The Hamas Movement has strongly denounced UNRWA for its decision to postpone the start of the school year for Palestinian students in Sidon City and the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon until further notice.
In a statement on Wednesday Hamas warned that the UNRWA’s decision would harm the Palestinian students in Sidon and Ein al-Hilweh camp and would worsen the social and economic suffering of the Palestinian community in Lebanon and lead to more complications.
The Movement called on UNRWA to immediately reverse its decision in this regard and work on resuming the academic year in the affected areas.
&ldquoWe&rsquod like to remind UNRWA that there are many social and educational institutions that are capable of helping it resume the school year and serve the community&rdquo the Movement underlined.
UNRWA said last Tuesday that it would postpone the academic year for over 11000 students in Sidon and Ein al-Hilweh camp in southern Lebanon until further notice.
The UN agency made the decision on the grounds that armed groups still occupy the UNRWA schools in the area after recent clashes between the Fatah Movement and local gunmen
UNRWA further said it was monitoring the situation to secure suitable educational spaces for all students in the camp to start the academic year as soon as the situation allows adding that it would keep parents of students informed of any updates later.
&ldquoThe militants still control all eight UNRWA schools in the camp which were subjected to major damage and destruction while the schools in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon are sheltering displaced families&rdquo Dorothee Klaus director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon said.
&ldquoThe schools in the vicinity of the camp must be safe so that children can attend&rdquo she added stressing that enabling more than 11000 UNRWA children in Sidon to obtain education is a top priority for the agency.
