Syrian refugees and the politics of education governance in Lebanon

The “global” refugee crisis has had a disproportionate impact on Lebanon. But even before the arrival of large numbers of Syrian refugees, Lebanon had a long and complex history hosting other displaced populations. The country’s public education sector was also chronically underfunded and stark inequalities existed between public and private schooling outcomes. In this blog, we discuss the importance of examining how refugee responses, like the one in Lebanon, interact with system level challenges around the governance and funding of education.

Whereas much research on refugee education focuses on access and learning outcomes, we are concerned with the broader issue of educational governance. Governance refers to the ways in which power is exercised to manage economic and social resources for development. However, aid agencies are often concerned with the more subjective issue of “good governance.” According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, good governance is:

“…the process whereby public institutions conduct public affairs, manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption, and with due regard for the rule of law.”

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