News

Al Mustaqbal newspaper published an article on the crisis facing young university graduates in attempting to deal with the job market, and whereas the supply of graduates is higher than demand both quantitatively and qualitatively.  This concerns traditional specialties such as medicine, law practice and engineering as well as new specialties such as ICT,
The report noted the absence of strategies by decision makers in the educational sector in order to match market demand with supply as well as an absence of a vision to guide educational orientation and so as to boost the economy and the job market amidst a deterioration of the overall economic situation as a result of the current insecurity and poor attention given to productive sectors.
The above is reiterated by the president of the League of Lebanese University Professors, Dr. Charbel Kfoury who noted that students often choose certain specialties such as business administration, pharmacy and engineering without any proper orientation despite the fact that the acceptance levels in these specialties are very limited.  Furthermore, the majority of students are channeled into specialties that do not require entrance exams without due consideration of the needs of the job market.
Within the same vein, the Dean of the faculty of Pharmacy at Lebanese university, Dr. Pascale Salameh added that despite the fact that work opportunities vary greatly according to specialties, emphasis in the her university remains on quality and on building skills that will facilitate job access.  The Dean of the Doctoral School of Sciences and Technology, Dr. Zeinab Saad noted that all the specialties offered by the Lebanese university meet the demands of the local and regional job markets and, as a result, many students are able to secure jobs in international companies.  She also added that a number of faculties in the Lebanese university organize several training seminars to introduce students to the job market and the university is continuously liaising with various economic sectors as well as with industrial companies in order to identify their needs and familiarize students with existing job opportunities.
Finally, Dr. mohammad shayya the previous Dean of Social Sciences, Tourism and hotel Management faculty stressed that each university must have, by default, an orientation service and should also monitor economic, scientific and cultural trends and changes both locally and regionally and accordingly undertake academic planning every 4 to 5 years.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 14 September 2013

The Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Woman (LECORVAW) announced last week the launch of a number of awareness raising sessions targeting women and girls of Lebanon  as well as women displaced from Syria on issues related to women such as gender based violence, early marriage, sexual harassment and the role of women in peace building.  LECORVAW also reminded the public that its centers continue to provide free social, psychological and legal counseling services to women and girls regardless of their nationality.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Akhbar 16 September 2013

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on segregated secondary schools in the public sector and which total 40 segregated secondary schools compared to 213 co-ed secondary schools (thus representing 20% of the total according to a census of all public secondary schools in the country).  The report indicated that these 40 segregated schools are mostly located in the most populated areas of Beirut, the Southern suburbs and Tripoli but are rarely found in rural areas and villages.  The report noted that the highest concentration of segregated schools is located in Beirut (seven segregated compared to 11 mixed schools) according to the sources of the Ministry of Education. The latter indicated that the reason for that skewed distribution may be the fact that the secondary schools in Beirut are amongst the first established and according to the old system which segregated students by sex.  This system still prevails in these schools until now.
The report also explored the views of girls and boys students who attend sex-segregated schools.  Some of them noted that they have coped with this system whilst others consider it to be outdated and should be changed.  Parents have a different opinion, particularly fathers, as they consider that whilst most school may be capable of teaching, very few are able to “educate” the youth and, as such, they prefer to send their daughters and sons to sex-segregated schools and avoid mixing the sexes.
Al Akhbar also indicated that religious schools, both Muslim and Christian, are keener on maintaining sex segregation in keeping with their religious beliefs.  Some of these schools strongly believe that sex segregation in the classroom actually enhances school performance by helping students to focus on scholastic matters only.  They substantiate their views with the high results obtained by segregated schools in the official exams.  Hence, more schools are now opting to segregate students in order to avoid problems caused by some young men.
For his part, the president of The Lebanese Association for Educational Studies (LAES), Dr. Adnan Al-Amine insists on the benefits of co-ed schooling as, according to him, sex segregated schools pushes students towards developing wrong ideas about the other sex which in turn leads to unhealthy relations in the future.  Al Amine also noted that girls may benefit on the short tem from not being with boys as this allows them to develop their leadership skills especially since co-ed schools often exhibit male leadership and subordination of girls.  Nevertheless, Al Amine still largely remains in favor of co-ed schooling citing a number of researches that have provided evidence to that effect.
Source: Al-Akhbar 13 September 2013

Smart Centre for media and Advocacy in cooperation with Women in Front association concluded yesterday a cycle of 6 round tables organised under the title “Women Support Women” and as part pf the “Media supporting pioneer women” program.  The roundtables were organised in various part of the country and implemented in collaboration with the following organisations: Development Women Office – Kfardebian – Keserouan, the White Hand for Women Association – Aley, Women Solidarity Association – Ras Baalbak, House of Literature, Science, and Development- Tripoli and Haya Bina Association in both Rachaya and Teir Debba – Tyre.
The program of the events included the viewing of the project’s audio-visual adverts entitled “Who is with you… we are all with you” followed by the facilitation of seminars covering various topics focusing on women’s involvement in political life and in elections, the importance of engaging men in supporting women, women’s solidarity in encouraging other pioneer women and in supporting women candidates. Some 200 women attended these activities and completed evaluation forms that pointed out to the usefulness of such activities and to their impact in changing mindsets and encouraging women participation in elections both as candidates and voters.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 13 September 2013

Al Akhbar published a report about the results of the official tests for 2012-2013 which showed net advances in girls’ performance compared to boys and cited a gender analysis as to the possible causes and indication of such discrepancy presented by sociologist Azza Sharara Baydoun.  The report noted that as per the last ten years, girls supersede boys significantly with the total number of girls being 310 out of 462, whilst the boys’ number being 152, which equals 67% for girls and 33% for boys. Breaking those numbers into the detailed certificates, the report indicated that the total numbers of excel students of the intermediate certificate was 169, from which 116 are girls while 53 are boys, which equals to 68.6% to 31.4%. As for the High school certificates, the economics section had 69 students of which 57 are girls and 12 are boys, 82.6% to 17.4%, literature and humanities had 61 student, of which 54 are girls while 7 are boys, 88.5% to 11.5%, as for the life science section, it had 77 students of which 48 girls and 29 boys, 62.3% to 37.7%. The only section where boys supersede girls is general sciences which had 86 students of which 51 are boys and 35 are girls, 59.3% to 40.7% since not too many girls register in this section in the first place.
In her interview with Al Akhbar, and in an attempt to interpret these results, Baydoon indicated that girls’ higher performance is a worldwide phenomenon and the problem is rather the poor performance of boys.  Baydoun attributed the cause to the system of rote learning where children are taught to learn by heard and to obedient and able to stay in one place, all attributes that are preferred for girls in our societies whereas boys have more freedom and more flexibility to engage in cultural activities.  She also added that poor performance of boys may be due to the fact that teachers are not skilled in their teaching thus causing boys to be bored or rambunctious in order to express their lack of interest which in turn reflects on their performance(!?).  On the other hand, Furthermore, Baydoun noted that girls higher performance is perhaps due to the changing gender roles as parents no longer perceive marriage as a guarantee for a better life for their daughter and are therefore encouraging their daughters to study so that they are able to work for a living and achieve financial independence which is needed in case they do not marry, they divorce or become widows.  Baydoun concluded that the fact that girls are better performers than boys hides other problems at the level of educational system, and education within the home that needs to be addressed.
Source: Al-Akhbar 12 September 2013

Afaaq organised yesterday in collaboration with Nejmet Sobe7h women cooperative a workshop on the agriculture and environmental sectors.  The event was held at the local municipal hall with the participation of the president of the federation of municipalities of Independence Castle, Mr. Ahmad Thebian,  the president of the federation of municipalities of Jabal Al-Sheikh, Mr. Marwan Zaki, Afaaq President, Mr. Ahmad Thabet, the President of  Nejmet Sobe7h women cooperative, Mr, Marwan Charroof, the President of the Agricultural Center in Rachaya, Mr, Fayez Araji, in addition to the presidents of municipalities and representatives of agricultural cooperatives.
Charroof noted in his intervention that Nejmet Sobe7h is mindful of environmental consideration in its production and is committed to quality control and to international standards that allow it to export and to enter local markets and to participate in exhibitions.  He added that the workshop seeks to analyze the problems facing the agricultural and environmental sectors and plan for a positive transformation in the local governorate which will foster local development if all conditions of support and availability of expertise are met.
Thabet from Afaaq noted in turn that his association is concerned with local development given its pivotal role in networking between all those concerned for the purpose of developing local production, identifying problems, carrying out discussions with all those concerned in civil society, municipal federations and donors, so as to provide solutions capable of addressing and reducing the identified problems.
Wafaa Jamal, member of Nejmet Sobe7h, noted that the success of the women cooperative is largely due to the fact that there is a perfect link between the farmer, the consumer and the cooperative, which maintains strong relations with the local community of the village and seeks to develop its production base through the processing and marketing of local resources and acquiring more knowledge on development issues.
Source: Al-Diyar 12 September 2013

The Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaise jointly organised, with Dar el Amal, Caritas Lebanon – Migrant centre and Diakonia a round table on human rights in women’s prisons and that within the framework of their project entitled “Strengthening human rights policies and practices in prisons for women in Lebanon” and which is implemented with funding from the European Union and SIDA.  The event was attended by representatives of a number of ministries and civil society organizations as well as individuals connected to various initiatives targeting prisons.  The discussion highlighted the key problems facing women’s prisons namely in terms of legal texts or practices and the priorities for advocacy which can lead to improve the situation of prisons with focus on women prisoners.
Lawyer Manar Zeaiter of the RDFL talked about the health conditions of women in prisons who lack gynecology services except the case of the Baabda prison noting that the latter recently introduced this service, whereas only women nurses are available in the other four prisons for women.  Zeaiter also noted that meals offered to women prisoners are not sufficient and pregnant and lactating women are not provided with adequate nutrition, and that women are allowed to bathe only three times a week and are not provided with sanitary pads.  Zeiater added that detained and convicted women are not separated whilst some women are penalized for bad conduct by not allowing them to see their families.

For his part, Diakonia’s representative, Rudolf Jebrayel, noted that the said project includes numerous activities which will be implemented over a 30 months period and namely the following: developing training curricula, building the capacities of prisons staff, providing legal awareness and legal services to women prisoners, developing a law petition and an advocacy plan to improve the situation of women prisons so that they meet international human rights standards.  Furthermore, Jebrayel clarified that the project targets women prisoners, prison guards and prison workers posted in the four women prisons in Lebanon namely in Baabda, Tripoli, Zahleh and Beirut, in addition to Lebanese NGOs, public institutions and UN organisations.  The project seeks to raise the capacities of prison authorities in managing prisons so as to uphold human rights, improve legal and social support provided to prisoners, raise awareness and mobilize civil society on gender equality, present recommendations for prison reforms to the Lebanese parliament in such a way so as to harmonise local laws with international standards for treating prisoners.
The key recommendations of the round table included insuring that women prisoners are treated in a way that is respectful of human rights at all stages, including arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment and subsequent reintegration of society, while giving particular attention to pregnant and lactating women.  Other recommendations included addressing the impact resulting of arrest and detention of women on their children.  The roundtable also recommended that women’s special needs be addressed notably their right to health care, food, personal hygiene, reintegration and facilitating the communication of women with their families and children, access to free legal aid so as to minimize problems related to arrest and detention, securing legal and psychological aid and protection for foreign women prisoners.
To be noted that the project’s partner organisations launched a website http://www.lebanonprisons.org which carries a number of studies including one reviewing the work of 20 organisations involved with women in prison and carried out by the lawyers Fidaa Abdelfattah and Danya Basyouni, with the social assistant Zainab Chehab.  The website also includes another study focusing on the women penal system in Lebanon in comparison with the international conventions for human rights and prepared by the lawyers Maya Mansour and Rita Ghawi.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al-Akhbar, Al-Safir 11 September 2013

The Arab Resource Collective (ARC) celebrated the graduation of a number of mothers who completed the second phase of the Mother and Child Health education programme. The program which extended over 25 weeks and received support from AGFUND, seeks to improve family relations and prepare children to enter schools through providing comprehensive information about education, health and child physical and emotional development.  The event was held with the participation of representatives from the project partners namely: Ministry of Social Affairs, Women Programs Association in Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp, Maarouf Saad Social & Cultural Foundation, graduates and their families and key local figures.
The graduating women noted that they have gained valuable experience and knowledge that will assist them in better understanding their children and in refraining from using violence and they were introduce to preventive methods, health nutrition and communication skills as well as opening up to others who are from different religions and confessions.  They added that the programme also helped them develop their own personalities and capacities to deal with their children and consequently with their husbands and thus will improve family relations
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 11 September 2013

As Safir published a report on the situation of ecotourism along the Assi river highlighting the negative impact that the security situation has had on ecotourism in Hermel.  The report notes that the practices of Rafting and Kayak Canoe which were introduced to the Assi river as a turning point for boosting eco tourism, have been particularly affected.  The Assi river was considered as the best river in Lebanon for practicing these international sport and for teaching it by the best experts in the field.  The first club was created in 1995 under the control of Lebanese champion Mohammad Ali Al-Omairi thus paving the way for the creation of several other clubs which now number seven in total and which receive no less than 10000 tourists of various nationalities every year.
This season, which started last June, was the worst ever for the clubs and for restaurant owners which witnessed a 90% drop in their visitors because of the occasional shelling.  One of the club owners, Rabih Saab, noted in his interview with As Safir, that the current security situation has caused a sharp financial deficit that will be difficult to overcome.  In better days, the club received 50 tourist, who practiced rafting for 2 days for 15$/hour, which sums up to around 1000$ per week as pure profit.  To date, the club hardly receives and on average 5 or 6 visitors during the week-ends.  Saab called on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to set up an international training club to teach rafting and kayak Canoe by the Assi river and highlighted that this important source of local income requires serious attention and care by the government.
Source: Al-Safir 10 September 2013

The Partnership Center for Development & Democracy organized earlier this week a meeting in Zahleh about women and public participation.  This meeting was the third of a series of eight meetings that are being held in different parts of the country and within the framework of the “eye on my municipality” project that the organization is implementing with MEPI funding.
The meeting started with a visual display of several opinions collected from different parts of the country concerning women’s election in municipal councils or in parliament.  Thereafter the discussions among women and men participants centered on those challenges that face women’s participation in political life.  The meeting ended with a presentation of future actions planned by the centre which reiterated its call for a women’s quota to be adopted at various decision making levels, the lifting all reservations on CEDAW and so as to achieve equality and equal opportunities.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 10 September 2013