Ministry of Education Lebanon Government is responsible for administering education in Lebanon. All schools in Lebanon have instructions from the government to follow a prescribed syllabus.
The subjects mainly taught at school level are Mathematics, Sciences, History, Civics, Geography, Arabic, and English, and / French. Arts and Physical Education are also taught. Lebanon has both types of schools i.e. public and private. Private schools are free to teach some extra lessons, which is subject to approval from the ministry of education. As a student promoted to higher classes he / she made to learn more number of subjects, the difficulty level of subjects in upper classes is also high.
For example, students of 11th grade study 18 different subjects. Students of 11th grade have choices between three concentrations, economy, humanities, or sciences. Similarly, students of 12th grade have choices between four concentrations, Life Sciences (SV), General Sciences (SG), Sociology and Economics (SE), and Humanities and Literature (LH). The choices in concentration do not include major changes in the number of subjects taken, if at all. Subjects that fall within concentrations contribute significantly to the final grade; these subjects are much rigorous. Subjects that fall out of the concentration are less rigorous and given less weightage in grading.
The education system in Lebanon is distributed over three phases-
- Elementary Education- This is the start of education in Lebanese children’s life when they start attending school. Elementary education requires six years of study.
- Intermediate : The duration of Intermediate education is three years. Students after successful completion of elementary education are promoted to Intermediate level. After completion Intermediate Certification Lebanese Brevet is awarded.
- Secondary : Students of 11th and 12th attend secondary education classes. Students who pass official exams earn a Baccalaureate Certificate (Baccalauréat Libanais) in the concentration they chose in 12th grade.
Education at above three levels i.e. Elementary, Intermediate and Secondary is provided free of cost by the government. The United Nations assigned Lebanon an Education Index of 0.84 in 2005. Students after passing 12th grade may chose to join a college / university in Lebanon or abroad.
Lebanon, a founding member state, joined UNESCO on November 4, 1946. The UNESCO Beirut Office, a regional office for education in the Arab states, opened in 1961. UNESCO Institute for Statistics has conducted detailed study on Education and Literacy Scenario in Lebanon. For complete access, click here