Palestinian school year starting on Sunday
Hanne Eide Andersen (22.08.2014)
The Palestinian school year is due to start on Sunday, 24 August, but Gaza’s children will not be going to school. Schools cannot reopen in light of the continued fighting and as most schools in Gaza are being used as temporary collective centres for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians.
It will take 2-3 weeks from the end of any lasting ceasefire to repair and prepare schools that have been used as shelters to begin the new school year. “With hopes for a ceasefire again disappointed this week, it is now estimated that the school year will not begin before late September with lasting negative impact expected for children due to a shorter school year,” said Laura Marshall, head of NRC’s education program in Gaza and the West Bank.
Many UNRWA operated and Education Ministry schools continue to be used as shelters for approximately three-quarters of the 430,000 internally displaced persons in Gaza due to the massive destruction of homes and the deep insecurity and fear from the ongoing hostilities. The inability to reopen these schools will not only have a severe impact on education for Gaza’s but also on the provision of psycho-social support and their ability to recover from the trauma of the violence they witnessed. UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 children are in desperate need of psychosocial support. Approximately 1,000 of the 3,000 children who have been injured will suffer from a life-long disability and a further 6,000 children will have a parent with a life-long disability.
“Children in Gaza need to return to school as soon as possible – they have a right to education in a safe, protected environment. Children with symptoms of trauma and children who were displaced or lost loved ones during the hostilities need a return to a sense of routine to begin coping with everything they’ve been through. Schools play a key role in their healing,” said Marshall.
Since the beginning of hostilities in July 2014 more than 460 children in Gaza have been killed.
At least 216 schools in Gaza (including 141 government schools, 75 UNRWA schools, and four private/kindergarten schools) were partially damaged due to Israeli airstrikes or shelling. At least 25 schools were reportedly severely damaged, to the extent that they can no longer be used.
Education in Gaza was already at a crisis point prior to hostilities due to the ongoing blockade. Severe shortages of schools (250) existed with many classes running double shifts. The blockade on Gaza prevented most new schools from being built. Without a paradigm shift on Gaza and a continued blockade, reconstruction of schools will not be possible leaving many schools with double and even triple shifted with dire consequences for the most vulnerable children in the system.
NRC, in collaboration with UNRWA Gaza, began education programming in Gaza in 2010, which has served 15,000 children in Gaza until now. Its projects in recent years focused on creating positive learning environments for students, helping children cope with traumatic symptoms, as well as building teachers’ and parents’ capacities to improve learning outcomes. NRC has called on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law and ensure the protection of civilians, including children.
For more information please contact Martin Clutterbuck, NRC Acting Country Director:
In Jerusalem, Martin.clutterbuck@nrc.no , +972-54-283-8395