According to Unicef, United Nations children’s agency, up to 625,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, who have been uprooted and traumatised, are potentially on the brink of a second year without education. Moreover, 45,000 six year olds have not had the opportunity to experience a formal education. Many displaced children face a struggle to survive daily. Educators claim that the absence of the normality provided by schooling further intensifies the trauma caused by wartime.
14-year-old Ezzedin Qudeh spoke to an Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, saying that children elsewhere are ideally supposed to be in education and learning. He and his siblings, the youngest being only four, were captured in the midst of handling building materials. He argued that they are being forced to labour beyond their abilities just to earn a livelihood.
Philippe Lazzarini, the director of the UN Palestine refugee agency Unrwa, fears the emergence of a “lost generation” and mentioned in his tweet that the educational settings in Gaza no longer serve their initial purpose. He remarked that the start of warforced Unrwa to turn all its schools into refuges and said that classrooms either house displaced families or have been destroyed.
Although many of Gaza’s 564 schools were inflicted with damage, a vast number of them are currently providing shelter for the homeless. About 39,000 students were unable to sit for their final year exams due to missing school, while around 10,490 school and university scholars were killed and 16,700 injured since Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7th October as shared by Ramallah’s Palestinian education ministry. They also reported 500 schoolteachers and university academics being killed during the same timeframe.
Unicef says that lack of education threatens the development of children’s cognitive, social and emotional aspects. As reported by parents, this situation also impacts the children’s mental health, inducing feelings of irritation and seclusion. For the older kids, this disruption has reportedly sown seeds of uncertainty and anxiety.
Farid Abu Athra, head of Gaza education within Unrwa, shared with the al-Mezan human rights organisation in Gaza that the damage suffered by students is beyond repair. He warned that this interference could lead to prolonged negative impacts on the pupils’ scholastic performance and their personal growth, potentially contributing to a surge in school dropouts, child labour, and premature marriages.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, on Friday reported the successful completion of the initial round of polio immunisations for approximately 560,000 children aged 10 and below in Gaza. It is planned that the next round of vaccinations will commence within four weeks.
In the meantime, Sam Rose, deputy director for Unrwa in Gaza, warned that due to Israel’s prohibition of entry for trucks carrying crucial supplies, an estimated one million Gazans will face food scarcity this month. These vehicles are currently stuck along Egypt’s artery to Gaza. Israel has been condemned by aid agencies for imposing heavy restrictions and causing delays to these deliveries.
A response was not received from Israel’s press office when The Irish Times attempted to get comments.