DaysofPal – Seven-year-old Tulin gets ready for her first day of school in two years in a tiny tent shaken by the sound of gunfire nearby. Such a moment would be exciting for most kids. For Tulin and her mother, it marks a return to fear.
Israel’s ongoing war has devastated Gaza’s education system, destroying most school buildings and forcing families to rely on makeshift “tent schools” erected in perilous locations. In northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, these tents stand dangerously close to Israeli forces, within an area Israel designates as the “yellow zone,” only meters from live fire.
“Until my daughter reaches school, I walk with my heart in my hand,” Tulin’s mother said. “Many times, I follow her without realizing it, just to make sure she arrives safely. I feel there is danger, but I want her to learn. If not for this war, she would be in second grade by now. Still, we are determined.”
The journey itself is fraught with risk. Crossing streets reduced to rubble, Tulin says the open spaces terrify her. “When I go to school, I am afraid of the shooting,” she said. “There are no walls to hide behind if the shelling or stray bullets start.”
Inside the tents, safety is no better. Thin canvas offers no protection from bullets, yet students sit on the ground, clinging to the chance to learn. Their teacher described a daily routine repeatedly disrupted by sniper fire.
“The location is extremely dangerous, very close to the occupation forces,” she explained. “When the shooting begins, we tell the children to lie flat on the ground. I get goosebumps every time, praying no one is hurt. We wait until the gunfire stops.”
She added that the school has been exposed to shooting on multiple occasions. “Despite everything, we stay. Their policy is ignorance, and our policy is knowledge.”
Among the students is Ahmed, who lost his father during the war. Reaching school, he said, is a struggle marked by fear. “We come with difficulty and leave with difficulty because of the shooting,” he told Al Jazeera. “But I want to fulfill my martyred father’s dream of seeing me become a doctor.”
‘One of the Biggest Catastrophes’
Scenes like those in Beit Lahiya reflect the wider collapse of Gaza’s education system. Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic, UNICEF spokesperson in Palestine Kazem Abu Khalaf described the situation as “one of the biggest catastrophes.”
“Our data shows that 98 percent of schools in Gaza have suffered damage, some of them completely destroyed,” he said, noting that 88 percent require major rehabilitation or full reconstruction.
The human toll is immense. An estimated 638,000 school-aged children and 70,000 kindergarten-aged children have lost two full academic years and are now entering a third year without stable education.
Although UNICEF and its partners have established 109 temporary learning centers serving about 135,000 students, the psychological impact of the war is becoming increasingly evident.
Field teams have documented alarming levels of developmental regression. “In one area, around 25 percent of the children we are targeting have developed speech difficulties,” Abu Khalaf said, stressing the urgent need for specialized educational and psychological support.
Education Without Books
The crisis extends beyond destroyed buildings and trauma. Gaza’s education sector is also strangled by a severe blockade on supplies. According to Abu Khalaf, almost no educational materials have entered Gaza since October 2023.
“The biggest challenge is that virtually no learning materials have been allowed in,” he said.
UNICEF is preparing to launch a “Back to Learning” campaign aimed at reaching 200,000 children, focusing on core subjects such as Arabic, English, mathematics, and science, alongside recreational activities intended to help repair children’s psychological well-being.
However, Abu Khalaf warned that such efforts cannot succeed without unrestricted access. “We are communicating with all parties, including the Israeli side, to allow learning materials into Gaza,” he said. “It is not in anyone’s interest for a child in Gaza to be denied an education.”
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