Between bombs and books: The lasting impact of war on Lebanese students

Fouad Abou Mrad, 19, and his father, both 19, returned to their homes in southern Beirut, a stark reminder of how Israeli attacks had changed their lives. They were greeted by the fierce smell of rotten food and burned furniture.

During Israel’s September bombing campaign, the student at Notre Dame University-Louaize and his family had left their Dahiyeh home.

It was shocking to see the state where I was raised in. That is something I have never experienced in my life. It was straight out of]a] horror film”, he told Al Jazeera, adding that his home “smelled like dead bodies”.

Abou Mrad claimed that because his university in Zouk Mosbeh, a coastal city in northern Egypt, was starting classes once more, he searched his destroyed home in early October for school supplies, including his laptop and other essentials.

The learning and futures of Lebanese students had been disrupted by Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon with nearly half of the country’s 1.25 million students displaced, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Education.

On November 27, Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization officially ended a temporary ceasefire, but only after months of psychologically devastation caused by young people like Abou Mrad. He and other students are now attempting to re-establish a regular schedule and concentrate on passing their exams.

One of the hundreds of thousands of young people in Lebanon whose lives and education were impacted by the conflict is Abou Mrad, a major in hospitality and tourism management.

“Nights from hell”

November 18 is a day Sajed Salem will never forget.

The 23-year-old southern Lebanese native, who was enrolled at Saint Joseph University of Beirut in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of the capital, was living alone on the campus.

That week, Israeli forces had been bombing Beirut for days, what Salem called “nights from hell”.

Despite the intensifying bombardment, in-person classes had resumed, and on that Monday, he was sitting in his culinary arts class when explosions went off nearby. The building and the classroom desks were shaken by the explosions.

“I was s***ting myself. I was crying, screaming”, Salem told Al Jazeera.

“Immense psychological toll”

Living through such a conflict, in the opinion of Maureen Philippon, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) country director, depresses academic progress and causes psychological strain on students.

“Constant exposure to violence, displacement and loss leaves]students] highly stressed and anxious, impairing their ability to focus, learn and retain information”, Philippon told Al Jazeera, adding that the “psychological toll is immense”.

Even after the conflict is over, these effects persist.

She cited the southern Lebanoni city that Israel had bombed as being where children were seen freaking out when they heard planes, put their hands on their ears, and looked around in panic in Tyre.

exams during a conflict

Salem fled to Chouf, where some of his relatives were frightened, after the explosions shook the walls of his classroom.

“I called my cousin. He remarked, “I told him to immediately come here and pick me up.”

Dweira, in southern Lebanon, was one of the first areas bombed by Israel on September 23 as the conflict grew even more severe. According to Salem, his mother and siblings were ensnared in their home as a result of the strikes.

Alone in Beirut, he couldn’t reach them by phone until the next day, an agonising experience he said he would not wish on his “worst enemy”.

After leaving for Chouf, Salem’s problems weren’t over. Despite the bombings, he was forced to return to Beirut at least once or twice weekly for exams.

Salem claimed that despite students’ requests for a break, his teacher continued to conduct an exam despite the constant bombing. He, along with many of his classmates, failed the test.

“The exam was not that easy. He]the teacher] made it hard”, Salem said. “I don’t know why. We told him, ‘ Look at the situation. Please make things a little simpler for us.

The right to education

Experts believe educators are essential in helping students adjust to the difficulties of war, despite Salem’s disapproval of his teacher’s actions.

However, Philippon noted that teachers are also impacted by conflicts, necessitating that governments and humanitarian organizations offer support and resources.

International law does not adequately safeguard education during a war, according to Ahmed Tlili, an associate professor of educational technology at Beijing Normal University who studies education in warzones.

While international humanitarian law protects children’s right to education in armed conflicts, Tlili said these laws usually are not implemented.

This “underlines the need for concerted efforts to ensure that international laws protecting education, especially in war zones, are not just rhetorical gestures but actively upheld, enabling equitable access to education for all, even in the midst of conflict,” he told Al Jazeera.

According to the experts, international humanitarian law also forbids attacks on schools and universities, making them crimes against the international criminal court’s Rome Statute.

Tlili said that those outside of warzones are responsible for making sure that education is provided during wars, giving an example of the opportunities that some Gaza students have had.

“We can see that in]the case of Gaza], several Arab universities have opened their doors to enrol Palestinian students without any restrictions”, he explained.

We’ve also noticed that several international course providers offer free access to educational resources and teaching materials for Palestinian students and teachers, thereby preventing them from paying for the course.

‘ Art, studies, our future ‘

Abou Mrad believes that his fellow students and he were unfairly affected by the conflict’s struggle to learn.

When they should have focused on “art and studies and our future,” they fretted about whether they would see each other or their families again.

He stated that he anticipates a return to normalcy in Lebanon.

“We don’t know what can come next, … but we have to try to move forward normally”, Abou Mrad said.

Others, like Salem, said living in southern Lebanon especially hasn’t been “normal” since Israel’s war on Gaza began. Even with the ceasefire, the violence hasn’t stopped, and Israel is accused of violating the agreement hundreds of times.

Salem is even more unsure about what will happen next now that Bashar al-Assad has been toppled in neighboring Syria in December.

Source: Aljazeera