Back to broken schools: The struggle for education in Gaza

More than 630,000 pupils have gone a full year without education because of war, officials said

The damage after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza city. AFP

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After more than 10 months of Israeli bombardment that destroyed much of Gaza, including schools and education authorities, parents are wondering whether they will be able to get their children back into class for the new academic year.

The estimated 630,000 pupils in the Palestinian enclave have been denied access to education over the past year as Israel's bombardment and ground offensive has forced much of the population to flee from one place to another in search of safety, with many families struggling to find proper shelter, food and water.

Schools were turned into shelters for displaced people, with many being struck by Israel in what it said were attacks on militant groups there.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education, based in the occupied West Bank, said on Tuesday that 186 schools in Gaza had been severely damaged or completely destroyed during the war.

Despite this, on Sunday it announced it had decided to resume classes in Gaza "from tents and through online education" for the academic year starting on September 9. But with the war still raging, a spokesman for the government media office in Gaza said it was impossible to make such plans.

“Currently it’s not possible to discuss any plans from the education authorities in Gaza because there is no capacity to hold any meeting or consult on details,” Salama Marouf told The National.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) which runs schools in the strip, said it had no plans to begin formal education at its centres.

“We don’t have any new update regarding the start of the educational year and we only started, since the first of August, entertainment activities for students as non-formal education,” the agency's spokeswoman, Inas Hamdan, told The National.

Parents such as Rasha Yahya, 31, are more alarmed by the impact of the war on their children. “It's not just about them missing out on their education; the children in Gaza have lost their peace of mind, all their memories, their games and their comfortable lives," Ms Yahya, who has a seven-year-old daughter, told The National.

Ms Yahya said she does not imagine it will be easy for life to return to what it was before the war.

“The children need a massive programme, supported by the Ministry of Education and UNRWA, to help them regain some of their pre-war lives and reintegrate into the educational process as it was before it began," she said.

Seeing the effect that the violence has had on her child, Ms Yayha suggested the next school year be filled with activities and games that support children's psychological state to help them process what they have been through.

In-person learning, she said, is also more vital now than ever. “I'm also against online education, even if the internet and electricity were available, because it will never be like in-person education, which can improve a child's behaviour and correct the bad habits and ideas they've picked up during the war."

Mounes Youssef, 38, a father of five from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, said pupils will need mental and emotional preparation for the new school year because of the duress that they had been under during bombardment.

“The children need a lot of psychological support and rehabilitation, and the Ministry of Education should take these factors into account," Mr Youssef said.

"Sending students directly back into the educational process without proper rehabilitation and effective awareness won't be suitable at all."

Mr Youssef lost his home in this war, and several of his relatives. Some of his children's friends were also killed in the war.

“We lived in UNRWA schools as displaced people for over two months, moving from one house to another," he said. "The children's memories of school and education have faded, and their days have become filled with fetching water, searching for food at charity kitchens and dealing with other daily survival challenges.”

Mr Youssef said he felt his children were not ready to go back to school and needed to be reacclimatised before classes could begin.

Haneen Abu Zer, 28, believes the decision to commence education is important for her two children who are in kindergarten and first grade.

But similar to Mr Youssef, she does not think her children are ready to start studying, something she found out by trying to teach them herself.

"I tried to teach my daughter how to write and read, but I failed because she’s in first grade, and this educational stage requires specialists," she told The National.

Ms Abu Zer is originally from Gaza city, but now lives in Al Zawaida, in the southern Gaza Strip, where she has been displaced. She hopes the war will end soon so she can return to her home and normal life. "We lost everything, not just an educational year, but we must save our children from ignorance," she said.