Gaza childrens education suffers due to economic pressures and limited resources

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Khan Younis, Gaza Strip - A 15-year-old boy named Mahmoud wakes up at 5:30 am in a crowded tent, displaced from his home like hundreds of thousands of others in Gaza. Instead of packing a schoolbag for school, he gathers items to fill a burlap sack with fuel for his family.

Mahmoud’s daily routine involves carrying the sack, which contains nylon, cardboard, and scraps of wood, for hours to find materials. He has lost count of how many hours he spends walking, but it is often six hours or more. The dust from rubble in the streets gets into his lungs, causing him to cough at night.

Mahmud’s father was killed in an Israeli air strike last year, one of over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza who have been killed since the war began in October 2023. As his mother’s eldest child, Mahmoud feels a deep sense of responsibility to provide for his family.

Before the war, Mahmoud attended school and was considered one of the top students. However, with the destruction of schools and the dire economic situation in Gaza, he is now forced to work instead of study. The United Nations reports that over 97% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and most children have had limited access to in-person learning for more than two academic years.

The economic situation in Gaza has collapsed, with a gross domestic product (GDP) down 83% compared to the pre-war period. The lack of electrical power and the loss of breadwinners due to the war have led to situations like Mahmoud’s.

According to Yaqeen Jamal, an educational psychologist who has provided psychological support to children during the war, “What we are witnessing in Gaza is not merely child labor. It is the systematic destruction of an entire generation’s future.”

Source: Al Jazeera