INACESS TO EDUCATION Education is legally accessible (confirmed through ministerial circulars) to stateless in Lebanon. Yet, large proportions of stateless people receive little education, and this trend is often passed on between generations. This might increase following the shift toward online education - a format that is inaccessible to many individuals. • The survey of parents shows that 46% of stateless children who are currently not in school say this is due to their lack of identification documents, which is the result of a typical form of misinformation. Their parents believe that it constitutes a real obstacle but in fact, stateless children can regularly pursue proper education through ta’arif cards, as confirmed by mukhtars and key informants from schools. • As such, Lebanese children, even those born to a stateless parent (mostly mothers), have a better chance at accessing education, since they do not face difficulties providing identification papers for registration. In this respect, only 9% of Lebanese children (based on 118 respondents in that status) are outside the school system, in opposition to 24% of stateless children. 59% Fig 28. Are your school-aged children (3-18) going to school? 51% 20% 24% 22% 25% Lebanese children born to stateless parent/s Fig 29. Are your children studying online? Lebanese children registered at birth Stateless children 80% 20% 65% 36% Stateless children Yes No Not all of them Studying online Not studying online • Among the stateless children who stopped going to school due to Covid-19 (53% of the children attending school), 65% are managing their studies online due to Covid-19 restrictions, compared to 80% of Lebanese children. This shows again the higher chances of receiving an education when identification papers are in order. It is noteworthy that online classes in Akkar are done through WhatsApp voice messages, pictures and calls due to their accessibility to a relatively large proportion of children. The risk of children not receiving an education is increasing because online education is yet another obstacle for stateless children, added to their parents’ possible misinformation, negligence, ignorance and/or limited financial capabilities. Note: Sample of registered children includes main respondents who have at least 1 registered child. Sample of stateless children includes main respondents who have at least 1 stateless child + parent respondents who also have at least 1 stateless child. © 2021 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.