Anam Alam
The New Arab / March 16, 2025
Over 270,000 children have enrolled on the UNRWA education programme, also providing in-person learning for almost 47,000 Gazan children.
UNRWA said 660,000 children are out of school due to the war on Gaza [Getty]
Gaza’s largest provider of education and psychosocial support announced it opened an additional 130 temporary educational centres across Gaza, for over 40,000 Palestinian children.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA, said, that along with providing almost 47,000 children with in-person learning through its spaces and shelter, over 270,000 have enrolled into its education programme where they receive essential learning in Arabic, English, mathematics & science.
“This is the beginning. There’s much, much more that needs to be done,” Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s communications director, told The New Arab.
“Education of the children of Gaza should be a top priority for everyone.”
“There must be more resources allocated to education, including from countries in the region, to support their education, which means to support the future of the children of Gaza and the future of Gaza.”
Announcing the initiative on X, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said: “#Education for children restores some hope. It helps them heal + slowly re-connect with their childhood. It’s critical for overcoming the unspeakable traumas they are enduring.”
The general adds there is a “long way to go” to bring more and more children to education, to avert a lost generation of Palestinian children.
“Bringing back to learning the hundred thousand girls & boys currently living in the rubble is a matter of urgency. Failing to do so will sow the seeds for more hatred & extremism.”
The agency revealed that 660,000 children, half of them UNRWA students, are out of education due to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 61,700 Palestinians.
UNRWA has provided 397 temporary learning spaces for over 50,000 children, distance learning to over 277,000 enrolled and psychosocial support for over 520,000.
After two years, students in Gaza began the new school year following the ceasefire that has temporarily paused Israel’s assaults.
At least 1,166 educational establishments have been destroyed across the Strip, rendering 85 percent of schools inoperable and causing over $2 billion of damage. At the same time, over 12,800 students have been killed along with 800 teachers since October 2023.
Anam Alam at The New Arab
