Fifth and sixth graders at Rosary Sister’s School in Gaza were supposed to take a science exam on October 9, 2023, two days after Israel launched its devastating military attack on Gaza. But they were never able to take the test.
The school, along with its library and theater, were destroyed by the Israeli army on November 4, according to Ruwaida Amer, who taught science at the private school.
Hundreds of schools, including those run by the UN, in the besieged Palestinian enclave have been bombed, and students and teachers killed, during more than 100 days of Israeli bombardment that has ravaged educational infrastructure and caused mental trauma to thousands of besieged students.
January 24 marks the sixth International Day of Education, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, but tens of thousands of Gaza students cannot attend schools, which lie in ruins.
Here’s a look at how the war has taken a toll on Gaza’s educational infrastructure:
How many schools and students are there in the Gaza Strip?
More than 40 percent of schools (288) in Gaza are run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), while the rest are either directly run by the Palestinian Authority or run privately.
All are currently closed as more than 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced amid a continuing Israeli ground and air offensive that has killed more than 25,000 people, including 10,000 children.
According to UNRWA data from 2018, Gaza had 737 schools. At least 9,367 teachers work in UNRWA’s 288 schools.
How many children are out of school in Gaza?
No student from Gaza has been able to attend school since November 6, 2023, when the Ministry of Education suspended the 2023-2024 school year due to the war which saw indiscriminate attacks on areas residential areas, including offices and schools. Israel has defended itself, saying it was fighting Hamas fighters, but human rights groups say Tel Aviv has made little effort to protect civilians.
OCHA reported on October 27, 2023 that there were more than 625,000 students and more than 22,500 teachers in Gaza.
How many schools were targeted in Gaza?
Up to 280 public schools and 65 UNRWA-run schools were destroyed or damaged, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.
Ninety percent of PA schools suffered direct or indirect damage. About 29 percent of school buildings are out of service after being demolished or severely damaged.
Save the Children’s Palestine director, Jason Lee, said in October: “Attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals where children seek refuge, are beyond unacceptable. This war is eroding humanity and spiraling out of control.
It’s the same story with private schools. “It was a painful first month because schools were directly targeted,” Amer said.
At least 133 schools are being used as shelters for internally displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. These schools are housing far more people than their capacity, as more than 1.9 million people have been displaced.
Israel attacked several schools serving as shelters, killing displaced Palestinians. In November 2023, Israeli forces attacked the UNRWA-run Al Fakhura school, killing at least 15 people. A week later, at least 25 people were killed at the Al-Buraq school. In December 2023, several people were killed in attacks on the Shadia Abu Ghazala school.
Why all the universities in Gaza were destroyed
It was not just schools that bore the brunt of the Israeli attack. Centers of higher education, including universities, have been completely paralyzed. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that 12 higher education institutions in Gaza were damaged or destroyed, completely disrupting university education.
The independent Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Observatory said Israel had systematically destroyed all of Gaza’s universities in stages. The first stage included the bombing of Islamic universities and Al-Azhar, the monitor said in a statement released on Saturday.
The University of Israel, located south of Gaza City, was demolished by Israeli forces, as evidenced in a video released by Israeli media on January 17. University authorities said Israel had occupied and used the campus as a military base and detention center for months before. destroying it.
In addition, the Israeli army killed 94 university professors, the Euro-Med Human Rights Observatory reported. The observer considered Israel’s destruction of schools as “intentional destruction of Palestinian cultural and historical property.”
“The targeted academics studied and taught in various academic disciplines, and many of their ideas served as cornerstones of academic research at universities in the Gaza Strip,” the monitor said in a statement.
Euro-Med said it would be very difficult to return to academics after the war, given the scale of the destruction of lives and property.
Palestinians have one of the highest literacy rates in the world, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2018. Palestinian graduates have ended up performing well in fields such as mathematics, engineering and business.
How many students and teachers have been killed and injured in Gaza?
As many as 4,327 students were killed and 7,819 others were injured as of January 16, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, which added that 231 teachers and administrators were also killed.
When would students return to school?
It is uncertain when Gaza students will return to school as the war in Israel continues. It will likely take months, if not years, to repair all damaged school buildings.
There are plans to launch online learning for students in Gaza schools. However, teaching would be provided from the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.
The online learning model would be difficult to implement in Gaza, where telecommunications outages are common and students and teachers lack access to stable electricity and internet. In addition, most people were forced to flee their homes and take refuge in refugee camps.
“It is impossible for there to be e-learning. There is no shelter, no internet and no suitable conditions,” said Amer, a science teacher from Gaza.
Meanwhile, schools and universities in the occupied West Bank are already shifting to an online learning model with online classes as settler raids and violence have increased significantly since October 7. This includes 55 schools located in the West Bank “Join Zone” – an area separated from the rest of the occupied West Bank by the Israeli separation wall.
The occupied West Bank is reeling from increasing attacks by settlers and Israeli forces, with at least 371 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers since October 7.
Since her school was forced to close, Amer has met some of her students in public or talked to them online. Three of his students were killed during the war and some of them lost their homes. Students in Gaza, she said, need psychological support to deal with the trauma they are experiencing because of the war.
“I want to support them psychologically, but the circumstances they live in are difficult,” she said.
