RAMALLAH: The 2024-2025 new school year started today in the schools of the West Bank, while the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has deprived school and university students from joining the educational process for the second year.
More than 806,360 male and female students are enrolled in 2,459 public, private and UNRWA schools in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and are being educated by 51,447 male and female teachers.
In the Strip, the occupation’s aggression has deprived more than 630,000 male and female students of their right to education since October 7, 2023, in addition to more than 58,000 who are supposed to join the first grade in the new academic year, in addition to 39,000 who did not take the high school exam.
The war on Gaza left more than 25,000 children dead or wounded, including more than 10,000 school students, amidst the destruction of 90% of the 307 government school buildings.
The majority of the schools run by UNRWA (about 200) in the Gaza Stri
p were turned into shelters for the displaced people, and 70% of them were bombed, some of which were completely destroyed, while others were severely damaged. According to UNRWA, four out of every five school buildings in Gaza were directly hit or damaged.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA