It’s September, and schools are about to kick off. Many children around the world are getting ready to join their classes and friends with joyful emotions, after choosing their favorite bags and supplies. Yet, for the children of Gaza, education remains an inaccessible right; a privilege they can't attain. As a result of the ongoing Israeli genocide, these children are deprived of the joy and excitement of going back to school.

Qudeh family’s children were seen carrying rubble from a demolished building, which they collected to sell for use in building graves in their cemetery-home in southern Gaza.

“Anyone our age in other countries is studying and learning,” said 14-year-old Ezz el-Din Qudeh, as he and his three siblings— the youngest just 4 years old— transported concrete chunks. “We’re not. We’re working at something beyond our capacities. We are forced to in order to make a living.”

Schools in Gaza have been closed for nearly a year due to the outbreak of war. The ongoing Israeli aggression has severely impacted educational infrastructure in Gaza, with 76% of schools in the Strip suffering direct damage from targeted attacks, as per a report by the Global Education Cluster last June.

Palestinian children try to pull out the body of a child under the rubble of a destroyed home in Al Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/DK3AmFMwap

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) December 28, 2023

Amid the genocide, many children in Gaza are caught up in their families' daily struggle for survival. They walk barefoot on dirt roads to transport water from distribution points to their families residing in tent cities, which are overcrowded with Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes. Others line up at charity kitchens with containers to collect food, AP reported.

A serious risk of long-term harm to Gaza's children

Humanitarian workers warn that the prolonged lack of education poses a serious risk of long-term harm to Gaza’s children.

Tess Ingram, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, said, “The longer a child is out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out permanently and not returning.”

Gaza’s 625,000 school-age children have already lost nearly a full year of education. It remains uncertain when they will be able to return to school, as the ceasefire negotiations reached an impasse which is due to the occupation's continued refusal to withdraw from the area during the first phase of the agreement.

Palestinian children are screaming and running away after hearing bombing sounds nearby them, while they were in Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/Xj2519iDht

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) October 9, 2023

Approximately 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been forcibly displaced from their homes. They are now living in expansive tent camps that lack basic water and sanitation facilities or in UN and government schools that have been repurposed as shelters.

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Mo’men Qudeh shared that before the war, his children thrived in school. “They were outstanding students. We raised them well,” he said.

Now, he, his four sons, and his daughter live in a tent in a cemetery in Khan Younis after fleeing their home in the city's eastern neighborhoods. Although the children are frightened by the graves they sleep next to, Qudeh said they have no other option.

Each day at 7 am, Qudeh and his children begin sorting through rubble. On a recent workday, the young kids struggled with the debris they collected. His 4-year-old son carried a chunk of concrete under his arm, his blonde curls covered in dust. Outside their tent, they sat on the ground, crushing the concrete into powder.

A Palestinian boy in Gaza tries to scrape through the rubble with his bare hands hoping to find his family after the israelis bomb his home pic.twitter.com/ThumDtiIwR

— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) October 21, 2023

On a good day, after several hours of labor, they earn approximately 15 shekels ($4) by selling the powder for use in building new graves.

Qudeh, who sustained injuries during "Israel’s" 2014 aggression on Gaza, noted that he is unable to manage the heavy work by himself.

“I cry for them when I see them with torn hands,” he said.

"At night, the exhausted children can’t sleep because of their aches and pains," he heartfully stated.

“They lie on their mattress like dead people,” he gushed.

Gaza’s children yearn for education amid genocide

Children are yearning for the education they’ve lost. Aid organizations have attempted to create alternative educational opportunities, though their efforts have been constrained by the overwhelming range of other needs.

According to Ingram, UNICEF and other aid agencies have established 175 temporary learning centers since late May, serving around 30,000 students with the help of approximately 1,200 volunteer teachers. These centers offer classes in literacy and numeracy, as well as activities focused on mental health and emotional development.

However, she noted that obtaining essential supplies like pens, paper, and books is challenging because these items are not deemed lifesaving priorities, as aid organizations prioritize delivering food and medicine to Gaza.

In August, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) launched a “back to learning” program in 45 of its schools, which have been converted into shelters. This initiative provides children with activities such as games, drama, arts, music, and sports. “The aim is to give them some respite, a chance to reconnect with their friends and to simply be children,” said spokesperson Juliette Touma.

Education has always been a top priority for Palestinians, with a literacy rate of 98% in the territory, compared to 71% in neighboring Egypt as of 2021, according to UNESCO statistics.

During her last visit to Gaza in April, Ingram reported that children frequently expressed how much they missed school, their friends, and their teachers. She recounted one boy who, while expressing his desire to return to school, suddenly asked her in distress, “I can go back, can’t I?”

“That was just heartbreaking to me,” she said.

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