Over 25,000 Gaza children return to UNRWA temporary learning spaces as schools reopen following ceasefire after two years of conflict.
NUSEIRAT: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has begun reopening some schools in Gaza with children gradually returning to classes following the start of the ceasefire.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini announced that more than 25,000 schoolchildren had already joined the agency’s temporary learning spaces.
Approximately 300,000 additional children would follow online classes according to the agency’s plans.
At Al Hassaina school in western Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, classes had just resumed despite a severe shortage of available classrooms.
Eleven-year-old student Warda Radwan expressed her excitement about returning to her learning routine.
“I am in sixth grade now, but I lost two years of schooling because of displacement and the war,” she told AFP.
During the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, Al Hassaina became a shelter for dozens of displaced families like many other UNRWA facilities throughout the territory.
Their continued presence remained visible in the lines of laundry strung across the building’s three floors.
Radwan explained that classes were restarting slowly as the school was gradually emptied of the families living there.
She added that she and her classmates could then continue learning like they did before the conflict.
In the school’s courtyard, young girls lined up for the morning assembly performing stretching exercises under teacher supervision.
The children chanted “Long live Palestine!” during the assembly showing their national pride.
About fifty girls crammed into a single classroom sitting on the floor with no desks or chairs as classes began.
They responded enthusiastically to the teacher’s questions and eagerly copied lessons from the blackboard into their notebooks.
Another classroom hosted a similar number of older teenage girls under identical learning conditions.
All students sat on the floor with notebooks resting on their laps due to the lack of proper furniture.
Jenin Abu Jarad, a relative of one of the students, expressed gratitude for seeing children back in classes.
“Since October 7, there hasn’t been any school for our children,” she said.
She noted that during this time all children could do was fetch water, get food, or play in the streets.
“But thankfully, about a week to ten days ago, schools began reopening gradually,” she added. – AFP
