Gaza Strip: Students Could Miss Second Year of School, UNICEF
UNRWA school at Gaza wich served as humanitarian refugee bombed by the Israeli Army. Photo: EFE
September 10, 2024 Hour: 3:18 pm
Children in the Strip have lost their homes, their families, their friends, their security and their routine, said Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
On Tuesday, UNICEF warned that some 650,000 children and adolescents in the Gaza Strip today face a high risk of losing their second year of school because of the ongoing Israeli aggression.
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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stressed in a statement that most of them were displaced from their homes and face a daily battle for survival.
The new school year was due to start Monday across Palestine, but did not resume in Gaza, “where the intense conflict continues to have a dramatic impact on students, teachers and schools,” it said.
The agency stressed that for young people, the interruption of their education has created uncertainty and anxiety.
“Without schooling, they are at greater risk of exploitation, child labor, early marriage and other forms of abuse, and most importantly, they are at risk of dropping out of school permanently,” it warned.
In the case of the youngest children, he noted, the absence of schooling jeopardizes their cognitive, social and emotional development.
Children in the Strip have lost their homes, their families, their friends, their security and their routine, said Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The agency said children and adolescents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were also affected.
Increased violence and restrictions on movement since the beginning of the current wave of violence in October 2023 created new barriers to learning for the 782,000 students in the area, it said.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, more than 30,000 children and young people were killed or injured in the coastal enclave in the past 11 months.
In addition, at least 353 public schools and universities and 65 others affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East were bombed.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: Aljazeera - UNICEF