Gaza Strip: Commitment to education brings hope for a brighter future

Tens of thousands of students will return to their schools in the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, August 26, 2023, with the start of a new academic journey that brings hope for a brighter future and arouses enthusiasm within the connected and cohesive Gazan society, amid a sense of anticipation and optimism that prevails among students, teachers and parents.

Gaza public and private schools, as well as schools affiliated with the The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), open their doors from the border line and the separating fence north to the south.. from northern Gaza to southern Rafah, amid political, economic and social challenges imposed by the nature of the prevailing conditions in the Strip due to the continuation of the unjust blockade for the seventeenth year in a row. Despite this, the commitment to education remains a constant model and a sacred asset among the Gazans, who annually qualify tens of thousands of graduates to universities after the end of their secondary studies.

The education in Gaza passes through two stages, basic and higher, at the end of which, successful students go to universities to obtain intermediate academic degrees (diploma and bachelor’s) to higher university degrees (master’s and doctorate). And a large part of them do not find a job opportunity in their field, so they are forced to either migrate abroad or work in another job in the labor market that has been greatly affected in the Gaza Strip because of the blockade and the failure to open new horizons, and the vast majority of graduates do not find an opportunity to work at all, which adds to the atmosphere of poverty more widespread unemployment, to a large extent.

Returning to the topic of schools of the Gaza Strip, they are considered a firm foundation and a role model through the insistence of students and their parents to continue the learning journey, under the leadership of a distinguished educational apparatus that includes tens of principals and hundreds or even thousands of teachers keen to achieve a comprehensive educational renaissance based on a clear message that education builds the foundations of the homeland and raises the nation's edifices to the highest position.

In Gaza, schools open their doors to present their deep educational message based on true Islamic education and patriotic education on the love of knowledge. Therefore, you find that schools are full of cultural, social, sports and scouting activities, and regularity morning show queues and chanting national and religious chants and acclamations. The citizens of Gaza feel proud as they see their children under the care of trustworthy hands keen to provide the best means of education, based on the Palestinian curriculum that focuses on the history, geography, heritage of the homeland and its economy, at a time when Jerusalem schools are exposed to a major Israeli campaign to distort education and replace the Palestinian curricula with Israeli curricula. However, the awareness among educational administrations in all parts of the country, from Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, makes the Israeli attempt to brainwash students out of reach..

The Gaza community seeks to take advantage of the current calm and the state of security that is established temporarily to achieve a new stability that contributes to raising the pace and level of education and reassurance of their sons and daughters on the way to and from schools. Despite this, dangers remain, especially the schools near the eastern border area of the Gaza Strip, which are exposed at many times, especially during school hours, to gunfire or tear gas canisters by the occupation soldiers stationed in the military towers on the border fence line imposed by Israel. This greatly threatens the lives of the students and creates a margin for anxiety despite the calmness and reassurance in light of the distance from the language of war.

A number of students in the Gaza Strip have been victims of Israeli violence in recent years, either as martyrdom, injury or arrest. Hence, the responsibility of all parties is doubled to provide protection and safety for Gaza students and allow them to start their new school season in a safe and calm atmosphere away from the language of violence and wars that affect the students’ psyches. It also threatens their future.

Despite all these circumstances, the creativity of the population in the Gaza Strip has been remarkable in recent years through the exploitation of technology. With the rapid technological development, and the solutions offered by artificial intelligence technologies to its pioneers that were believed to be impossible, horizons have been opened for young people in Gaza to think outside the box and provide answers to many questions, through innovations that serve the environment, health, and human beings, and are on their way to global presence.

Like other projects that have been making their way in the besieged Strip for more than 17 years, students’ innovations face many obstacles, most notably the lack of required supplies and the high price of some of them, which pushes them to resort to less efficient alternatives. Hence, we noticed many initiatives and inventions that meet the needs of citizens. Young children and school students like creating a "smart seed sowing" robot, which saves time and effort for the farmer, and ensures better crop production; Given that it takes into account all the elements of agriculture, such as sun access, ventilation, and the distance between one seed and another, and it was invented in Khan Yunis last year because of the love of challenge and the lack of acceptance of “living under pressure” without finding appropriate solutions, based on the unsafe conditions that farmers live in, and the robot can help them to save time and effort, as well as protect them from the risks of working in their lands near the border areas.

And according to the “Learning Resources” department in the Ministry of Education in Gaza, “the official interest in the subject of artificial intelligence and its integration in the extracurricular activities of school students in the Gaza Strip appeared about three years ago, while the design of robots has occupied the ministry’s attention for many years.” Students were exposed to advanced technological courses that contribute to the investment of artificial intelligence to achieve new projects and inventions, which contributed to the development of competitions under the title of the National Robot Olympiad sponsored by UNESCO to highlight the innovations of future designers and their pioneering projects.

The Ministry of Education seeks to establish "technological incubators" that include distinguished students in its schools. To stimulate their energies through curricula, exhibitions, competitions and scientific projects.

In light of this, the ministry hopes that "these activities will become extended, so that the student does not stop at certain levels, leading to educational fields closely related to artificial intelligence and robotics" in universities.

The emergence of successes, innovations and inventions based on artificial intelligence in the schools of the Gaza Strip, despite all the circumstances, confirms beyond any doubt that this creativity needs more stability and calm, so that Gaza students can enjoy a new educational journey that promises a brighter future and a glow towards more achievements.