Gaza Children Cling to Education Despite Destruction and Dangers

The education sector in the Gaza Strip is facing great difficulties amid the widespread destruction of educational facilities and the worsening displacement crisis, yet despite this and the dangers, students and pupils cling to their right to education.

A report by Shadi Shamiya sheds light on the reality of education in Gaza by tracking the journey of young children to school, which consists of educational tents set up in northern Gaza Strip adjacent to the yellow line, where Israeli occupation forces are stationed. The children walk towards these tents despite the gunfire fired by Israeli occupation forces and the ongoing assaults.

The child Towleen (7 years old) was followed as she prepared inside a small tent overshadowed by the sound of gunfire, heading to school for the first time after two years of deprivation due to the Israeli war.

Towleen's mother expresses her intense fear for her daughter when she goes to school, but she wants her to learn, after her kindergarten education was interrupted due to the Israeli war on the sector. She monitors her daughter's studies at home, in addition to what she receives in lessons at school.

Towleen was shown carrying her bag on her back and walking amidst rubble and great destruction towards the tent school set up just meters away from the presence of the Israeli occupation army in what is known as the zero zone.

To the sound of gunfire, Towleen walks towards her school, and she is afraid—as she says—of being targeted by the bullets fired by Israeli occupation forces, especially since there are no places to shelter her from the gunfire.

Ahmed, whose father was martyred, dreams of a safe environment for learning away from the occupation's bullets, and says they learn despite the difficult circumstances, where they face troubles and difficulties when coming to school and when leaving it, due to the gunfire. Ahmed wishes to fulfill his martyred father's dream of becoming a doctor.

Towleen and the rest of the students study inside tents that cannot prevent the occupation's bullets from penetrating them or penetrating the children's bodies, as pointed out by a teacher who described the educational conditions inside the tents as very bad, saying that the children study without desks, and that the tents do not protect or shield from the gunfire that has targeted them more than once, nor from the rain, yet they will continue education because the occupation targets spreading ignorance among Palestinians.

The Director of Education in West Gaza, Jawad Sheikh Khalil, said in an interview that Gaza's schools are educational tents where the student sits on the ground, confirming that all the capabilities of the Ministry of Education have been destroyed by the occupation, but they are trying, in cooperation with local and international institutions, to rise again by establishing schools in tents so that the student and pupil can receive information from the teacher.

According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, 168 schools were used to shelter displaced people during the Israeli war on the sector.