With Gaza’s schools in rubble, a return to routine classes looks far off

Palestinian children study in a makeshift tent camp in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, 28 April 2024

Nagham Zbeedat reports in Haaretz on 11 June 2024:

Despite Israel’s 17-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has contributed to insufficient school infrastructure and hobbled the economy, the enclave has seen a significant rise in both literacy and higher education attendance over the last decades, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Institutions like Al Aqsa University enrolled some 27,000 students on multiple campuses in Gaza City and Khan Yunis, according to its website, before the outbreak of the current war. According to the PCBS, Gaza’s literacy rate stood at 98.2 in 2022. Already in 2014, the United Nations Development Programme released a human development report which stated that among those 15 years old and above, the literacy rate in the State of Palestine” was 95.3, higher than the average for countries in the report’s “high human development” category.

Women’s literacy has seen significant improvement, rising from 78.6 percent in 1995 to 97.3 percent in 2022, the PCBS noted. Among males, the literacy rate stands at 99 percent for the same year, up eight percent since 1995. The Gaza Strip leads the West Bank slightly in literacy, PCBS figures showed.

Additionally, a report from UNICEF in 2022 shows that the rates of out-of-school children are lower in the Gaza Strip than in the West Bank, perhaps due to the larger role of NGOs and other civil society organizations in providing educational services.

In the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of students complete basic education, with north Gaza claiming the highest dropout rate.

However, education, like every part of daily life in Gaza, has been severely impacted by the ongoing war. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 284 of Gaza’s schools are run by the organization, with the remainder operated by the Palestinian Authority or privately managed. Currently, all schools are shut down as over 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced due to the continuous Israeli ground and air offensive, which has resulted in over 35,000 deaths.

According to data from UNRWA, 9,443 education staff were employed at UNRWA-run schools in Gaza. The destruction and disruption caused by the war have further strained the already challenged education systems in the region. An estimated 625,000 school-aged children have been unable to attend school since October 7, Reuters reported, and some 90,000 have been unable to attend their universities, all 12 of which have been destroyed beyond use.

In April, a group of UN experts said in a statement that “it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide.'”

Palestinians have continued to try to continue their education through various initiatives despite widespread destruction and displacement. One such effort is a program in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, where an educational tent called “Read” has been erected by the Rowad Al-Amal Center (Pioneers of Hope) Education and Training Center.

This tent projects collaborates with teachers to bring learning opportunities to students who have been unable to attend school for months.

In an interview with Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, Shakir Durra, the owner of the Rowad Al-Amal Education and Training Center in Gaza, said the project, which depends on support from educational institutions across Gaza, was launched to educate displaced children.  Durra mentioned that some 1,000 students planned to attend classes from 8 A.M. to the evening. “Children and their families have been waiting since morning to register. There is great interest. We want their support for this idea and project,” he told the site.

“Despite the bombardment, destruction, and difficult conditions in Gaza, we will work to sustain our lives and educate our children,” he was quoted saying.  In addition to educational tents for children, researchers and higher education students are seeking to resume their academic work while living in a war zone. One tweet shows Tamer Abumousa successfully defending his Master’s thesis in a tent in Gaza.

In 2020, Save the Children noted that prolonged absence from school can lead to a break in learning and even regression in progress. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the longer children are away from school, “the less likely they are to return.”

Plans are underway to launch e-learning initiatives for Gaza’s university students, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, with professors teaching from the occupied West Bank’s An-Najah National University. The effort, dubbed Technical Educational Support for Higher Education Students Initiative (TESI), intends to offer classes to university students free of charge. But implementing online schooling in Gaza comes up against significant challenges: Telecommunications blackouts are frequent, and stable electricity and internet access are scarce. Many have been forced to flee their homes and are now sheltering in refugee camps.

When Gazan students can return to school is not yet known, with the war now in its eighth month. Repairing the damage to school infrastructure could take months or years, with the disruption causing far-reaching implications.

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