More than one million Palestinian students left their homes on Wednesday heading to their schools. Some of them were able to arrive but others were not. Some of them had to endure great suffering on their way while others had no seats to sit on as they arrived.
Occupation poverty deteriorating infrastructure separation wall and Gaza siege are five nightmares that pose an obstacle to providing a safe and comfortable educational environment for Palestinian students.
A sixth challenge has recently emerged after Gazan teachers were affected by the punitive measures the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority had decided to launch against Gaza employees which included imposing deductions on their salaries and forcing thousands of them into early retirement.
Child Ahmad Badran from the city of Nablus always dreamed of his first day at school and imagined scenes he used to watch in cartoons where a student goes to school on his bicycle or just takes the school bus. He thought that once he arrives his teacher will greet him at the door with a smile and embrace him making all his fears fade away. However what happened with Ahmad on his first day was shocking!
Blocked movement
In the presence of his mother who kept wiping his tears Ahmad said “I woke up early put on my school uniform which my mother prepared last night took my sandwich and rushed to the school bus.” After a moment of silence and with eyes filled with tears he added “The Israeli soldiers prevented us from going to school.”
Ahmad’s mother said that the bus supervisor told her that the Israeli soldiers erected a checkpoint and blocked the movement of buses in an attempt to ruin children’s joy on their first day of school.
She continued “The supervisor told me that Ahmad and his friends did not give up and tried to go to school on foot but the separation wall killed their dreams for the second time.”
It seems that Ahmad will be witnessing this scene many times since Israel realizes that educated Palestinians pose a “big danger” its expansionist settlement project.
A student without a seat
On the other side of the Palestinian territories the Gazan child Saed Kmail was able to go school but could not find a chair to sit on. The 11-year blockade has affected all aspects of life there including schools.
Looking at his son’s torn clothes and worn-out shoes in deep sorrow Saed’s father told the PIC reporter “Who among us likes to see his child looking this way on his first day of school?”
“I have been unemployed for years now. I live on charity. Don’t you think I succumbed easily to this situation. I refused to receive aid many times in the beginning then I had to accept it for the sake of my children” the grieving father continued.
The Popular Committee Against the Siege said on Tuesday that more than 80% of Gaza residents rely primarily on relief aid in light of the disastrous humanitarian situation plaguing the coastal enclave.
