

The grading system is generally based on scales of 0 to 20 or 0 to 100, with 10 or 60, respectively, as passing grades

he curriculum in Lebanese schools is somewhat rigid, for all students must pursue the same programs in all three cycles

rivate schools can choose textbooks that meet their syllabi, except in the civics area where the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport requires them to use the center's textbooks.

rabic and either French or English are the languages of instruction in the Lebanese schools.

The United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides funds supporting a private nonsectarian school system for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East. This type of private schooling has been very effective in offering education and social services for children of Palestinian Refugees residing in Lebanon

Public schools are completely the responsibility of the Education Ministry

bout 92 percent of students attend public schools.

ublic schools are divided into two types: local Arabic schools and experimental schools.

Experimental schools a

public schools that offer their curriculum in a foreign language.

ational Institutions Schools

hese schools are institutions that are not privately owned but are related to national institutions and administrations.

hich are semi-private schools with high language standards and school fees close to private school fees.

ed by social institutions, not individuals

mbassy Schools

hese are schools that are not connected to the Ministry of Education in any way

embers of the student body are mainly from the nation of their respective embassies and follow their own curriculum.

since these schools do not offer the courses required by the ministry in Arabic, Religion and Social Studies, Egyptian universities are not likely to admit students from these schools.

Private Schools

rivate schools edcuate just 8 percent of students.

creditation to offer other kinds of diplomas, including the British General Certificate of Secondary Education, the International Baccalaureate and the French Baccalaureate.

ther schools are privately owned but offer a national curriculum.

issionary and Religious Schools also teach the national curriculum but have a religious mission.

They do not have a special license, are legally national schools and are subject to Egyptian laws.

Higher education, either a two-year intermediate level course offered by community colleges or four years of university level courses, either in public or private institutions. The student's achievement on the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination is the sole criterion for admission into higher education institutes.

Under this system, students in grades 4 through 10 may repeat a grade twice. After that they are automatically promoted. In the preparatory stage, grade repetition is allowed only once. At the secondary level, students are allowed to repeat once in a government school provided they are younger than 17; otherwise they must transfer to a private school.

Community colleges and universities vary in required attendance from two years in community colleges to six or more in universities based on the type of institution and specialization

he majority of students are enrolled in schools directly controlled by the MOE. Some schools fall under the jurisdiction of the cultural bureau of the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Health oversees students studying for medical careers; it established the first nursing school in 1953-54.

Instruction is in Arabic, but English is introduced in public schools in the fifth grade and is widely used. A new policy was recently approved to start teaching English in the first grade beginning in the academic year 2001-02

The school year runs for 210 days from September to June.

All public schools and most private ones use the same textbooks. Under Law 16 of 1964, the School Curricula and Textbooks Division of the MOE is responsible for producing and printing the textbooks. They are distributed free of charge during the compulsory stage, but there is a nominal fee at the secondary stage.

Jordanian public schools are single sex schools.

In 1997, however, only 16 percent of students were attending two shift schools and 11 percent went to rented buildings.

As a whole, education in Jordan is considered an investment in the future. Skilled citizens are necessary. Before the Gulf War, most graduates could find good jobs in the oil-rich countries, and the money they sent home helped the Jordanian economy to grow. It is not uncommon for a family living at subsistence level to be able to send a child to a university (Abu-Zeinh).

Finally, although Qatar has a high per capita income, the national investment in education was small. Teachers received low pay and little professional development, many school buildings were in poor condition, and classrooms were overcrowded.

he most fundamental need was for clear curriculum standards oriented toward the desired outcomes of schooling. The new system’s curriculum, assessments, and professional development would all need to be aligned with these clear standards

AND presented three governance options to the Qatari leadership for discussion: (1) a Modified Centralized Model, which upgraded the existing, centrally controlled system by allowing for some school-level flexibility with or without parental choice of schools; (2) a Charter School Model, which encouraged variety through a set of schools independent of the Ministry and which allowed parents to choose whether to send their children to these schools; and (3) a Voucher Model, which offered parents school vouchers so that they could send their children to private schools and which sought to expand high-quality private schooling in Qatar.

Qatar now possesses curriculum standards in Arabic, mathematics, science, and English for all 12 grades — and these standards are comparable to the highest in the world.

These tests and surveys were then upgraded and repeated in 2005 and 2006 as part of the ongoing accountability system. The tests are the first standardized measures of student learning available in the Arabic language.

otential school operators responded enthusiastically to the call to open the new schools.

from a pool of 160 initial applicants; all 12 opened under three-year renewable contracts. In 2005, 21 additional Independent schools opened, and in 2006, 13 more opened.

Increased expertise is needed in Qatar’s teaching workforce and among the Institutes’ staff. Non-Qatari specialists are likely to be required in the future, but it is important that they find the means to transfer knowledge to Qataris to build local human resources.

The four principles of the reform — autonomy, accountability, variety, and choice

The emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates recently adopted a strategy of public financing for private providers of education that is similar to that of Qatar. Also, the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council praised Qatar’s initiative, especially its curriculum standards. Since these standards are the foundation for teaching, learning, and accountability, the Secretary General’s praise, motivated by concern throughout the region about preparing students for later life, represents a major endorsement of the approach taken in Qatar.

majority of refugees are women and, especially, children; of the 200,000 refugees in Turkish camps, about 60% are children.

t was left to him to find tents, wooden flooring, carpets and paving bricks, desks, chairs, drawing boards, teaching aids and, of course, textbooks

urkish Red Crescent

acquired through AFAD channels a

egging

he result

ten large tents with floors

drawing boards

electricity

computer projectors.

limate control consisted of large fans

he pre-school director in Islahiye Camp used empty office and storage space in the warehouse to house five rooms full of loud young children

preschools enjoyed the largest proportion of age-group participation.

camp schools are administered by Turks

curricula are not recognised or sanctioned by the Turkish education authorities, and so licenced Turkish teachers cannot be assigned to them.

amp education directors rely heavily on volunteers from among the refugees themselves

time and instruction with the children is often inconsistent

not be able to teach in Arabic

There is little incentive for parents to commit their children to learning a new language

Closely related to the issue of language is the curriculum

eenage students in the camps generally do not have access to the secondary schooling

Indeed, one source of tension between Syrian parents and the Turkish authorities has been the Syrian demand for special classes for advanced students whose preparations for university entrance exams were interrupted by the war.

Syrian schools have opened outside of the camps with funding from the local government,

using the Syrian curriculum and books salvaged from Syrian schools and reproduced

Gaziantep

namely Syrian demands for the separation of the sexes in classrooms

Syrian parents also tend to insist that their daughters wear headscarves (hijab) in public and in schools, while it is illegal for Turkish teenage girls to cover their hair at school.

Tensions over the separation of the sexes, curriculum and language of instruction are compounded by the politics of Syrians’ refugee status

y contrast, the Turkish government chose not to officially recognise the Syrians as refugees as defined by UNHCR, and did not ask UNHCR to register the newcomers as refugees.

officially designate Syrians as refugees would limit Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian civil war,

Turkey has allowed arms and non-lethal aid through its territory to supply the Free Syrian Army

here are also concerns that Syrians, desperate for income, take jobs at lower wages than Turks

Even guests can outstay their welcome, and with no end in sight to the civil war and no prospect of a return of Syrians to Syria, Turks are beginning to question how long they can sustain their assistance. I

une 2013 AFAD began accepting offers of financial and other aid from outside agencies, including UNHCR and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The schools developed in Syrian refugee camps in Turkey provide valuable models for establishing schools for rapidly growing refugee populations.

The next critical challenge for Syrian education in Turkey is what to do with the growing number of Syrian teenagers who need to finish their high-school studies at accredited schools in order to compete for places at universities in Turkey or elsewhere.

Ordinary schools

Language schools 

Religious schools

nternational schools

n 2010, a total of 2,646,000 students were enrolled across all tertiary levels. They attended one of 23 public universities, including Al-Azhar University, the oldest continuously running university in the world. There are 19 private universities; 18 public institutes of higher education and 81 private higher institutes.

verall literacy rate in Egypt is 72%

80.3% for males and 63.5% for females

educe gender disparity in education and to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education

nside Syria, two million children and adolescents are currently out of school.

“We simply cannot allow an entire generation of children and adolescents to be lost to ignorance, exploitation, despair and radicalisation.”

International humanitarian law, which declares that schools be respected as zones of peace and safe havens for children, has counted for little. The long-term consequences for children – and their place in the Syria of the future – can only be guessed at.

utside Syria, more than 50 per cent (600,000) of Syrian refugee children and adolescents are out of school, and this number continues to grow.

The campaigns include distribution of teaching and learning materials as well as school bags with stationary. Similar campaigns have been rolled out in countries hosting refugees.

When I go to the refugee camps and see the smiling faces of children, then I think we should not give up in the face of difficulties,

ublic schools receiving Syrian children are overstretched. Non-formal education spaces cannot absorb large numbers of students.

achers are not well equipped to work with stress, overcrowding and difference. Syrian children and adolescents are receiving multiple and dispersed forms of curricula and content that are not adapted to their capacity and needs and that come with enormous challenges in certification and accreditation.

eeting these lofty goals will require a range of initiatives—repairing infrastructure and building new facilities, providing sufficient learning materials, narrowing teacher-student ratios, and addressing gender disparities—especially in rural areas, where underfunding and conflict have compounded the problems facing schools ther

Mohammad bin Mohammad, a school teacher in Erman Primary School in the Ans area of Dhamar governorate, which accommodates 110 children from first to sixth grade, says many of his students are forced to take their lessons sitting on the ground. “Students don’t study in proper classrooms. Let alone having enough labs, chairs or tables,” he said.

Addressing security concerns and providing necessary infrastructure are fundamental prerequisites, but staffing and improving access to education for girls remain high on the agenda.

Government expenditure on bonuses amounts to YR60 million ($279,000) for the current fiscal year, and is expected to reach 271,696 employees nationwide working in the education sector, according to the Ministry of Education.

In areas where female enrolment and retention in school is significantly lower than the national average, the government also offers conditional cash transfers to families to encourage them to allow their girls to attend school.

t is absolutely shameful that the obligation to protect schools is not being respected in this conflict

Syrian refugee children in neighbouring countries are facing disturbing rates of abuse, bullying, corporal punishment and marginalization

p to half of children surveyed by the agency in Syria reported they were 'rarely' or 'never' able to concentrate in class

Syrian children are dropping out of school by the day, and the international community has to step up its response to ensure that we do not lose an entire generation of children."

Four years into the Syria crisis, overall enrolment in Syrian schools has halved from near 100% pre-crisis levels, while enrolment in the hardest hit areas such as Aleppo has plummeted to just 6%

And those children who have managed to escape the conflict in Syria are also missing out on education with devastating consequences. One in 10 Syrian refugee children across the region are estimated to be working, and the figure is likely to be much higher. In Jordan, 47% of refugee families reported relying partly or entirely on their children's income in a recent assessment.

We have heard from children being cursed and ridiculed by teachers in host countries, being told that they have ruined their country or to go back to Syria," Hearn said. "Others face corporal punishment at school. In Egypt alone, 30% of children we interviewed told us they were being hit by teachers and 70% are being verbally abused

Refugee children are also faced with learning an unfamiliar curriculum or even a teacher speaking a language they cannot understand.

The Taliban has already been successful with this approach on other fronts. Their attacks on polio aid workers have proven effective in disrupting the country’s entire public health system

Together with Jishnu Das of the World Bank, we have been researching Pakistan’s education sector for nearly 20 years.

Girls in particular have benefited from this school boom: more are in school than ever.

Research shows that the education debate in Pakistan is similar to the education debate in any other country: parents grapple with a choice of schools based on the usual set of considerations: Which of the schools nearby is best? How much should we pay? Is our child getting the best quality education?

But education is a unique service – not only because it involves a country’s most precious resource, its children – but also because, by increasing human capital, it strengthens the state not only in the present, but in the future.

As we speak, many schools are announcing temporary closure of facilities in the aftermath of the latest attack

ajority of primary and secondary school-aged children say they want to go to school.

iolence

harassment

verbal abuse

corporal punishment in the classroom by Jordanian teachers and Syrian assistant teachers

nsecurity about leaving their family even for a few hour

work to earn money

distance to scho

ack of appropriate toilets

hungry

Large class sizes

yrian children are una

internet,

research required by the Jordanian curriculum

ordanian teachers

Some report that they do not feel safe working in Za’atari camp

transportation to the camp is costly

nexperienced

For every two Jordanian teachers, there is approximately one Syrian assistant teacher

yrian teachers are frustrated that they are only allowed to work as assistants in Za’atari camp given they are fully qualified teachers.

t has been recognized internationally that education is a right that must be upheld in emergency situations

Education can provide stability, normalcy and hope in a child’s day to day life during a crisis situation which can last for months and years.

he conflict in Syria is in its third year.

Global Partnership for Education requests partner countries to design their education sector plan sensitive to their context (PDF).

Za’atari camp reflect what children in other refugee camps may face worldwide.

With fewer than 1 in 10 Syrian refugees ages 15, 16, or 17 enrolled in secondary school or technical/vocational education, the risk of losing a generation of skilled professionals is very real

Though girls’ enrollment and primary education completion rates in Yemen have increased substantially over the last decade, the gender disparity remains severe

To address the disparity, in 2007 the Yemeni government, with funding from the World Bank’s Fund for the Poorest Countries (IDA), launched a rural female teacher contracting scheme and has since trained 550 teachers, 525 of which have become certified.  Under an additional project, funded by the Global Partnership for Education, 490 teachers have completed the training program.

A conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, designed to help girls in grades 4-9 in disadvantaged communities in selected governorates, has been effective in encouraging parents to allow girls to attend school.

he cash stipends are conditional on maintaining no less than 80% attendance and a passing grade, with an allowance to repeat the grade only once

Under Yemen’s second basic education development project, approved under a $66 million IDA grant in February, the government  will recruit, train and deploy an additional 700 female teachers in rural areas and continue its conditional cash transfer program for girls’ education, to extend service to an additional 25,000 students.

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risen sharply from a few thousand … a decade ago to more than 25,000 today

The report said just two countries had drawn more than 20,000 foreign fighters: Syria and Iraq. They went to fight primarily for the Islamic State group

ited the “high number” of foreign fighters from Tunisia, Morocco, France and Russia, the increase in fighters from the Maldives, Finland and Trinidad and Tobago, and the first fighters from some countries in sub-Saharan Africa which it did not name. The groups had also found recruits from Britain and Australia.

A military defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq could have the unintended consequence of scattering violent foreign terrorist fighters across the world

while governments are focusing on countering the threat from fighters returning home, the panel said it was possible that some may be traumatised by what they saw and need psychological help, and that others may be recruited by criminal networks.

The number of countries the fighters come from has also risen dramatically from a small group in the 1990s to more than 100 today — more than half the countries in the world

foreign fighters who travelled to Syria and Iraq were living and working in “a veritable ‘international finishing school’ for extremists”, as was the case in Afghanistan in the 199

an urgent global security problem” that needed to be tackled on many fronts and had no easy solution

With globalised travel, it said, the chance of a person from any country becoming a victim of a foreign terrorist attack was growing “particularly with attacks targeting hotels, public spaces and venues

It said the most effective policy was to prevent the radicalisation, recruitment and travel of would-be fighters.

But ironically, others fear that the money will never reach the schools, anymore than the $100 million in U.S. aid over the past three years has.  Reformers believe the problems that Pakistani children face are so deep that money alone will not be enough to fix them

Just a few months ago, Paracha led a protest against the latest American aid package, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for education reform. The religious parties say the United States. is using the aid to try to hijack Pakistani societ

who are assigned to subjects according not to their own choice, but to their school grades. Medicine, engineering and political science require high results. Low-scorers are concentrated in arts, business and education courses.

The very wealthy send their sons and daughters abroad. Many never come back, contributing to a brain drain in the Arab world.