Gaza’s children return to their classrooms but without books: “Libraries are destroyed”

“I walk for at least half an hour. The streets are destroyed and full of rubble (…) It is difficult and sad,” explains Haji, who was wearing a torn shirt and patched pants. But “I’m happy to be back in school,” adds the young woman, who already dreams of becoming a doctor.

Al-Hajj is one of 900 students at the Pearl Qatami School, one of several schools that have reopened so that children can resume their studies for the first time since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Haji, who lives in a camp for displaced people in the Tal al-Hawa area of ​​Gaza City, said, “We have no books or notebooks. Libraries have been bombed and destroyed.” “There is nothing left,” he added.

A month after the fragile ceasefire came into force, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Ministry of Education in Gaza announced that children had begun gradually returning to schools in areas not controlled by the Israeli army.

Shadan, 16, said he was very happy to be able to go to school after the war ended. But he said, “I have no books, notebooks, pens, or backpack. There are no chairs, no electricity, no water, and not even streets.” Before heading to class, Childan has several other basic needs that must be met.

“I have to go every morning to get water and stand in line to get bread,” explained the teenager, whose family has been displaced “ten times” and is now homeless.

School principal Iman Al-Hinnawi, 50, said the school hopes to be able to provide books and other materials for free. But she warned that the war forced children in Gaza to perform “hard labor” to support their families, especially in cases where the head of the family dies.

“They are collecting firewood, searching for water, and standing in lines for food” across the region, which the United Nations has already declared to be in a state of famine.

AFP reporters saw scenes of children carrying plastic buckets, perforated bowls or even plates, crying and screaming as they crowded into the crowd to get food. In an attempt to address psychological disorders in children, Al-Hanawi pointed out that the school has adopted new methods of learning through play.

Girls compete in dancing to solve mathematical equations, and other children act out comedic scenes to recite poems from the school curriculum. But Faisal Al-Qassas, director of Al-Lulo’a Al-Qatami School, says that children are constantly worried about standing in lines to get bread and water. The school, which has implemented two shifts for 900 children, now uses “extracurricular activities to take care of students’ mental health.”

According to a UN assessment, 97% of schools in Gaza suffered some form of damage, including “direct impacts,” with most requiring complete rebuilding or major renovation. The Israeli raids led to the death of many Palestinians who took refuge in schools, where Israel claimed Hamas fighters were hiding.

Since schools also serve as shelters for displaced people, UNRWA recently opened “temporary learning spaces.” Last month, the agency’s director, Philippe Lazzarini, said that more than 25,000 children had enrolled in these new places and that about 300,000 children would continue their lessons online.

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However, this number is still less than the estimates of the Ministry of Education, which estimates the number of students in the Gaza Strip at more than 758 thousand students. In the Al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza, the Qatari Education Above All Foundation launched the “Rebuilding Hope for Gaza” program, which aims to help more than 100,000 students, both male and female.