For Gaza’s schoolchildren, another year of destruction, loss and uncertainty
Pioneers of Hope, an educational initiative in a displacement camp in Deir Al-Balah
Ruwaida Kamal Amer and Ibtisam Mahdi report in +972 on 24 October 2024:
Before the war, the joy and excitement at the start of each school year in Gaza were palpable: the buzz of markets filled with children buying their new uniforms and stationery, teachers preparing lessons and decorating their classrooms, and staff welcoming the students with songs and recreational activities on the first day of classes.
Now, nearly two months into the start of the academic year, young students from Gaza are mourning the loss not only of family members, friends, and their homes, but of their education as well.
Salma Wafi, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza City — now displaced in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone — has been waiting for the war to end so that she can enter high school. “School was the most beautiful part in my life — I miss it every day,” she told +972. “Everywhere else [in the world] kids are back in school. Some of my teachers, friends and classmates whom I used to see all the time at school, were killed. I’ve lost my childhood during this war.”
For Farah Muqdad, 11, a year without school has deeply impacted her social life and sense of self. “My school was on Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, and I used to go there every day with my friends. [After school,] we would go to each other’s houses to study for exams.”
Farah lost her older brother Walid in March last year in Rafah and has been displaced several times with her family since the start of the war, now sheltering in Al-Mawasi. “School wasn’t just lessons or studying, it was a very different life. Now all of this is in the past: we face extremely difficult conditions, unable to buy food, so I must look for work to survive and help my family.”
According to the UN, 87 percent of the school buildings in Gaza have been either partially or entirely destroyed by Israeli strikes, and some have been converted into Israeli military bases. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that over 10,600 children and more than 400 teachers have been killed in Israeli military operations, while more than 15,300 students and 2,400 teachers have been injured.