A Lebanese man has died after setting himself on fire because he could not afford tuition fees for his daughter.

The man has been identified as George Zuraiq, who set himself on fire in the playground of a school in northern Lebanon, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported yesterday.

According to the news agency, Zuraiq committed suicide after the school refused to give him a recommendation needed to move his daughter to another school because of his outstanding tuition fee instalments.

The father of two was rushed to hospital after the incident but succumbed to his serious burns.

Lebanese media reported Zuraiq’s brother as telling Lebanon’s Voice that the “headmaster of the school provoked him on the telephone and stressed that he would not give him a recommendation unless he paid the instalments that were due”.

He continued: “My brother told the headteacher that he would sign a pledge that he would pay the outstanding fees, but the headteacher refused”.

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