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GAZA / SCHOOL SHORTAGE
STORY: GAZA / SCHOOL SHORTAGE
TRT: 2.46
SOURCE: UNRWA
RESTRICTIONS: NONELANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ ARABIC/ NATS
DATELINE: RECENT, GAZA STRIP
1. Various shots, crowds of children in alley leading to school gate
2. SOUND BITE (English) John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations, Gaza:
“We have a limited capacity and under funding. The physical infrastructure has not been increased. That is, new schools have not been built for four years of the blockade on Gaza. The population continues to grow; more students are coming for education to our gates. We don’t have the schools to accommodate them. And we had to turn away 40 000 students who are eligible for an UNRWA education.”
3. Med shot, four children sitting down at one desk
4. Med shot, teacher making her way through crowded classroom
5. SOUND BITE (Arabic) Rihab Abu-Foul, First Grade Teacher:
“The problem that I face is that I have a huge number of students in the classroom. The students sit very close to each other and they are not able to write well. I can't work with each child to teach them how to write. They are young students who need to be taught the basic skills of writing. The time allowed for me to spend with each student is very limited because there so many students in the classroom. There is not time enough for me to pay attention to every student. The posture in which the students are sitting by the desks is not comfortable and it will not help them to write properly and comfortably.”
6. SOUND BITE (Arabic) Salem Al-Rifi, First Grader:
“I open one notebook but he opens a notebook and a book and takes all the space.”
7. Wide shot, boys in container school yard
8. Pan left, container classrooms
9. Wide shot, students in container classroom
10. Various shots, unfinished UNRWA building site in Khan Younis
11. SOUND BITE (English) John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations, Gaza:
“We need to get the concrete and the steel into Gaza. You know, it's very frustrating for families here to witness that through the illegal tunnels there is a supply of concrete and steel available if you wish to use the black market. And through the legitimate crossing points there is little or nothing coming in; and so far nothing for new schools.”
12. Pan left, UNRWA school children in street
The streets outside UNRWA's Elementary Co-Ed school in the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City are packed with children at noon when the morning shift ends and the afternoon shift starts. This school was built for 900 students, but now 1600 children come here in the morning and an equal amount come here to study in the crowded classrooms in the afternoon.
SOUND BITE (English) John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations, Gaza:
“We have a limited capacity and under funding. The physical infrastructure has not been increased. That is, new schools have not been built for four years of the blockade on Gaza. The population continues to grow; more students are coming for education to our gates. We don’t have the schools to accommodate them. And we had to turn away 40 000 students who are eligible for an UNRWA education.”
The Agency needs to build 100 new schools in Gaza but has been unable to do so for four years as no construction material for this purpose has been allowed into the coastal enclave from Israel through the official border terminals.
Teachers are increasingly worried about how they can give enough attention to each student in the crowded classrooms.
SOUND BITE (Arabic) Rihab Abu-Foul, First Grade Teacher:
“The problem that I face is that I have a huge number of students in the classroom. The students sit very close to each other and they are not able to write well. I can't work with each child to teach them how to write. They are young students who need to be taught the basic skills of writing. The time allowed for me to spend with each student is very limited because there so many students in the classroom. There is not time enough for me to pay attention to every student. The posture in which the students are sitting by the desks is not comfortable and it will not help them to write properly and comfortably.”
SOUND BITE (Arabic) Salem Al-Rifi, First Grader:
“I open one notebook but he opens a notebook and a book and takes all the space.”
Despite Israel's promise to ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the situation at the beginning of this school year has become so severe that UNRWA has had to turn away 40 000 children eligible to enrol in its schools.
213 000 students have places in UNRWA schools in Gaza this year.
In order to accommodate additional students, UNRWA has had to place thousands in makeshift classrooms across the Gaza Strip. In Nuiserat in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip overcrowding is so acute that UNRWA runs an entire school constructed of shipping containers.
The classrooms get very hot in the summer and cold in the winter but despite this, the achievement level in this school is one of the highest in the area as the classes are of normal size.
An UNRWA housing project in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip is unfinished because construction material has not been allowed in through the border terminals.
UNRWA has not been able to start constructing any of the 100 new schools that are needed.
Refugee families who are eligible for places in UNRWA schools have had to send their children to government schools that also suffer from severe overcrowding.
SOUND BITE (English) John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations, Gaza:
“We need to get the concrete and the steel into Gaza. You know, it's very frustrating for families here to witness that through the illegal tunnels there is a supply of concrete and steel available if you wish to use the black market. And through the legitimate crossing points there is little or nothing coming in; and so far nothing for new schools.”
Despite the severe strain on the UNRWA school system, Gazan refugee families try to get their children into those schools. The lack of building material has caused deep worries among tens of thousands of children and teenagers in Gaza about their education.
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