Political and social turmoil in Lebanon continues to inflict profound disruptions on the country’s educational landscape, compelling many families to increasingly turn to unregulated “shadow” education as a coping mechanism. This emerging reliance on private tutoring and informal learning arrangements underscores a growing crisis that extends far beyond the classroom walls, highlighting systemic failures rooted in long-standing political neglect and economic collapse. The crisis in Lebanon exemplifies how national instability undermines public education systems, simultaneously deepening social inequalities and reshaping family strategies for academic survival.
Over the past several years, Lebanon’s sectarian-based power-sharing government has exhibited a persistent inability to invest adequately in public education infrastructures. This political model has fostered a governance paralysis where addressing fundamental social services, including education, is deprioritized. Consequently, public schools have suffered from chronic underfunding, dilapidated facilities, and overstretched staff. As resources dwindle and quality deteriorates, families across all social strata find traditional schooling increasingly inadequate, thereby fueling a burgeoning demand for shadow education as a compensatory solution.
Shadow education, comprised primarily of private tutoring sessions often offered by underpaid public school teachers themselves, has rapidly become a parallel educational system. This informal sector remains unregulated, lacking official oversight or standardized curriculum frameworks, yet it plays a critical role in maintaining students’ academic progress amidst understaffed and under-resourced schools. The economic hardships plaguing the country have pushed educators to accept private tutoring roles to supplement their stagnant incomes, often compromising their formal duties, which further exacerbates equity gaps within the learning environment.
Interviews conducted with parents by researchers from the University of Exeter reveal the persistent challenges faced by Lebanese families during the protracted national crises between 2020 and 2021. Despite economic downturns, inflation, and escalating poverty levels, these parents felt an inescapable pressure to invest scarce resources into shadow education. Their motivation is twofold: to recover lost learning due to unstable schooling conditions and to secure their children’s prospects in an education system increasingly dominated by competitive grades and academic achievements, perceived as gateways to university access and future socioeconomic mobility.
Significantly, the study outlines the concept of “parental hysteresis,” describing how parents cling to prior educational values and expectations despite radically altered circumstances. Against the backdrop of a collapsing economy and diminishing household budgets, many parents continue to prioritize private tutoring, believing it indispensable for preserving their children’s academic trajectories. This persistence, fueled by deep-seated fears of social decline and loss of status, ironically perpetuates a cycle of dependency on unregulated education, which itself is riddled with disparities and inconsistencies.
Lebanon’s education sector starkly illustrates the systemic consequences of political neglect. Teachers, often appointed as political appointees rather than on meritocratic grounds, face inadequate remuneration primarily paid in rapidly devaluing Lebanese pounds. Public educational vouchers provided by the government fail to keep pace with soaring tuition fees in the private sector, rendering many formal private education options unaffordable. This economic squeeze has forced numerous private institutions to downscale operations, embrace low-cost but ineffective online learning modalities like WhatsApp voice lessons, or shutter completely, leading to mass teacher layoffs and further instability in educational provision.
The migration of students from private to public schools amidst the crisis has overwhelmed an already struggling public system. Parents express frustration with remote learning protocols, which frequently involve rudimentary methods such as audio messages on social media platforms that offer minimal pedagogical value. This inadequate engagement not only hampers students’ academic progress but also places significant psychological pressures on families who must secure supplementary private tutoring to fill widening educational gaps.
Moreover, the study spotlights how these educational inequalities reproduce broader social stratifications within Lebanese society. The highly privatized education landscape disproportionately benefits a narrow cohort of financially privileged families who maintain access to high-quality schooling and shadow education networks. In contrast, disadvantaged families face compounded barriers and rising costs, restricting their children’s opportunities and perpetuating a cycle of educational disadvantage that threatens social cohesion and upward mobility.
Experts emphasize that this entrenched disparity undermines the teaching profession itself, as the divergence between public and private educational sectors erodes professional standards and morale. Public school teachers, caught between insufficient support and the necessity to provide private tutoring, often find themselves stretched thin, negatively impacting instructional quality and contributing to widespread educational malaise. The resulting environment further diminishes confidence in the public education system, driving increased privatization and fragmenting national education policy initiatives.
Despite these critical challenges, there is cautious optimism regarding the future trajectory of Lebanon’s educational system. National reform plans highlight intentions to revitalize and strengthen public education, with particular emphasis on improving teacher salaries, enhancing institutional resources, and reinforcing governance frameworks. While these initiatives face formidable obstacles amid ongoing political and economic instability, they offer a potential roadmap toward redressing inequities and rebuilding a resilient education infrastructure capable of serving all Lebanese children.
The Lebanese case vividly exemplifies how educational crises intersect with broader sociopolitical and economic dynamics, revealing the intricate feedback loops between governance, socioeconomic status, and academic outcomes. The increasing reliance on shadow education reflects not merely a stopgap measure but a symptom of structural deficiencies in national policy and resource allocation. Without substantial reforms and renewed political will, Lebanon’s education crisis risks ossifying existing disparities and perpetuating intergenerational cycles of deprivation.
In conclusion, the predicament faced by Lebanese educators, families, and students underscores an urgent need for comprehensive, inclusive, and adequately funded public education policies. Such policies must prioritize equity, bolster teacher support, and adapt innovative educational methods responsive to crisis contexts. The entrenchment of shadow education as a parallel system, while providing immediate relief, could ultimately entrench social inequalities unless embedded within a coherent national strategy aimed at sustainable educational development. Lebanon’s experience offers a cautionary tale with significant implications for other nations facing intersecting crises that impact education systems globally.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Parental hysteresis and shadow education in times of crises in Lebanon: a fast train fuelled by grades and academic achievements
News Publication Date: 27-Feb-2025
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2025.2471315
References: Tamara Al Khalili and Salah Troudi, University of Exeter
Image Credits: Not provided
Keywords: Children, Online education, Education administration, Teaching, Education economics, Social studies of science, Sociopolitical systems, Inequalities, Education research, Social inequality, Socioeconomics
