Dozens of displaced Palestinian children gather around teacher Hanan Al-Wukhairi, to participate in recreational and educational activities inside the Bureij Boys Preparatory School shelter in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Al-Wukhairi is trying to entertain the children participating in the “Educational Class” initiative, which she is implementing with a group of her colleagues, through various activities and events such as teaching reading, writing, drawing, and coloring, 8 months after the educational process stopped in the Gaza Strip.
The educational process in the Gaza Strip has been disrupted since the beginning of the Israeli war on the seventh of last October, and its fate is still unknown after the destruction of the majority of universities and middle institutes, and hundreds of government schools affiliated with the International Relief Agency (UNRWA).
The idea of the initiative
Regarding the idea of the initiative, teacher Fatima Abu Hamisa says: “The idea of the educational class crystallized after the educational process stopped, and in view of the difficult conditions that students live in inside shelter centers and the continuation of the Israeli war.”
According to Abu Hamisa, the initiative aims to raise the educational level of students, “as a plan was drawn up in advance and clear work procedures for the educational class were written down with the center’s management.”
She points out that an inventory of the student and age groups was conducted, a prior announcement of the “Educational Class” initiative, and the formation of a committee of teachers to participate in the initiative and provide educational services to students, in addition to their work in the emergency committee and the distribution of aid within the shelter center.
For her part, Al-Wukhairi said while carrying out an activity for first-grade students: “We presented the educational initiative at the shelter center, and we noticed a very large response from the families and a strong interest in registering, and we were encouraged by the work team.”
Great response
Desiring the displaced people inside the shelter center to make the “Educational Classroom” initiative a success, they decided to vacate the classroom early in the morning every day, to carry out educational and recreational activities, and they took the initiative to arrange it for the work team to be an educational classroom in the academic stages from the first to the sixth grade.
Al-Wakhairi adds: “We have 6 educational stages, and each of these stages is allocated a specific hour of time for learning.”
Happiness and overwhelming joy appeared on the faces of the students and parents as they attended the first day of the initiative, and they were wearing bright and bright clothes as if it were Eid day, according to Al-Wakhairi.
The teacher noticed that the students were very enthusiastic about learning, as part of the educational initiative, as she received them and asked them about the reason for their happiness and joy, and they answered: Because of returning to school, learning, drawing, and coloring.
The initiative includes children inside the shelter center who are displaced from the city of Rafah, the northern Gaza Strip, and the city of Khan Yunis.
She says: “We are trying to get the displaced people, especially children, out of the atmosphere of war in which we live, the sounds of bombing and gunfire, and the pressures of life they live under, political, economic, social, security, health, and others.”
According to Al-Wakhairi, the initiative witnessed a demand from children outside the shelter center, which requires opening other sections to accommodate new numbers after the success of this initiative and the great demand for it.
Child protection
Happiness appears on the face of seven-year-old Lulu Ezz El-Din Fayek, after she joined the educational initiative and participated in recreational and psychological release activities.
Fayeq says while drawing: “I joined the initiative to read, learn, color and draw,” hoping that the devastating war would end as soon as possible.
The child, Hala Ashour, agrees with her colleague about the reasons for her participation: “I am happy to return to school after the occupation deprived us of learning for the past seven months.”
While speaking, the seven-year-old girl wondered when the devastating war that destroyed all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip would end, calling on the world to intervene and put pressure on Israel to stop the war and protect childhood.
Huge difficulties
The initiative faces many difficulties, foremost of which is the lack of the necessary classroom environment to teach students, and the lack of logistical services such as seats, stationery, and incentive prizes, not to mention the overcrowding in the educational classroom, according to teacher Abu Hamisa.
She says: “We try to accommodate everyone and provide them with better educational services. We provide medical and psychological care for them within the educational classroom, and we take some time to carry out recreational activities and events to take the students out of the atmosphere of war.”
The center’s management has developed a prior work plan to make the initiative a success, which includes implementing 6 weekly classes for each educational stage, each class lasting one hour per day.