In the Lebanese Republic the enrollment rate of children in primary education increased by 32 per cent between 1997 and 2014. In 1989 the Government of Lebanon made advancements toward protecting the rights of children through guaranteeing their security in the 1989 Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation (Ta'if Accord), thus amending the 1926 Constitution. The Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation adopted in 1989 specifies the provisions for a mandatory primary education system.
The General Principles and Reforms within the 1989 Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation outlines reforms towards education and instruction in order “… to put education at the disposal of people and to make it mandatory, at least in the elementary stage, …[and] to emphasize the freedom of education in accordance with the laws and regulations“. Article 10 of the 1926 Constitution states that “Education is free insofar as it is not contrary to public order and morals and does not interfere with the dignity of any of the religions or creeds. There shall be no violation of the right of religious communities to have their own schools provided they follow the general rules issued by the State regulating public instruction”. These constitutional provisions allowed for legislative milestones in 1998, through the Basic Education Act which stipulates in the section 1 that “This Act provides for basic education and compulsory schooling. In addition, the Act provides for pre-primary education, which is primarily given during the year preceding compulsory schooling, for voluntary additional basic education for those who have completed the basic education syllabus, for instruction preparing immigrants for basic education, and for before- and after-school activities”.
The Lebanese Republic has made progress toward rebuilding its educational institutions since the Ta’if Accord which was negotiated in 1989 to put an end to the civil war. Constitutional provisions, and resulting legal framework guaranteeing the rights of children and their basic social security, illustrate political will in moving toward the social protection floor in Lebanon. Through this process the Government of Lebanon has acted to uphold equality and ensure that constitutional and legal provisions for income security form legal foundations for a durable social protection floor.
Further Reading:
Provided by the Government of Lebanon, National Reconciliation Charter for Lebanon, accessed from http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/leb.pdf on December 2016.