Gaza’s children risk becoming a ‘lost generation’ without schools, says UNICEF
Assalamu alaikum - I read this and felt I should share. With Gaza’s education system shattered after two years of brutal war, UNICEF’s regional director warns we may be facing a “lost generation” of children wandering broken streets with nothing to keep them learning or growing.
“This is the third year with almost no school,” Edouard Beigbeder said, noting that unless a real move to get children back into classes starts by February, a fourth year could mean a lost generation. The destruction, he added, is everywhere you look - it’s hard to imagine so much of a place flattened or ruined.
The fragile ceasefire has allowed humanitarian groups to set up temporary learning centers that reach roughly one-sixth of the children who should be in school. But these are very basic: three days of lessons in reading, math, and writing, often in metal frames with plastic sheeting or in tents. Kids sit on mats or carpets, sometimes using cardboard boxes or wooden planks as desks and writing on salvaged slates or plastic boards. It’s far from a normal school environment.
Around 85 percent of schools in Gaza are destroyed or unusable, and many of the buildings that remain are being used as shelters for displaced families. Many children and teachers are on the move trying to care for their families, which makes regular schooling even harder. Even before the conflict, the system was overcrowded - half the pre-war population was under 18.
Aid agencies are trying to restart education: UNRWA announced an “e-learning” effort for hundreds of thousands of pupils, and UNICEF stresses that education must be put at the top of the recovery agenda to rebuild social cohesion and address widespread trauma and psychological needs. One urgent need is getting permission to bring in materials through border crossings - cement, notebooks, books, blackboards - things that have been blocked as “non-essential.”
As Beigbeder said, food keeps children alive, but education gives them hope. May Allah ease the suffering of all affected families and guide those who can help to restore schools and support the children’s recovery.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/