Tue 4-February-2025

Gaza high school students anticipate final exams

Thursday 23-January-2025

GAZA, (PIC)

In our Palestinian culture, twelfth graders in high school, Tawjihi students, are given special attention and much concern from family members, friends, and even neighbors all year round.

But final exams period is an outstanding event for the whole community. Receiving phone calls each exam day is a common thing for the students, which constitutes a sign of care and moral support.

Therefore, a collective sigh of relief can be heard once the results of the exams are announced. Families of Tawjihi graduates hold celebrations at homes, streets, and even public places.

Tawjihi students in Gaza
Each year, Tawjihi students in the Gaza Strip suffer from the repercussions of occupation and siege. As the years go by, the intensity of the situations increases.

Border closure is the most common problem, leading to frequent electricity cuts and shortage of basic human needs, including food supplies and medicine.

Facing the pressure of this academic year alone is not common for Gaza students as layers of trauma are further created from occupation, siege, bombardment, and forcible displacement.

Gaza students are known for their resilience. Learning, for them, serves as a refuge away from the insanity of any escalating incidents.

On the level of my family, my parents have celebrated the results of seven Tawjihi students, my siblings and I, over the years. All of us have passed high school and joined universities in Gaza, cherishing our success in spite of such hard conditions.

Almost each Tawjihi year of ours was interrupted with an Israeli aggression, which made a brief pause in the academic year. However, in all cases, each one of us attended school and final exams and ultimately witnessed the exam results, relatively peacefully.

2023-2025 Genocide
When it was finally the turn for our youngest sister to be celebrated as a high school graduate, Israel decided to ruin everything. Genocide!

Misk, my youngest sister, was born in 2006, and chose the vocational branch in high school, specializing in graphic design. Her mission was to take her place in the labor market since an early age.

When she started her Tawjihi year back in 2023, none of us expected that her school year will turn from ‘2023-2024’ to ‘2023-2025’.

The massive Israeli genocide invaded Misk’s Tawjihi year only two months after its start.

Trapped in Gaza, Misk, along with thousands of students, is left with the question: “Why on earth should I be deprived of the mere experience of learning at a school?”

Since the start of the genocide in October 2023, access to schools has been denied. Forcible displacement is another story. Setting tents and staying there for an indefinite time was the resort for most of the displaced families. Our family was among them.

Learning without schools, shelters
The sun rose every morning and the moon kept changing its shape overtime. Life went on for the world. Even in other parts of our occupied hometown. Students in the West Bank attended schools, passed or failed the final exams, and eventually got their results.

Meanwhile, Gaza has been under the most brutal attack, with its educational sector deliberately targeted.

When we forcibly fled our home in the northern Gaza Strip, we could take only few things, some basic needs ‘to survive a couple of weeks until a ceasefire would have been reached’. Books, of course, were not the thought of Misk back then.

The Ministry of Education, once in September 2024, announced that Tawjihi students in Gaza should resume their studies, setting the due date of the final exams to February 2025.

But Misk wondered how should she return to studying, without a school. Without a decent shelter.

With not a single book or any access to internet, Misk had to study all her lessons by herself.

To start her journey anew, Misk had to download videotaped lessons for all her courses, as attending schools was not an available choice. Printing books was another necessity.

We have made a troublesome journey on a semi-daily basis to reach a place that provides a stable internet connection.

Damaged infrastructure and scarce fuel forced us to ride animal drawn carts.

Another misery Misk had to be tested with is staying in a crowded camp. If you share the same place, a tent, with nearly fifteen family members, can you get your tasks done?

Blurry future
Coping with life in a tent, trying to neglect the sounds of drones and bombing, and attempting to overcome the fear of losing beloved ones, Misk tried to occupy her mind with lessons and exams.

Although the ceasefire has finally come into force, it doesn’t put an end to the suffering. Our home in the north is gone.

“I need my room,” is all Misk says after all these months forced her out of it. We will be returning to the north, yet to the unknown.

Even when we go back, Misk will not find her teacher Samah and dozens of her friends whom Israel has killed.

Such a tragedy will leave an unforgettable scar in the heart and mind of my little Misk.

Still uncertain about things, Misk clings to hope that at least final exams will be in the north. Celebrating the results will be in the north, near home.

I hope, when we rebuild a home, Misk would cling to it more than ever. I hope she doesn’t wish to travel in search of better chances. May the homeland be safe enough, big enough to embrace her future dreams.

-Amna Shaban is a Gaza-based journalist. She contributed this article to the Palestinian Information Center.

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