Gaza Educational System collapses as Israeli blockade continues

Bernama - Malaysian National News Agency- Last July, the United Nations reported that nearly 40,000 Palestinian children from Gaza would have no school to go to.

As a result of the Israeli blockade, now in its fifth consecutive year, and the vast damage inflicted by Israel's three-week military offensive in Gaza beginning late December 2008, about 88 per cent of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools and 82 per cent of government schools operate on a two-shift system in an attempt to accommodate the large number of students.

The attack left 250 students and 15 teachers dead.

Other schoolchildren who lost family members or their houses, are still traumatised and in need of psycho-social support to improve their performance which has further declined due to the hard living conditions and improper educational environment.

According to the World Bank, 80 per cent of the Palestinian students in Gaza are failing mathematics, while an astounding 40 per cent are failing in their own language -- Arabic. There are 604 schools in the Gaza Strip, dozens of which were damaged during the Israeli onslaught, including 18 schools which were flattened.

To date, almost no school has been built due to the ongoing blockade. But recently, UNRWA has criticised Israel for hindering efforts to build new schools in the besieged Gaza Strip.

For the fifth year running, Israel has been continuing to impose its blockade, including a ban on allowing badly-needed construction materials like cement and steel, which Israel claims could be used by Hamas to build tunnels.

Adnan Abu Hasna, the UNRWA spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said the agency needed to build more than 100 new schools this year to be able to offer education for the growing number in student population; and that if this need is not urgently met, they would face a real disaster of operating a third shift at night.

However, Israel intermittently eases its blockade, allowing limited amounts of construction materials which are hardly enough to build less than one-tenth of the required number of schools.

"We are calling the Israelis all the time to allow us to get building materials inside the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, the Israelis are allowing few or small amounts of building materials to get into the Gaza Strip to build seven or six schools," said Abu Hasna.

Mu'awiya ibn abi Sufyan prep. and Secondary School, in Beit Lahia's al-Atatra neighbourhood in Northern Gaza Strip, was completely knocked down during the war.

As a result, students were reduced to studying in caravans or containers which were mainly used for storing goods.

"Al-Atatra area was largely destroyed during the war. Most of the students lost family members or their houses. It was extremely difficult for them. They tried to escape death and destruction by going to school, but they were shocked to find their school completely destroyed," said school principal Aahed el-Sultan.

In the aftermath of the war, at the peak of the blockade as Israel did not allow any construction materials, students had no choice but study in iron-made classes or containers which are mainly used for storing goods.

"We spent a year studying at containers under either the hot or rainy freezing weather, with very poor toilet and sewage systems," the headmaster added.

A year ago, the Islamic Relief re-built the school which now serves a total of 530 students studying only one shift due to the lack of extra classrooms.

Among them is 10th grader Ismael al-Attar who sustained an injury to the left eye when an Israeli tank rammed into his house.

Twelfth grader Yusuf Abu Halima suffered a heavy personal loss during the war.

"Israel killed six members of my family when a tank fired shells at our house...my father, who was the only source of income, was one of the casualities," he said.

"We are in winter, and as you see, the cold weather and continuous power cut-offs constitute a major problem for us," said Ahmed Khalil, an English teacher at the school.

The school psychological worker laments over the psychological impact of war on the students.

He said that most of the students could not concentrate and encountered many problems even at school.

"For example, there are at least 35 students in each classroom. This immensely affects the students, leading to poor performance and ineffective participation in class discussions," he added.

"Most of the students still suffer from trauma and anxiety and live in constant panic and distraction caused by their terrible living conditions under the siege, and their fear when they hear news of a possible war.

"You can't imagine how they are terrified when they hear Israeli warplanes flying over their head," said another psychological support worker.
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