“We wear a bag of clothes instead of a school bag,” she said UN News.
Diana and other students have shared their eagerness to return to class, speaking of schools that have been converted to shelters for the displaced from Gaza, where most of the 2.3 million Palestinian residents were forced to move several times during the almost two years warned war triggered by the terrorist attacks led by Hamas and the Israel’s subsequent offensive.
Nearly 660,000 children remain outside the school, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unwra. In one UNRWA The school corridor is now transformed into crowded accommodation, Diana explained her ordeal.
“We are not playing or not learning,” said Diana, a child moved from her family from the Shujaiya district in Gaza City. “There is no more education now. We live inside the school, where we are moved, eating and sleeping. ”
A child from Gaza, who lost his father during the war, said: “Two years of our lives have disappeared for nothing”.
Food search instead of school supplies
Misk lost his father during the war. She said her tragedy was aggravated by loss of learning.
“Two years of our life have been wasted,” she said. “If it was not for war, I was now preparing for school, buying pens and school supplies. Now we are looking for water and food, running after water and community kitchens. ”
She rejected tears while continuing.
“We are children,” she said. “We want to live like other children. My father was killed during the war. What is my fault if I became an orphan at an early age? What is my fault if I was deprived of my family and everything? ”
Many people displaced in Gaza have found a shelter in UNRWA schools.
“We learned and obtaining diplomas”
Jana, nine, said she wanted to start studying again.
“We live in a school and we want to come back to study there,” she said. “We were moved because of the war and now there is no food or drink.”
We want to go home and live a normal life. It’s not life.
Maya said that life before the war “much more pleasant”.
“The children went to school, learned and received their diplomas,” she said.
Instead of focusing on your homework, Malak is looking for plastic and cardboard to be used as a fire starters to cook. She hopes war will end so that she can go back to school.
“We want war to end,” she said. “We want to go home. We want to go back to school. We want to do something useful. It has been so long since we ate healthy foods. We want to go home and live a normal life. It’s not life. “
Malak hopes that war will end so that it can return to school.
Education deprivation
UNRWA, Created in 1949 To serve Palestine refugees, warned that, as students had been deprived of education, they risk becoming “A lost generation».
“War in Gaza is a war against children and must stop. Children must be protected at any time, “said the United Nations agency in a statement, noting that” nearly a million children in the band suffer from deep psychological trauma “.
More than 90% of Gaza schools have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Repairing and rebuilding them will take on significant resources and time, according to a recent UN report.
West Bank: The courses are silent in the Jenin camp
Some 46,000 children of Palestine refugees should also start a new school year in UNRWA schools through the West Bank.
Schools remain a safe refuge for children, providing them with quality education and support in the midst of violence and trips to climbing, said Roland Friedrich, Director of Affairs of UNRWA in the West Bank.
“The time last year, I opened the school year with children in the Jenin camp,” he said.
“Now these students have been moved by their homes, and UNRWA schools in the camp are silent.”
Of the more than 30,000 Palestinians moved in the north of the West Bank, more than a third are children from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps.
“In East Jerusalem, for the first time in our history, UNRWA was prevented from opening its six schools after being forcibly closed by the Israeli authorities in May, affecting some 800 children,” he said.
“Only some of these students were able to register in other schools.”
Violation of children’s right to education
Mr. Friedrich warned that this raped not only the right to education for children of Palestine refugees, but also raped the obligations of Israel as a member of the United Nations.
Be that as it may, UNRWA continues to be the second education supplier in the West Bank after the Palestinian authority, reaching students in schools, training centers and hybrid learning methods.
“This back-to-school season, we are proud of our students and teachers who continue to show resilience in the face of difficulties,” he said. “We wish all children a school year filled with excitement for learning, friendships and curiosity.”
UNRWA said that around 660,000 children in Gaza had been deprived of education for the third consecutive year due to the current war.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
