Publication: Foundations for Building Forward Better: An Education Reform Path for Lebanon
Date
2021-06-14
ISSN
Published
2021-06-14
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
Human capital development is a critical
determinant of economic growth, equity, and prosperity, but
outcomes in this domain are worryingly low inLebanon,
risking the future of generations of children. Lebanese
children lag behind their peers in human capital
development—measured accordingto the World Bank (2020c)
Human Capital Index—suggesting that the future productivity
of the labor force and the country’s trajectory for
equitablegrowth is at risk (World Bank 2020b). The Human
Capital Index indicates that children born in Lebanon today
will reach, on average, only 52 percentof their potential
productivity when they grow up. This is lower than the
average estimates for the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region(57 percent) and upper-middle-income countries
(56 percent). Lebanon’s poor performance on the Human
Capital Index is largely attributed to theeducation outcomes
calculated for the index. If actual years of schooling,
which average approximately 10.2 years in Lebanon, are
adjusted for actual learning, effective years of schooling
are 40 percent less—on average, only 6.3 years of actual
learning (World Bank 2020b). The most recent school closures
were due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with schools being closed
over 75 percent of the school year between January 2020 and
February 2021.1 This will likely lead to a further and
significant decrease in learning: effectively, students are
facing a lost year of learning (Azevedo et al. 2021).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. Foundations for Building Forward Better: An Education Reform Path for Lebanon. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35802 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”