For Nour Nassar, nothing should come in the way of education. Not even Israel's war on Gaza.
The 24-year-old from Rafah, in southern Gaza, has created an initiative to tackle illiteracy and revive the education sector in the enclave, working even as Israeli air strikes rained down.
Starting with what books she could drag from the rubble of her home, Ms Nassar's teaching endeavours have morphed from an ad hoc travelling school to teaching hundreds of children in 10 permanent locations across southern and central Gaza, over 15 months of war and almost two months of a ceasefire.
Almost 650,000 children have no access to education in Gaza, with all schools closed since the start of the conflict in October 2023, according to UN children's agency Unicef, leaving the education of the next generation to volunteers and aid agencies.
Five months into the war – which followed the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and around 240 abducted – Ms Nassar realised children had missed a whole term of schooling and set out to do something about it, putting her skills from her prewar job as a field educator with Unicef into practice. But first, she had to overcome challenges to her mental health.
“I have bad memories from the previous wars, so a trauma developed,” she said. “When the war came, everything stopped and our life stopped in its tracks, nothing remained normal.”
'They told me to leave'
Ms Nassar's family home was destroyed at the outset of the war, forcing them to live in a tent in the area with what they could salvage of their belongings.
Once Ms Nassar decided to help the young people of Rafah, she pulled together an informal curriculum from the books she had left on childhood development and educational YouTube videos saved during rare moments of Wi-Fi. But when she walked to a nearby camp to offer her services, the response from both grown-ups and their children was not what she expected.
“They told me to leave,” she laughed. “They said, 'you either bring our children biscuits and juice, or don't come at all'.”
Israel's bombardment and ground offensive has killed more than 48,500 people in Gaza and left 50,000 requiring treatment for malnutrition. A blockade on supplies lifted for the first phase of a ceasefire that began on January 19 has been reimposed by Israel after disagreements with Hamas – leaving the truce in limbo, and Palestinians facing severe shortages again.
In such an environment, the almost 650,000 children out of schooling take on adult jobs, such as collecting water and standing in line for food.
Simply, children in Gaza are not treated like children, Ms Nassar said, but that does not mean they cannot also have an education. During workshops, “I told parents, 'you can't leave your children's future to circumstances,' and about 40 per cent of the parents began responding positively but were hesitant, so I held on to those 40 per cent”, she said.
By understanding the needs of parents as well as their children, she says she was able to design a syllabus and class times around other needs of Gazan families.
Classes including all ages would begin after the day's gathering of water and food was over, and Ms Nassar co-ordinated with the administration of every camp to raise awareness of the sessions, as she travelled between locations. Lessons cover maths, Arabic, English and Islamic studies, as well as taking on creative pursuits and encouraging the children to express their emotions.
“I was not depriving them of anything, I was enhancing the development of their skills. There was a large percentage of creative children, painters, artists, singers,” said Ms Nassar.
Schools Without Borders
Rafah was hit hard by Israeli forces, the target of a May 2024 offensive that almost wiped out the city's buildings and send thousands fleeing to other parts of the small enclave. Ms Nassar's family moved to another tent encampment shortly after, at Al Zawayda in Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza.
Determined to continue her passion for teaching, Ms Nassar held her first session after displacement to Bureij camp in Deir Al Balah, where she attracted a greater turnout than expected. As time went on, the need for more permanent structures and regular lessons became apparent, she says, so her School on the Road initiative morphed into a chain of schools built by her across the Gaza Strip, called Schools Without Borders.
Since the start of the war, 90 per cent of school buildings in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed.
“I transferred my little experience in self-learning to teachers through training sessions. The focus of the training was how to deal with children in times of emergency, because this is something new to us as well. We take into account the psychological and mental state of the students in these subjects,” Ms Nassar said.
In just a few months, she has created a network of 10 field schools across Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and Deir Al Balah, Al Nuseirat and Al Zawayda in central Gaza, teaching 1,500 children, with accreditation from the Ministry of Education in Gaza and the Unicef educational cluster. Ms Nassar built the schools from wood and scraps bought using donations from people and organisations outside Gaza, and enclosed them when winter came to ensure lessons continued.
Young Gazans and their families have welcomed the resumption of lessons.
“We are now introduced to new people, friends, teachers and have a new routine waking up early for school, instead of waking up to go get water,” said pupil Remas Khalil Askoul.
“It’s a beautiful feeling and I was very happy for our children for returning to learning again, that was my life’s dream during the war, for our children to never stop studying,” said mother Maysoun Al Barbarawi, from Al Aaideen camp.
Under the current set-up, Ms Nassar provides the teachers with a transport allowance whenever she receives donations. She visits her pupils every few days to check on them.
“As soon as they see me, they run to hug me. They feel comfortable with me, I want to hear from them, whether the teachers treat them the same way I deal with them or not,” she said.
In the future, Ms Nassar hopes to build a school in Rafah and in the north of Gaza and introduce a psychological support system for her pupils to help them cope with the trauma of war.