In a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council, submitted by BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status wrote about the UNRWA schools:
“Living Conditions for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
These conditions are exacerbated by an underfunded United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that is constantly facing Israeli-led attacks and defamation campaigns aimed at delegitimizing and invalidating the Agency. As such, UNRWA is gradually becoming less able to provide adequate services to all Palestinian refugees. This is particularly so considering that most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon depend on UNRWA schools for education due to high schooling expenses elsewhere, as well as health care due to their inability to access the public health system in the country.”
(Source: Badil Resource Center: “Written statement* submitted by BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status”, 23 May 2022, p. 2)
In a public letter to the UNHCR published by UNRWA in June 2021, the relief agency stated that:
“UNRWA is aware that there has been additional pressure on public schools in Lebanon in 2020 due to students not being able to pay the fees for private schools. On 28 July 2020, the Minister of Education issued a circular (no. 339/M/2020) opening school enrolment for Lebanese students only, with a follow up circular on 23 October 2020 (no.490/M/2020) for the enrolment of students of other nationalities. According to information available to the Agency, in practice, most schools are making efforts to keep all students already enrolled, so the impact is mostly felt by new students.”
(Source: UNRWA, “Letter from UNRWA to UNHCR in the case of NB and AB v. SSHD before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-349/20).”, 21 June 2021, p. 8, footnote xxi)
In the internationally recognised book they published in 2020, legal scholars Dr. Francesca Albanese [currently Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory] and Prof Lex Takkenberg wrote:
“In the field of education, Palestinian refugees generally cannot access Lebanese schools and state-run universities, though there is no legal barrier. As a consequence, Lebanon is the only country where UNRWA operates secondary schools (grades 10–12). Most Palestinian refugees complete their elementary, primary, and secondary education in one of sixty-six UNRWA schools. Dropout rates are high as some children seek work in order to help their families. Palestinian refugee illiteracy in Lebanon remains high. Access to (p. 216) higher education is further limited for Palestinian refugees because many cannot afford tuition fees.”
(Source: “Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg/Oxford University Press, Palestinian Refugees in International Law”, May 2020, Chapter 3.3.3, Legal Status and Treatment, p. 276)