The World Bank has recently released a report titled “Foundations for Building Forward Better: An Education Reform Path for Lebanon” in which it addressed the performance of Lebanon’s education sector and suggested reforms for improving said sector. In details, the World Bank revealed that Lebanese children are some way behind their regional peers in terms of human capital development, jeopardizing as such the country’s future labor force productivity. In figures, the report indicated as per the Human Capital Index, children born in Lebanon will attain only 52% of their potential productivity when they grow up, in comparison with 57% for the MENA region and 56% for upper-middle-income countries. This is attributed to the fact that on average, students in Lebanon are receiving only 6.3 years of actual learning, a figure which will be further diluted by the school closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank unveiled that while private schools host 60% of students and receive some 25% of public financing, the sector is subject to minimal regulation and quality assurance. The report also uncovered that primary school (78%) and lower secondary school (59%) completion rates are declining, with drop-out rates varying across different economic groups (completion rate of only 50% for 18-years olds from lowest economic tranches and far worse figures for Syrian refugees). Apart from the aforementioned access problems, the World Bank report commented on quality issues, with a recent comprehensive assessment pointing out that around two-thirds of Lebanese students do not attain basic literacy, way below international standards. The report unveiled that public expenditure on education falls below the 2% of GDP level, the lowest across the MENA region and way below the 4% level for OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. The report mentioned that recent macroeconomic factors have translated into hikes in tuition fees and increased job insecurity for school staff (administrators or students), factors that jeopardize the quality of education. The World Bank added that the Beirut port explosion, which occurred a couple of weeks before the onset of the academic year, exacerbated the difficulties of an already ailing educational sector. The World Bank commented that Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s plan to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 crisis involved remote learning and television broadcasts during the 2019-2020 academic year, yet pointed out that said television broadcasts did not continue in the academic year 2020-2021. In this regard, the World Bank suggested a set of short-term reforms to tackle said issues, indicating that while the MEHE’s back-to-school plan was an excellent starting point, more systematic planning was needed at the level of each district, in coordination with regional directors, in an endeavor to tackle local issues, such as upgrading facilities, deploying teachers and close monitoring of health developments. Always on the short-term reforms front, the World Bank called for the urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation of institutions that were damaged by the port explosion, with the support of the international community. The report also outlined a set of medium-term reforms along several areas that are crucial to the Lebanese educational sector such as restructuring sector financing, overcoming the learning crisis, ameliorating the quality of teaching, reforming the curriculum and education strategy, early childhood education and school to work transitions, as elaborated in the below table: