“We carry a clothing bag instead of a school bag,” he said UN news.
Diana and other students shared their eagerness to return to the classroom, speaking from schools that have become shelters for the displacement of Gaza, where most of the 2.3 million Palestinian residents have been forced to move several times during the war of almost two years caused by the terrorist attacks led by Hamas and the subsequent offensive of Israel de Israel.
Almost 660,000 children remain out of school, according to the UN Agency for Refugees in Palestine, UNRWA. In a unrwa school corridor he now transformed into crowded homes, Diana explained her terrible experience.
“We no longer play or learn,” said Diana, a girl displaced with her family from the Shujaiya neighborhood in the city of Gaza. “There is no education now. We live within school, where we are displaced, eating and sleeping.”
A boy from Gaza, who lost his father during the war, said that “two years of our lives have gone at all.”
Looking for food instead of school supplies
Misk lost his father during the war. She said her tragedy was aggravated by the loss of learning.
“Two years of our lives were wasted,” he said. “If it weren’t for the war, I would prepare for school now, buying schools and school supplies. Now, we look for water and food, running after water and community kitchens.”
She fought with tears as she continued.
“We are children,” he said. “We want to live like other children. My father was killed in the war. What is my fault that I became an orphan at an early age? What is my fault that I have deprived my family and everything?”
Many people displaced in Gaza have found refuge in the UNRWA schools.
‘We were learning and obtaining diplomas’
Jana, nine, said she wants to study again.
“We live in a school and we want to study there again,” he said. “We were displaced by war and now, there is no food or drink.”
We want to go home and live a normal life. This is not life.
Maya said life before war was “much more pleasant.”
“The children went to school, learned and received their diplomas,” he said.
Instead of focusing on your homework, Malak looks for plastic and cardboard to use as fire starters. She expects war to end to be able to return to school.
“We want the war to end,” he said. “We want to go home. We want to return to school. We want to do something useful. It has been so long since we ate healthy food. We want to go home and live a normal life. This is not life.”
Malak expects war to end so he can return to school.
Deprivation of education
Unrwa, established in 1949 to serve Palestine refugees, warned that, as students have been deprived of education, they run the risk of becoming “a lost generation.”
“The war in Gaza is a war against children and must stop. Children must be protected at all times,” said the UN agency in a statement, noting that “almost a million children in the strip suffer from a deep psychological trauma.”
More than 90 percent of Gaza schools have been severely destroyed or damaged. Repair and reconstruction will be taken by significant resources and time, according to a recent UN report.
Bank: classes are silent in Jenin Camp
Some 46,000 refugee children in Palestine are also ready to start a new school year in the UNRWA schools in the West Bank.
Schools are still a safe shelter for children, providing quality education and support in the midst of growing violence and displacement, said Roland Friedrich, director of Affairs of UNRWA in the West Bank.
“This time last year, I opened the school year with children in Jenin Camp,” he said.
“Now, these students have been displaced by the force of their homes, and the UNRWA schools in the camp remain silent.”
Of the more than 30,000 Palestinians displaced in northern West Bank, more than a third are children in the camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams.
“In East Jerusalem, for the first time in our history, Unrwa has been driven to open their six schools after the Israeli authorities closed them by force in May, affecting some 800 children,” he said.
“Only some of these students have been able to register in other schools.”
Violation of the right to children’s education
Mr. Friedrich warned that this not only violates the right to education for Palestine refugee children, but also violates Israel’s obligations as Member of the United Nations.
Anyway, UNRWA continues to be the second largest education provider in the West Bank after the Palestinian authority, reaching students through schools, training centers and hybrid learning modalities.
“This season of return to school, we are proud of our students and teachers who continue to show resistance to difficulties,” he said. “We wish all children a school year full of emotion for learning, friendships and curiosity.”
Unrwa said that around 660,000 children in Gaza have been deprived of education for the third consecutive year due to the ongoing war.