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STORY: UNICEF / GAZA CHILDREN SCHOOL YEAR
TRT: 06:23
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 08 SEPTEMBER 2024, SOUTHERN GAZA STRIP, STATE OF PALESTINE
1. Various shots, child gathering books and material and getting ready to go to school
2. Various shots, boy and girl with school backpacks walking through rubble and destruction
3. Various shots, child reading a book among the rubble
4. Various shots, boy and girl looking at rubble and destruction
As children prepare for their first year and first day at school across several countries in the Middle East, at least 45,000 six-year-old children in the Gaza Strip are deprived of this right. The vast majority of them have been displaced from their homes and are facing a daily battle for survival.
The new school year was due to start across the State of Palestine on the 9th of September, but it has not resumed in the Gaza Strip where the intense conflict continues to take a dramatic toll on Gaza’s students, teachers and schools. The first graders join 625,000 children who have already been denied an entire school year, and with the conflict still ongoing, face the high risk of a second year without education.
Since October 2023, every school in the Gaza Strip has been shuttered. Among the students who were unable to learn last year are 39,000 students who missed their final year of school and couldn’t take their Tawjihi exams. This marks the first time in decades that a graduating class in the Strip has faced such a situation.
For older children, the disruption to their education has created uncertainty and anxiety. Without schooling, young people are at an increased risk of exploitation, child labour, early marriage, and other forms of abuse, and most importantly they are at risk of dropping out of school permanently.
For younger children, the absence of schooling threatens their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Parents are reporting significant mental health and psychosocial impacts among children, including feelings of increased frustration and isolation.
In both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, attacks on schools and education have increased in recent weeks. In the Gaza Strip, at least 84 per cent of schools require full reconstruction or significant rehabilitation before schooling can resume. In the West Bank including East Jerusalem, there has been 69 attacks on schools and 2,354 incidents affecting schools, students and teachers in or around schools, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.
Despite these overwhelming and critical needs, education continues to be one of the least funded sectors in humanitarian appeals. In the State of Palestine, UNICEF’s education programming faces an 88 per cent funding gap.
