COVID19 pandemic

Since late February 2020, during the COVID19 pandemic. The Lebanese authorities had suspended studies, closed all educational institutions throughout the country, and adopted "remote education" through electronic platforms, in light of the suspension of schools, and universities.

Addressing the official exams specifically, deliberation was taking place in the corridors of the ministry to reduce the number of subjects by half, especially in the privet certificate, that is, 5 subjects instead of 10, along with a "Bonus" considering that some students rely on non-essential subjects to succeed in the exam. It seemed that there was no final decision in this regard, and there was a disagreement between the General Directorate of Education and the Educational Centre for Research and Development regarding the reference for describing exam questions.

On the other hand, the associations of the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools have refused to reduce the curriculum without criteria and create questions without pre-models claiming that students are not accustomed to this new pattern. Furthermore, these associations refused to complete the school year until at least 15 days have been confirmed without recording injuries, and have declared no agreement to open schools and education during July and August.

Politian such as The Free Patriotic Movement represented by the Former Minister Dr. Elias Abu Saab backed-up and justified the posed minister’s decision in cancelling the official exams and stated that running the exams on the normal scheme requires lots of resources which the government can’t arrange especially that the students were unable to finish the school curriculum, because study was suspended twice due to demonstrations and COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Social Observers & Trustees of the health sector said that the minister's decision to cancel the exams forms a demand that many institutions have long demanded, due to the large number of candidates eligible for these tests that exceeded 60,000 for the year 2020.

However, the education and teaching branch in the progressive socialist party criticized "the abrupt decision to end the school year and cancel the official examinations" and found that giving students passing certificates was a "hard hit to the Lebanese education especially that these student finished only slightly more than half of the curriculum, and that the decision would reflect negatively and clearly on the private schools and its teachers, especially that these schools struggle with financial matters being unable to collect tuition which stops them from paying teacher salaries".

Moreover, Private Institutions and NGOs, along with Free Movements and Elite Social Groups- that emerged after October 17, 2019 - blamed the Minister and the political system for the failure in executing the exams on time and controlling the spread of the pandemic. They also asked to at least alter the examination procedures to be graded and not to be given away as a standard Official Transcript which will affect their enrolment in some International Schools & Universities.

The minister’s embarrassment was evident in terms of the difficulty of reconciling the scenarios proposed by parents through their unions and professors in their individual capacity, and between the teachers ’associations in public education, the teachers’ union in private schools. On May 2020, in a move that caused great controversy in Lebanon, Minister of Education Mr. Tareq Al-Majzoub announced, the government’s decision to cancel the official Exams all certificates in public education for the sake of preserving the lives of students.