UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : Gaza education update

Brutal Gaza war erased years of progress on education, in an “assault on the future itself” – UNICEF

Restoring Gaza’s shattered education system is “lifesaving” and getting children back into schools must be an immediate priority, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

“Almost two and a half years of attacks on Gaza’s schooling have left an entire generation at risk,” warned UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.

Mr. Elder stressed that in the devastated enclave, 60 per cent of school-aged children have no access to in-person learning and more than 90 per cent of schools have been damaged or destroyed.

“Before this war on children, Palestinians in Gaza had some of the highest literacy rates in the world,” the UNICEF spokesperson insisted, adding that education was “a source of pride, resilience and progress for generations.”

“Today, that legacy is very much under attack,” he said. “Schools, universities and libraries have been destroyed, and years of progress have been erased. This isn't just physical destruction. It is an assault on the future itself.”

Almost half of the Strip’s population is under 18.

Mr. Elder said that working with the Palestinian Ministry of Education, the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and other partners, UNICEF is scaling up its “Back to Learning” programme in the Strip to reach 336,000 children this year.

Restoring education services “must sit at the very top of Gaza's recovery agenda,” he said, explaining that UNICEF’s learning centres provide safe spaces in an “often inaccessible and dangerous” territory, connecting children to health, nutrition and basic services including sanitation.

Mr. Elder called the demand for spots “overwhelming,” adding that each learning centre has “long waiting lists.”

“When I was in Gaza two weeks ago, I had dozens of parents outside learning centres pleading for places for their children,” he said.

The UNICEF spokesperson underscored the relatively low cost of getting one child into a UNICEF learning centre – “just around $280 for a year, including mental health support,” he said.

“To reach 336,000 children for the rest of this year, UNICEF urgently needs $86 million. $86 million, to put in some sort of global perspective, is roughly what the world spends on coffee in an hour or two,” he insisted.

Tents make up many the new temporary classrooms, “which means in winter they're cold… in summer they'll be scorchingly hot,” Mr. Elder explained.

Getting children back to learning immediately is often “under canvases in community centres… They can't wait for that brick and mortar,” he added.

Mr. Elder also stressed the urgent need to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza. Rafah has been mostly closed since May 2024 and was meant to reopen during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took hold in October last year. The UNICEF spokesperson called Rafah a “lifeline” for medical evacuations, family reunification and essential services.

On Monday in New York, the UN spokesperson said that Secretary-General António Guterres urgedall parties to move forward “in good faith, and without delay” with subsequent phases of the US-led ceasefire plan, including facilitating sustained and unhindered humanitarian access, notably through the Rafah crossing.

Israel has reportedly agreed to reopen the crossing once the remains of the last remaining Israeli hostage is Gaza have been retrieved. According to reports on Monday, the body of Ran Gvili, who was among more than 250 Israeli and foreign nationals abducted by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during their attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, was recovered.

UNICEF’s Mr. Elder said that he has daily contact with Palestinians who are “desperate” for the Rafah crossing to open.

“How many families have been separated?” he asked. “There is a great desperation in a personal sense for families,” he concluded.

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