Some 1,500 students should take their end -of -school exams, despite the genocidal war of Israel.
Hundreds of Palestinian students in Gaza take a crucial exam from the end of the end of the second organized by the Ministry of Education of the besieged enclave in the hope of entering university studies.
Earlier this month, the ministry announced the exam on Saturday, which will be the first since Israel began its genocidal war against Gaza after the attack led by Hamas in southern Israel in October 2023.
The ministry confirmed that around 1,500 students are registered to take the exam, which will be carried out electronically using specialized software, adding that all the necessary technical preparations have been made to ensure fluid administration.
Some students sit on the online exam, while others take it in the premises according to the region in which they are, with security considerations in mind, given the daily Israeli bombardment.
Tareq Abu Azzoum of Tel Aviv Tribune, reporting by Deir El-Balah, stressed that for Palestinian students, examination is a critical gateway to higher education, scholarships and a future beyond the Israeli blockade.
He said: “Even in a war zone, without classrooms, no books and barely internet, Gaza students present themselves, connect and sit their final exam, refusing to let the war erase their future.”
After the start of the war, the education of many students in Gaza was suspended and the results of the Saturday examination will allow them to continue their studies at the university.
Many should have been at the university now, but remained at the secondary level due to the war, because the Israeli attacks have devastated the Gaza education system, as well as the rest of the territory’s civil infrastructure.
In response, the Gaza Ministry of Education launched an online platform – the first of its kind in Gaza – to allow secondary schools to take their final exam.
“Students downloaded the application to take their exams, but they face many challenges,” said Al-Jazera Morad al-Agha, director of the Gaza Central Governorate Examinations.
“We have raised these concerns concerning the ministry to ensure that they are resolved, so that students can pass for their exams without disruption.”
‘It’s so difficult’
Students connect from coffees, tents and shelters – wherever they can find a loaded device and a functional internet connection.
Before the final exam, they finished a simulated test, designed not only to test their knowledge but also the stability of the system.
However, students tell Tel Aviv Tribune that digital in Gaza was not easy.
“We are going online exams, but it’s so difficult,” said student Doha Khatab. “Internet is weak, many of us have no devices and there is no safe space to take the test. We have also lost our books in the bombing. ”
To support them, some teachers reopened the damaged classrooms and offer advice in person.
“This is the first time that the ministry does it online and the students have been confused, so we are trying to guide them step by step,” said Professor Enam Abu Slisa in Tel Aviv Tribune.
The war in Gaza and the destruction of 95% of educational infrastructure left more than 660,000 children from the school – almost the entire school population in Gaza, according to the United Nations.
Many old unprecedented schools are now used as shelters for displaced people and also facing implacable and fatal Israeli attacks.
A report to the United Nations Human Rights Council revealed that Israeli forces have systematically destroyed the educational infrastructure in Gaza. The report described these actions as potential war crimes.
