GAZA, (PIC)
The ongoing Israeli war of genocide against the Gaza Strip, which began 8 months ago, has deprived high school students from taking the exams that qualify them to enter universities.
This year, high school students in Gaza will not be able to take this exam for the first time since the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, due to the repercussions of the ongoing Israeli aggression, the destruction of the infrastructure of schools and educational facilities, the absence of working staff, and the transformation of schools into shelters.
The participation of some students is limited to the Palestinian embassies in the countries that some Gaza students were able to travel to during the war, and the fate of the students will be considered after the end of the war and the clarification of the fate of the educational process.
The student Al-Tayyib Samih will not be able to take the high school exams this year due to the genocidal war in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 7th, when the educational process was completely suspended since then.
Al-Tayyib himself hopes for the end of the war before the complete dissolution of the academic year, which seems to be impossible along with the impossibility of conducting the exams.
The student tells the PIC correspondent that the loss of this academic year will lead to the loss of a full year of his life without a horizon for what the next academic year will be like.
Furthermore, the Director General of the Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, says that the genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation army has wasted the academic year on school and university students, as it continues to bomb schools and universities, and has destroyed the future of the students in a way that shows and reveals the brutality of the occupation and its practices.
He adds in a press statement that the genocidal war led to the total destruction of 103 schools and universities, and the partial destruction of 309 schools and universities, and the cold-blooded killing of more than 10,000 male and female students in schools and universities, without guilt.
He stresses that the greatest damage fell on high school students, considering that it is an important stage and transfers students from basic education to university education, i.e. the future. Accordingly, about 40,000 high school students in Gaza were affected by this brutal war waged by Israel.
Student Moaz Al-Hajj feels disappointed at not being able to take the General Secondary Education Examination, due to the ongoing destructive Israeli war.
Al-Hajj, a resident of Khan Yunis, is experiencing severe psychological impacts since the start of the Israeli war and the suspension of the educational process, especially as he had dreams of excelling in secondary school and obtaining a high average that would qualify him to enroll in medical school.
Al-Hajj, who scored 98% in grade 11 in the scientific stream, says, “I had a lot of hope and ambition to enroll in medical school after passing the secondary exams scheduled for next June, but because of the war, our dreams and aspirations have been shattered. What we wish for now is the end of the war.”
He adds to our correspondent, “Before the war, we used to study at home safely and calmly, but the war has turned things upside down, and we are no longer studying well.”
The student was unable to keep his school books and educational notebooks due to the bombing of his family’s home in eastern Khan Yunis by the occupation army.
He continues, “We are living in a tent that lacks the basic necessities of life in the city of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, under the severe heat, and we obtain water and food with difficulty. Instead of studying, I daily gather firewood to cook food.”
According to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the number of students registered for the General Secondary Education Examination from the Gaza Strip was only 1,119 students (out of about 40,000 secondary students in Gaza).
The ministry previously confirmed its commitment to holding a special session for secondary students in the Strip upon the end of the Israeli war and the completion of the prescribed educational material.
The Israeli war on Gaza has left more than 116,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, mostly children and women, and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that have claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues this war, ignoring a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, and orders from the International Court of Justice calling on it to stop its attack on Rafah and take immediate measures to prevent genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
