Gaza initiative to educate children in ‘Tent School’
With the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip entering its eleventh month, and Palestinian children in the enclave being deprived of their right to education for a second academic year in a row, voluntary initiatives have emerged to compensate for the loss of education. The latest of these is the establishment of a school inside a camp for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, home to hundreds of children.
The initiative has transformed a large tent with a shelter in Al-Mawasi to the west of Khan Yunis into a voluntary school: the Tent School. The intention is to teach children the Palestinian curriculum and keep them entertained amid the incredible psychological pressures of war.
Schools in the Gaza Strip have become shelters for the displaced Palestinians, further complicating the education situation. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said earlier this month that more than 600,000 children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from severe trauma and are deprived of education, with their schools now acting as overcrowded refugee centres for displaced people. The buildings, said UNRWA, are unfit for teaching.
“Gaza, where schools are not schools any more. When the war started, UNRWA was forced to close all its schools turning them into shelters for displaced families,” explained UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini. “Classrooms that used to welcome girls and boys are now either overcrowded with displaced families or destroyed. Mattresses have replaced school desks. Too many schools are no place for learning. They have become places of despair, hunger, disease and death.”
Before the war, added Lazzarini, half of the school cohort of 600,000 boys and girls used to go to UNRWA schools. All children have lost an additional year of education to this brutal war. “The longer children stay out of school in the rubble of a devastated land, the higher the risk for them to become a lost generation. This is a recipe for future resentment and extremism. Children in Gaza deserve to learn, to be children like any other child elsewhere. Bringing them back to learning must not wait any longer.”
Israeli attacks have destroyed the educational infrastructure, with 123 schools and universities completely destroyed, and 335 partially destroyed. At least 11,000 students and 750 teachers have been killed, according to the latest tally from the Palestinian government’s Information Office.
“We, as volunteer teachers, wanted to transform part of the shelter into a school to provide basic lessons such as English, mathematics and Arabic,” Palestinian teacher Nidaa Al-Madhoun told Anadolu. “We are trying to teach the children the basic subjects that form the foundation for their future, given the large demand from students and their families to register in this initiative due to their great love for education despite the harsh conditions.”
Such schools face many challenges, especially regarding the unsuitability of the premises, the large differences in students’ educational levels, and the lack of necessary educational resources.
“Unfortunately, we found some students who should be in the ninth grade, but we were forced to enrol them in primary school classes to teach them the basics that they lost during a whole year of war and destruction, especially since children are at a stage where it is easy to forget,” explained Al-Madhoun. “Despite these difficulties, some students show great eagerness to learn by attending classes and bringing all of their school resources with them.”
Jumana attends the volunteer school because, she insists, education is her right. “The occupation forces destroyed schools and killed teachers and students, and I was deprived of going to school last year.” This, she said, is unjust. While her peers around the world return to their schools after the summer break, she remains deprived due to the Israeli destruction.
Teacher Mahmoud Abu Musa expressed his happiness about the establishment of the school inside the displacement camp, explaining that the idea came from volunteer teachers and was accepted by the local residents. “After a two-year absence, there is a large educational gap, especially in the elementary levels, so we are trying to re-establish education from the beginning,” he pointed out. “The school started with just a tent and one blackboard, but with increasing demand, the number of students has reached 650. We are facing major challenges in providing the space and resources needed for the students.”