Afrasianet - Dr. Hani Al-Aqad - The war on Gaza was not only motivated by a response to what happened on October 7th, but it was and still is a war of revenge that hides within it Israeli strategic goals to undermine everything in Gaza, first of all by killing, extermination and siege, and secondly by confiscating the rights that enable him to live a normal life, such as the right to housing, the right to education, the right to receive treatment and social welfare, the right to protection from wars and organized terrorism, and therefore he has no right to civil protection. which is approved by international laws.
The education sector in Gaza was killed during this war, the occupation did not keep any schools in the Gaza Strip intact, as more than 90% of the schools were damaged, according to UNICEF reports, and official reports say that Israel destroyed 204 educational institutions, including 190 schools and 14 universities, and 305 other institutions were damaged, including 293 schools and 12 universities.
Israel destroyed many cultural and educational centers, museums, and private and public libraries that provided support education services to thousands of students, and deprived many of them of scientific research after it forcibly burned down university libraries, which were rich in tens of thousands of references, periodicals, and scientific and educational journals.
Education at all levels was disrupted during the war, and there was no form of face-to-face education or even e-learning during the first year, and after a while, the Ministry of Education and some schools were able to activate e-learning, but unfortunately, not many people joined this type of education because many of our people in the displacement areas did not have access to internet services or did not even have the devices required to start this type of education, and therefore entire generations have been deprived of education and have faced since the beginning of the war So far, there is a danger of ignorance and school dropouts, and this danger has become now raided by both sexes before females, but it is noted that males are still enrolled in education at the danger line because there is a severe shortage of educational institutions that provide education services at the higher and secondary stages, and males may have been busy providing the necessary shelter, water and food for the displaced family.
As for the basic stage, the number of institutions that provide this type of learning is small, but it is insufficient and not qualified to accommodate large numbers, as it is nothing more than learning points that have been set up in the form of tents in the various areas of displacement with popular or institutional efforts. UNICEF says in a report that 60% of Palestinian school-age children in Gaza do not receive face-to-face education and do not go to school, and that back-to-school programs work by providing learning centers to accommodate only 336,000 children.
All educational programs and private educational institutions affiliated with the government or UNRWA depend on a remedial plan to compensate for the loss of collection, which is closer to a rescue plan, and not an early recovery plan to try to save what can be saved and compensate the basic education groups for the past period. But it is clear that these programs are now being implemented under great pressure, as the war is not over yet, and there are no qualified institutions or sufficient schools that can be restored to service, because many of the damaged schools and can be restarted are now being used as shelters.
The population in Gaza without a corresponding plan to empty this teacher from the displaced and absorb them in alternative camps, thus rehabilitating these schools with any number of classrooms to start face-to-face education and return students to them. The truth is that the learning process in the Gaza Strip is severely damaged by the war, whether in the buildings that can be used as schools, in the resources required to start a sound and successful learning process, or even in the educational staff who are able to provide education to children, especially as they suffer from the effects of trauma and suffer the repercussions of the brutal war that destroyed their future.
The need for an early recovery plan for the learning process has become urgent and a priority even for reconstruction and finding suitable shelter for millions of Gazans, especially after the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, at least an end to the war of genocide, a reduction in the rate of daily and indiscriminate killings, and the beginning of the generation of hope among the people here in a daily life without death and at least without hunger.
Any early recovery plan for the sector must take into account and prioritize a comprehensive plan for the devastated education sector to return the educational process in the sector to at least a semi-normal state, and this plan must take into account ten important points, which are:
- Establishing a cell of specialized educational experts and academics working through the Ministry of Education and the participation of relevant international institutions and organizations to follow up on the implementation of the plan and ensure the safety of the path of restoring the educational learning process to its normal state through an evaluation system capable of achieving all the requirements of the recovery program.
- Prepare a map to deploy the largest possible number of temporary schools and learning points in all areas of displacement, camps and remote areas to facilitate the process of engaging all children in the educational process.
- Implementing a community awareness campaign through social media, local radios and state television on the importance of engaging all children and adults in the different stages of learning, and carrying out field visits to families and population gatherings to urge their children to join the learning process.
- Building a preparation plan for schools, kindergartens and universities, provided that work is done to prepare them as an initial stage for the removal of dangers and unexploded ordnance, and this requires international crews and companies with trained and experienced crews in this field.
- Equipping caravans with alternative energy to add new classrooms and establish new schools to replace those destroyed by the war.
- Introducing study chairs, school tools, stationery, such as textbooks, blackboards, tables, pens, and furniture, and other entertainment tools suitable for the stage and chronological age of children.
- Training teaching staff to provide them with the most important educational methods and appropriate teaching methods that enable them to build compensatory plans and empowerment plans that proceed in succession.
- Building a sound evaluation system to achieve real outcomes for academic achievement that ensures a smooth transition from one learning stage to another, taking into account the chronological age of each stage.
- Setting a timetable for the implementation of the recovery plan so that it does not exceed one year from the date of the start of the plan at most to return the learning process to its normal state.
- Activating the supportive learning and popular learning system to achieve effective academic support that facilitates face-to-face education and achieves satisfactory results.
The situation that our people are living in Gaza and the imminent danger that befalls us students at all levels today force us to pay attention to the dangers of the learning process remaining in an unsatisfactory state like the one we are observing now, and it imposes on everyone to assume social and national responsibility to work with the national whole as a partner in building this society that is living the disaster and suffering as a result of the war, and which is eager to recover from the effects of this accursed war to give it life again and to remain without worry about the future of these generations that destroyed the war All the pillars and elements of life and its survival are in danger of their future, it is the historical responsibility so that we do not find our Gazan society in the end a society that has become at the bottom of the list of educated societies after it was at the forefront of it.
