45,000 Gaza Children Denied Schooling Amid War, UNICEF Reports

Millions of children are starting a new year at school all over the world, at least 45000 out of the six-year-old children in Gaza are struggling to survive every day and do not get a chance to go to school. An article from the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF Fund made it clear that the education sector in Gaza is in shambles after the Israeli attack on Gaza, nor are students, teachers, and schools are getting ready for a new academic session. 

 Of the 625,000 children with disability who started the year without school and are at risk of not completing the second year, 45,000 are students. Alon Ben has also brought out the aspect of the extermination of Palestinians by the Israeli forces in Gaza, especially those innocuous citizens who have been killed by the forces, in addition to the escalation of attacks on the education facilities. 

 Adele Khodr, the UNICEF Regional Director of the Middle East and North Africa division, described the Gaza children are humbler, saying, “They lost homes, relations, mates, safety, schedule; the safety and challenge of school; their dreadful war can overshadow the promising future. ” 

 Gaza schools have been shut down since October 2023, and more than 3,900 students have not had the opportunity to complete their final year or sit for the ‘Tawjihi final exam,’ which is so important for interaction with the future education program. It is also worth mentioning that such interferences with education have happened in the region for the first time in the last few decades. 

The older students have also been affected by their long break from school. This has made them develop severe anxiety about their studies as well as their future in general. Education is thus known to contribute to these situations, given that many of the affected are likely to be victims of child labor and prostitution or drop out of school with a high probability of not returning to school ever again. When children are kept out of school, the development of learning, interpersonal, and emotional-psychological aspects in young children is affected. Therefore, there are definite consequences. 

 The parents of children in Gaza have reported high levels of anxiety, mental health decompensation, social isolation, hostility, and distress when children are locked at home with no education and normal socialization. 

 Other school-going children in the occupied West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, are no exception to facing the following challenges as they start a new academic year. Gaza Strip, 78. According to the UNESCO Office of the Palestinian People, this situation affects as many as 2000 students: the separation barrier, limitation on movement in the country, and educational effects of the Israeli military actions. 

 According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and UNICEF records, 23% of schools in the West Bank have closed 8- 20% of the time since October 2023 due to violence. 

 Seventy-four percent of schools are at least partially damaged. Therefore, UNICEF reported that seventy-four percent of the schools in Gaza need to be totally or partly rebuilt to make them usable again. However, fifty percent of them require reconstruction to become operational. Specifically regarding the Whole Occupied Territory, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the cases recorded and documented include 69 attacks on schools and 2382 attacks on students, teachers, or schools. 

 ”We have to search for strategies to reopen learning and reconstruct schools to respect the right to education for the next generation in Palestine,” Khodr pointed out. 

 UNICEF also remains committed to an urgent cessation of violence in Gaza, as children in the area have suffered tremendously. “We believe that they are not only owed to return to education but also to be given a chance for a peaceful life ahead,” the organization said.