Basal and other teachers came up with the idea of setting up an educational tent for the students who lost their academic year due to the ongoing war.
The genocidal Israeli war on Gaza has blocked all aspects of life, including education.
Israeli bombardment completely destroyed a large number of universities and schools, while the remaining schools turned into shelters for hundreds of thousands of displaced people who fled from the relentless Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestine Chronicle spoke with Iman Basal, a teacher from the village of Al-Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip.
Basal fled to the displacement tents after their family house was bombed and all the houses in their village were destroyed.
After a long period in the encampment, Basal and other teachers came up with the idea of setting up an educational tent for the students who lost their academic year due to the ongoing war.
Teachers in Tents
The first educational center was set up in the tent of another teacher, Ikram Ahmed’s tent. Students went there to follow classes at fixed hours every day.
In the beginning, there were about ten students but after a month, the number of students increased to over 200.
“The initiative has expanded. I teach English, and my colleague teacher Ikram Ahmed teaches mathematics. Teacher Hanin Al-Zurai teaches Arabic, and teacher Dina Al-Zurai supervises my teaching for the elementary stage and coordinates the lessons in the educational tent,” Basal told The Palestine Chronicle.
“When we started, we noticed a delay in the students’ ability to stay focused due to the conditions of the war,” she said.
“However, after more than three months, students are beginning to return to their academic level prior to the war.”
Constant Fear
Basal told us that they face multiple challenges every day: the temperature in the tent is unbearably high, and students are sitting on the sand.
“We have found great moral support from the students’ families. Education is a priority for us, in the Gaza Strip,” Basal said.
“However, the students’ families struggle with difficult financial and living conditions. Even providing notebooks, pens or chalk is difficult, these days,” she added.
The major problem, however, is the small size of the tent.
“Over 200 students, from first to seventh grade, are amassed in 20 square meters,” Basal told us.
Additionally, incessant Israeli airstrikes continue to target all areas of the Gaza Strip.
“Israeli forces bombed many houses adjacent to our displacement camp. The students and their families live in a constant state of fear,” she added.
All the teachers expressed their wish for the war to end soon, for the students to return to their classrooms, and for the Palestinian Ministry of Education to be able to salvage the academic year in the Gaza Strip.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Abdallah Aljamal is a Gaza-based journalist. He is a contributor for The Palestine Chronicle from the Gaza Strip. His email is abdallahaljamal1987@gmail.com
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