Shaaban Bilal (Gaza, Cairo)
The spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Education, Sadiq Khaddour, revealed that the extent of the damage to schools in Gaza as a result of the war is large and unprecedented, and that more than 620,000 students have been deprived of going to their schools since last October 7.
Khadour said, in statements to Al-Ittihad, that about a quarter of the number of public schools in Gaza have become completely destroyed, in addition to partial damage to the majority of other schools to varying degrees, and that only 10% of the schools are still intact.
According to the official spokesman for the Ministry of Education, the Gaza Strip is facing an education crisis that occurred before the war, as the number of government school buildings is 307, including 135 double-shift schools to compensate for the lack of educational buildings.
Khadour described the future of high school students as unknown. Because their fate is linked to the time limits for enrolling in universities, and they are the groups most affected by the cessation of the educational process.
He said: “We have an educational gap that cannot be measured quantitatively. Students are deprived of education, in addition to the effects of the war affecting technological educational buildings, books, and furniture.”
He pointed out the seriousness of the psychological and health effects on students as a result of the continuation of the war, depriving them of receiving their education and threatening their future, after the academic year became destined to be lost.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had published data on schools damaged by military operations in Gaza based on satellite images, which show that about 80% of schools need restoration to varying degrees, and that the most damaged buildings are in northern Gaza, followed by Gaza Governorate and Deir al-Balah. The fate of the remaining schools is unknown.
As for the efforts to rebuild schools after the end of the war, the official spokesman explained that their cost will be high and will require hundreds of millions of dollars, especially in relation to the infrastructure or necessary components to build all those schools again, in addition to the need for additional furniture, books, equipment and educational personnel.
Al-Khadour called for the war to stop, saying: “In addition to the material losses and destruction, there is a moral loss that is difficult to evaluate financially, and there is a high moral cost to restore conditions in schools as they were before, which were basically not in the best condition.”
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