Gaza - (Saba):
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Gaza, Khaled Abu Nada, said on Friday that the Zionist aggression on Gaza resulted in the martyrdom of 13,000 students and 800 educators and the assassination of 150 university professors in a direct targeting of the academic elite.
In press statements published by the Palestine Today Agency, Abu Nada stated that the Palestinian people in Gaza are facing a systematic cognitive genocide due to the Israeli aggression that deprived 785,000 students of their right to education, stressing that the educational sector is going through its worst historical stages and is facing a disaster that affects the future of an entire generation.
He explained that 600,000 primary school students, 74,000 secondary school students and 100,000 university students live in harsh conditions of displacement and lack the basics of life, noting that 96 per cent of school buildings have been damaged and 89 per cent of them are out of service due to total or partial destruction.
He stressed that the Israeli enemy army is targeting schools despite their transformation into shelters that include educational initiatives, pointing out that universities have been subjected to systematic destruction, the latest of which was the bombing of the buildings of the Islamic University in Khan Yunis.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Gaza noted that the educational sector is not only subjected to material damage, but is targeted with a war crime aimed at obliterating the Palestinian identity.
He stated that the educational process continues through field schools and popular points that enrolled 250,000 students, in addition to electronic platforms that enrolled 300,000 students, noting that emergency systems have been developed in line with international standards, in addition to providing psychological and health support to students in shelter centres.
He added: "We have developed a gradual recovery plan aimed at saving the future of 37,000 Tawjihi students for 2024, despite the disruption of the exams due to the war. "The 2025 Tawjihi students are threatened with losing two years of education, and an intensive plan has been prepared to compensate them.
He pointed out that more than 350,000 students are still outside any educational path in an unprecedented threat to enrolment rates.
Abu Nada emphasised that illiteracy and dropout rates are on the rise after Palestine used to record the best indicators in the Arab world.
He called for urgent Arab and international action to rebuild schools, support teachers and provide scholarships for outstanding students, considering that ‘saving education in Gaza is a humanitarian and moral necessity that cannot be postponed.’