The French Embassy in Beirut announced an emergency plan that will provide financial support for the education of students enrolled in schools accredited by the French Education Ministry and AEFE partners.
“This system is exceptional and only concerns the academic year 2020/2021 and only students who are registered at accredited levels are eligible,” the Embassy said on Tuesday.
The plan involves schools in Lebanon partnered with the AEFE (Agency for French Education Abroad), except for the pupils of the schools of the Mission laïque française, Collège Protestant Français, and Lycée Français Abdel Kader.
The amount that will be given to each student has been determined according to the average schooling cost within the AEFE in Lebanon for the 2019/2020 academic year, which is 7,500,000 Lebanese pounds.
To be considered, those eligible must file support requests to the departments of the relevant educational institutions.
The schools will then refer priority requests to the Cooperation and Cultural Action Department at the French Embassy until the deadline, July 31st.
The embassy stresses that “any request submitted directly to the Embassy will not be considered.”
Starting August, the applications will be studied until September, during which the schools will be informed of the verdicts.
“The decisions [the Embassy] makes are sovereign and cannot be appealed, and assistance will be paid to the schools, which will be responsible for informing the families of the pupils concerned with the support,” the French Embassy noted.
The announcement comes as the start of Lebanon’s 2020/2021 academic year edges closer amid an unprecedented economic crisis that saw a massive decline of nearly 80% in the value of the national currency against the U.S. dollar.
On that note, France has expressed concern regarding Lebanon’s prevailing conditions and urged the Lebanese to take initiative and help themselves first if they seek support from France.
The recent remark was echoed by the United Nations’ statement which warned that Lebanon is “spiraling out of control.”
