Education

Children's education at risk in Lebanon due to economic crisis

More than 700,000 kids are at risk of never returning to a classroom due to rising poverty, while thousands have dropped out of school to engage in child labor or get married.

Lebanon

Iraqi students stranded in Ukraine

Iraqi students are stuck in Ukraine and seem unable to flee due to the Russian invasion of that country.

Iraq

Culture

Lebanese seniors get second chance at education

Hundreds of elderly in Lebanon enroll at the University for Seniors division of the American University of Beirut — some to fight boredom, others to achieve long-lost dreams.

Lebanon

Jihadist group seeks influence in Syria’s Idlib via religious schools

The influence of religious schools is growing in Idlib, with their fundamentalist curricula under the supervision of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Syria

Egypt moves to redress teacher shortages in public schools

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi instructed the appointment of 30,000 new teachers annually for a period of five years, but some warn that the shortfall is so large that even this figure won’t do.

Egypt

Turkish teen suicide revives secular-pious debate

The debate over the place of Islam in public life remains among the most contentious in Turkey.

Turkey

Rights groups, world politicians urge release of student protesters in Turkey

European parliamentarians and rights groups are calling for Turkey to end the detention of two students behind bars for three months for protesting the government-appointed rector of Bogazici University.

Turkey

Egyptian Parliament reopens debate on Quran's place in curriculum

When the Egyptian Parliament recently considered a bill intended to support the use of Standard Arabic, the discussion grew heated between a a representative of Al-Azhar and a parliamentarian who objected to provisions about Quran memorization in primary school.

Egypt

Najaf seminary prepares for post-Sistani Iraq

The opening of Sheikh Baqir al-Irawani’s office in Najaf indicates that he may be preparing to be one of the successors to 92-year-old Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, head of the Shiite religious authority.

Iraq

Iran parliament rejects Raisi's pick for education minister

Despite its close alliance with the hard-line president, the parliament seemed to have bowed to public arguments that the nominee was unfit for the key post.

Iran

Expensive private schools become many Syrian students' only option

As public schools struggle to accommodate an increasing number of students, thousands of students in the Aleppo area are being pushed into private schools.

Syria

Why fewer Palestinians learn Turkish

Turkey has been a top study destination for Palestinians since 2010, but that is changing.

Palestine