39,000 Gaza high school students miss exams, 450 killed amid genocide
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55 Palestinian students were prevented from sitting for this year's official exams on account of them being held in Israeli prisons.
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Palestinians collect books from the rubble of a cultural center after an Israeli strike in Rafah on 18 November. (AFP)
The Palestinian Ministry of Education announced on Monday the results of the first round of the General Secondary Education Exams for the academic year 2023-2024.
In a press conference, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education stated that 39,000 secondary school students from the Gaza Strip did not take the exam this year due to the ongoing Israeli genocide, with at least 450 of them having been martyred.
Additionally, there is no overall pass rate, as the number of students is incomplete. Approximately 50,000 students from the occupied West Bank and those in some other countries (Turkiye, Qatar, Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia) participated in the exams across 506 examination centers.
On the day when exam results are announced in Palestine, a heartbroken student breaks in tears for being denied the chance to graduate high school due to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Z1kY6NJfzX
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) July 29, 2024
The ongoing Israeli genocide, now on its 297th day, has deprived around 39,000 students in Gaza of the opportunity to take the General Secondary Education Exams for 2024. Furthermore, 55 other Palestinian students were prevented from sitting for the exams due to being held in Israeli prisons, according to the Ministry of Education.
'Israel' killed 9,241 students, injured 15,182 since October 7
"Israel" has killed over 9,241 students and injured 15,182 others, Palestinian news agency Wafa revealed earlier this month, citing the Ministry of Education.
The ministry reported that over 9,138 students had been killed and 14,671 had been injured in the Gaza Strip since October, while 103 students had been killed and 505 more had been wounded in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, according to the ministry, 357 students were detained in the West Bank.
3,426 injuries and 497 deaths in the West Bank and Gaza involved teachers and administrators.
About 353 government schools, universities, university buildings, and 65 belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip, which led to 139 of them being severely damaged, and 93 completely destroyed.
In the meantime, 69 schools and five universities in the West Bank were stormed and vandalized. 133 government schools were also used as shelter centers in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry affirmed that 620,000 students in the Gaza Strip are still being deprived of enrolling in their schools since the beginning of the aggression, and 88,000 students are also deprived of enrolling in their universities.
The occupation also deprived 39,000 students from the Gaza Strip of taking the high school exam.
In May, a Geneva-based rights group accused "Israel" of deliberately demolishing schools and medical facilities, including those operated by UNRWA, during its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
On its part, the government media office in Gaza also constantly condemned the Israeli occupation's assassination of scientists, academics, university professors, and researchers, calling on all universities and educational sectors all over the world to condemn this crime, which falls within the framework of genocide.
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