Lebanon races to repair schools before September 2026

Lebanon has a narrowing window to make damaged schools safe and usable before the 2026-27 academic year, with UNICEF warning that at least 100,000 children could be left without classrooms when the school year begins in September.

A nationwide assessment conducted in June by Lebanon’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education, with technical support from UNICEF, found damage at 340 public, private and technical-vocational schools. Seventeen of those schools were completely destroyed.

What the assessment found

The damage ranges from minor harm to facilities requiring extensive rehabilitation or full reconstruction. The affected governorates include Nabatiyeh, South Lebanon, Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Beirut and Mount Lebanon, according to UNICEF’s July 2 release of the findings.

UNICEF described the 100,000 figure as an estimate of children at risk of lacking classrooms when the next academic year begins. It is not a final count of school closures, lost enrollment or children who will definitely remain out of school.

The practical challenge is broader than repairing walls. Schools must be assessed for safety and restored with essential services such as water, electricity, heating and connectivity before students and teachers can return. Some education facilities have also been used as shelters for displaced people, creating a separate obstacle to reopening.

Planning has moved forward, but completed repairs are not documented

Lebanon’s education ministry and donors met on July 3 to review education-sector needs and the strategy for the 2026-27 school year. That meeting represented coordination and support; it did not establish that the damaged schools had been repaired or cleared to reopen.

The Council for Development and Reconstruction’s procurement records also show World Bank-linked consultancy and project-preparation activity in July. The records reviewed confirm that recovery-related procurement was moving forward, but they do not by themselves demonstrate that construction, rehabilitation or reopening has occurred at the 340 affected schools.

The World Bank’s Lebanon Emergency Assistance Project, or LEAP, is a broader reconstruction framework covering education alongside other public services and infrastructure. Its activities include restoring essential services, decommissioning displacement centers and returning buildings to their original use where applicable, preparing designs and studies for reconstruction, and supporting construction of severely damaged or destroyed public infrastructure.

LEAP is structured as a $1 billion framework, but the World Bank says $250 million in financing is currently available, leaving a $750 million financing gap under the full framework. The World Bank identifies the Council for Development and Reconstruction as the project’s implementing agency.

Schools remain tied to the displacement response

Earlier UNICEF reporting documented the disruption caused by school closures, displacement and the use of schools as shelters. During the March 2026 escalation, UNICEF said 344 public schools had been repurposed as shelters and that approximately 300 schools had reopened in North and Akkar governorates by March 25. Fifty of those schools were operating as hub schools for students from closed schools through rotational or shift-based arrangements.

Those figures predate the June damage assessment and should not be treated as a current national reopening count. They do show why school readiness depends on more than construction: displaced families must have alternative shelter, teachers must be available and students must be able to reach safe learning sites.

What happens if buildings are not ready

If damaged schools cannot reopen in time, Lebanon has several documented continuity measures available, including hub-school or temporary learning arrangements, printed materials, remote tutoring and the Madristi national digital learning platform.

UNICEF USA says an estimated 400,000 public-school students and 50,000 teachers can access Madristi. The platform includes curriculum-aligned courses, online and mobile access, and offline functions. UNICEF also describes a free “call and learn” service, printed learning materials and plans for offline servers in schools with weak or unreliable internet connections.

These tools can reduce learning loss while buildings are unavailable, but they are not an equivalent replacement for safe, stable in-person schooling. Their reach depends on devices, connectivity, teacher support, electricity and suitable places for children to study, including in shelters or temporary learning spaces.

What to watch before September

The clearest evidence that the repair effort is producing results will be awarded works contracts, published project scopes, visible rehabilitation progress, safety clearances, the release of school buildings from shelter use, teacher assignments and official reopening guidance from the education ministry.

For families, the central question is whether those steps can move quickly enough to prevent another prolonged interruption to education. Lebanon now has a documented scale of school damage and a financing framework for recovery, but the decisive test will be whether planning and procurement turn into safe, usable classrooms before the 2026-27 school year begins.

Sources

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