Lebanon plans to resume the public school year on September 15, yet dozens of schools — especially in the south — are still serving as temporary shelters for people uprooted by the renewed fighting between Israel and hezbollah. Authorities, school principals and UNESCO warn that running classrooms alongside shelters will force compromises in capacity, timing and the quality of learning.
- Lebanon set schools to reopen September 15, 2026, but many buildings in the south continue to shelter displaced families.
- UNESCO and local officials say operating schools as shelters reduces capacity, delays reopening, or degrades learning conditions.
- Over 340 schools reportedly damaged and 454 affected by conflict or displacement, per UNESCO figures cited by reporting.
- Local authorities plan prefabricated classrooms and temporary housing in some towns, but scale and funding remain unclear.
- The conflict’s disruptions risk creating a lost generation without rapid rehabilitation, psychosocial support and alternative accommodation.
What is happening on the ground
In Froun, a village in the Bint Jbeil district, the local school will reopen for students while continuing to host displaced families, its principal Abbas Makki told Al Jazeera. The village shows extensive destruction from Israeli air strikes, and locals report that water and electricity service remains cut in many areas. Some returnees have found piles of concrete where their homes stood and have taken shelter inside the school grounds.
The conflict escalated again in March 2026 after strikes that followed cross-border attacks, producing large-scale displacement. Al Jazeera reports more than one million Lebanese were forced from their homes since the renewed fighting began, concentrated in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health told Al Jazeera that 4,381 people in Lebanon had been killed by Israeli strikes since March 2; other international reporting from March cited different tolls during earlier stages of the conflict.
Official plans and on-the-ground constraints
Lebanon’s Education Minister Rima Karami said every student would have access to schools for the 2026–27 academic year and that public schools would provide in-person classes where possible, but she also pledged no displaced family sheltering in a school would be removed without an alternative being offered, according to Al Jazeera.
UNESCO’s senior education programme specialist in Beirut, Maysoun Chehab, told Al Jazeera that schools cannot function simultaneously as proper shelters and full learning environments. She outlined the trade-offs: reopening may be delayed, classroom capacity reduced, or the learning environment degraded if sites continue to host displaced people. UNESCO figures cited in the same reporting said more than 340 schools had been damaged and 454 affected by conflict or displacement-related disruption.
Local responses: temporary classrooms and prefabs
Local councils and humanitarian actors are attempting stopgap measures. Lebanon’s Council of the South reportedly planned to install 17 prefabricated classrooms in one village where the school building had been destroyed. In neighboring towns, displaced people have been moved from public to private school premises in an effort to free up public classrooms.
In Froun, school authorities said prefabricated housing would be provided for displaced families so students can return to classes. Small local markets have also emerged near school shelters to sell basic items, reflecting both the needs of families sheltering at schools and the wider destruction of commercial areas.
Education experts’ warnings and the longer-term risk
Experts warn the immediate physical repairs — replacing equipment and rehabilitating buildings — are only part of the challenge. Chehab told Al Jazeera the deeper peril is a lost generation of learners: Lebanon’s students have faced disruption across seven consecutive years, and continued instability threatens long-term learning outcomes and psychosocial wellbeing.
Al Jazeera quoted Chehab saying that education cannot wait for complete political or security stability; action is needed now to return children to safe learning, support teachers and restore normality. The organisation emphasised that simply moving families out of schools without providing dignified alternative accommodation is not a viable solution.
Humanitarian and security context
The renewed conflict followed a complex sequence of attacks and counter-attacks in the region. Al Jazeera reported that after a US-declared truce earlier in the year, fighting intensified again in March. In April, direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon began, and late June brought a framework agreement that included pilot zones where Israeli forces would withdraw and the Lebanese Army would deploy to disarm Hezbollah in specific areas. Local residents in some pilot-zone villages have said Israeli forces never controlled their towns despite their inclusion in the programme.
Despite diplomatic moves, Al Jazeera and other international reporting noted that fresh Israeli strikes in recent days have continued to cause casualties and displacement. Al Jazeera reported an attack that killed 12 people in the Nabatieh region’s Kfar Reman, including two children, and reiterated the high number of Lebanese fatalities reported since March.
Practical implications for families and schools
- School capacity may be reduced where classrooms host displaced households, forcing blended or shifted schedules, larger classes in fewer rooms, or delayed starts.
- Infrastructure damage and interrupted utilities in towns such as Froun complicate both sheltering and teaching; the government set a goal of restoring water and electricity to Froun by September 15, according to Al Jazeera.
- Psychosocial support for students and teachers will be required given repeated disruptions and exposure to violence; education experts say this is as critical as rebuilding facilities.
Unresolved questions
Available reporting leaves several important points open. Different sources have given varying casualty and displacement figures at different moments in the conflict’s timeline. It is not yet clear how many schools nationwide will continue to host displaced people after September 15, nor the precise timetable and funding sources for prefabricated classrooms and alternative housing promised by local authorities. International agencies and Lebanese officials have signalled the need for safe, dignified accommodation before moving families out of schools, but the scale-up of such housing remains to be verified.
Timeline (key moments referenced in reporting)
- October 2023 onward — Prior regional hostilities involving Hezbollah and Israel, including the wider war following Hamas’s attack and its consequences for Lebanon.
- November 2024 — A US-brokered deal followed earlier skirmishes and partial disengagements; some disarmament and stabilization steps were attempted.
- March 2026 — Renewed intensive exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel led to a fresh wave of displacement and casualties, according to media reporting cited by Al Jazeera and others.
- April–June 2026 — Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon produced a framework agreement and pilot-zone concept; local returns to some villages began but many homes remained destroyed.
- September 15, 2026 — Date set by the Lebanese government for the start of the public 2026–27 school year.
What to watch next
Monitor official updates from Lebanon’s Education Ministry and UNESCO for verified numbers of schools damaged and plans for temporary learning spaces; track humanitarian agencies’ reporting for displacement figures and the availability of alternative accommodation; and watch whether security incidents in southern Lebanon prompt further displacement that could keep schools functioning as shelters.
The challenge facing Lebanon is both immediate and structural: how to ensure children can safely return to learning while meeting the urgent shelter needs of hundreds of thousands uprooted by the conflict.