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STORY: GAZA / EDUCATION
TRT: 07:03
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 17 MARCH 2025, DEIR AL-BALAH, KHAN YOUNIS, SOUTHERN GAZA STRIP
1. Various shots, students, Al-Fukhari Girls' School run by UNRWA
2. Various shots, students, morning assembly, Sam Rose
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Rose, Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA):
“It's critical that the ceasefire holds so that children such as these behind me and tens of thousands of their peers across the Gaza Strip are able to resume learning. It's critical that we bring structure, hope and a future to these children and to their families. Otherwise, an entire generation is at risk. Education cannot be negotiable. It's critical that these children are able to continue their studies.”
4. Various shots, students, morning assembly, Sam Rose
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Rose, Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA):
“In-person learning is resuming for children across the Gaza Strip, but mostly in southern and Central Gaza, in Khan Younis and the middle areas where families have been able to return home. We have around 50,000 children inside these schools from grade 1 to 9. For others, we continue to offer remote learning. Lessons are downloaded onto WhatsApp on the mobile phones. Children have time every day with their pupils, with their classmates in virtual classrooms that we've set up. We've been able to do this because we have a very strong education system, an education system that has had to adjust to manifold conflicts over the years, both here and Syria and in other parts of the region. This is part of UNRWA's Education in Emergencies program, which has been used countless times, sadly, over the past decade here and in other conflicts, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children here and across the region can resume their education.”
6. Various shots, students, classrooms
7. Various shots, students engaging with teacher
8. Various shots, Um Mohammed Wadi and daughters searching for internet connection, tents
9. Various shots, Mohammed Wadi supervising daughters’ s remote learning using mobile phone
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Mohammed Wadi, Palestinian:
“I walk a long distance, and I have eight daughters—all of them study using just one mobile phone. We cannot afford a phone for each girl to study. We struggle to access the internet. Their academic level was advanced, but it has now declined due to the current circumstances. They are not studying as they used to, and we lack resources—no mobile phones, no internet, and no electricity. Our living conditions are extremely difficult. Education is challenging, and there are no schools like before. We hope to return to how things were when I used to wake my daughters up for school. Since October 7, the war has continued, and my daughters have not benefited from education."
11. Various shots, Mohammed Wadi supervising children’s remote learning using mobile phone
A UN official in Gaza said, “Education cannot be negotiable.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced the opening of 130 temporary educational centers in the Gaza Strip, allowing approximately 47,000 children to return to in-person learning after a prolonged period of disruption.
Sam Rose, Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, participated in the reopening of a school in the Al-Fukhari area, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
He said, “It's critical that the ceasefire holds so that children such as these behind me and tens of thousands of their peers across the Gaza Strip are able to resume learning. It's critical that we bring structure, hope and a future to these children and to their families. Otherwise, an entire generation is at risk. Education cannot be negotiable. It's critical that these children are able to continue their studies.”
He stressed, “In-person learning is resuming for children across the Gaza Strip, but mostly in southern and Central Gaza, in Khan Younis and the middle areas where families have been able to return home. We have around 50,000 children inside these schools from grade 1 to 9. For others, we continue to offer remote learning. Lessons are downloaded onto WhatsApp on the mobile phones. Children have time every day with their pupils, with their classmates in virtual classrooms that we've set up. We've been able to do this because we have a very strong education system, an education system that has had to adjust to manifold conflicts over the years, both here and Syria and in other parts of the region. This is part of UNRWA's Education in Emergencies program, which has been used countless times, sadly, over the past decade here and in other conflicts, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children here and across the region can resume their education.”
This comes at a time when thousands of families in Gaza continue to rely on remote learning despite significant challenges, including the lack of access to internet networks, electricity, and mobile phones necessary for their children's education.
Um Mohammed describes the struggle of securing education for her children, as she searches daily for places with internet access so they can continue learning.
In an interview, she said, "I walk a long distance, and I have eight daughters, all studying on a single mobile phone. We cannot afford a phone for each of them to study, and we also struggle to access the internet."
Since 7 October 2023, schools have been turned into shelters for displaced people.
In addition, many schools have been destroyed by airstrikes.
