WEST BANK (Dispatches) – More than 76 percent of schools in Gaza require “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation” to be functional following the Zionist regime’s months-long onslaught, according to a new assessment shared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Based on satellite imagery collected in May, the new Education Cluster assessment highlights a “continuous spike in the direct targeting of schools” in the besieged and bombarded territory, Al Jazeera reported.
Of the school buildings used as shelters for displaced people in Gaza, 69 percent have been directly hit or damaged in attacks and more than 96 percent of the schools directly attacked – 296 in total – were located in areas subject to Israeli military evacuation orders, it added.
Israeli attacks on educational institutes in Gaza have not only “disrupted immediate educational activities but also eroded the foundation for sustained societal growth and development”, Talal al-Hathal, director of the al-Fakhoura Programme at Education Above All Foundation in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
“Targeting critical educational infrastructure dismantles hope for many Palestinians in Gaza where education is an important and critical tool for survivability and equality, contributing to better outcomes for Palestinians in their future life,” al-Hathal said.
“Education serves as a critical tool for survival, empowerment, and long-term development in the region, offering a pathway to a more stable and prosperous future,” he said.
“By targeting educational facilities, the aggressors strip away the prospects of enlightenment, opportunity and progress, deepening the cycle of despair and deprivation in the region,” he added.
In April, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said eight out of 10 schools in Gaza are damaged or destroyed with an estimated 620,000 students out of school. Nearly half of Gaza’s population is under 18, and its education system was already struggling after several wars and escalations since 2008.
“To be able to learn, you need to be in a safe space. Most kids in Gaza at the moment have brains that are functioning under trauma,” said child psychiatrist Audrey McMahon of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF). Younger children could develop lifelong cognitive disabilities from malnutrition, while teenagers are likely to feel anger at the injustice they have suffered, she said.
“The challenges they will have to face are immense and will take a long time to heal,” she added.
Al-Hathal called the targeting of educational institutes across Gaza “shameful as we consider the global education crisis where we see that more than 250 million children are out of school globally”.
In addition to the destruction of the buildings, students and teachers have also been killed in the attacks that have ravaged educational infrastructure and caused mental trauma to thousands of beleaguered students.