Securing education is vital for the reconstruction of Gaza
Friday 24 January is the International Day of Education.
CHILDREN IN GAZA have not been able to go to school for more than 15 months. In total, there are around 658,000 school-age children in Gaza. In addition, 95% of school buildings have been destroyed by bombing in the area.
“This is a collective failure to implement children’s rights. Every child has the right to education, regardless of the circumstances in which they live,” said Tomi Järvinen, Executive Director of Finn Church Aid (FCA).
Friday 24 January is the International Day of Education. FCA stresses that the recovery of the education sector must be high on the list of reconstruction needs in Gaza and adequate resources must be directed to it.
FCA’s work in Gaza focuses on education and psychosocial support. FCA is also exploring with its partners possible additional actions to respond to the humanitarian emergency in Gaza. Until the ceasefire agreement entered into force last weekend, humanitarian work in Gaza has been extremely difficult and dangerous. Due to widespread destruction, the delivery of aid remains very challenging.
During this year, 12,391 schoolchildren and more than 500 teachers and other education professionals have been killed in the war in Gaza. In addition, more than 20,000 students and 2,675 teachers have been wounded. The figures are from the Gaza Ministry of Education and are available on the website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
A ceasefire is only the first step. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, and the International Relief and Works Agency stresses the need to ensure adequate humanitarian assistance to the region.
“No child will immediately die for lack of education. That is why many humanitarian donors seem to think that you can get to school later, once you have met people’s needs for food, clean drinking water and shelter,” says Järvinen.
“But this kind of thinking is problematic for the realisation of children’s rights. Access to regular education provides security for the rest of their lives. It protects girls in particular from early marriage and motherhood, and all children from child labour in the extreme scarcity that follows crises.”
DESPITE CRISES AND WARS, parents around the world put children’s education high on their list of needs. This is also the case in Gaza, whose high level of education is reflected in the fact that more than 96% of the population was literate before the devastation caused by the war in recent months.
Ensuring education for Gaza’s children and youth is not only a right of individuals, it is essential for Gaza’s peaceful future. While a lasting calm and systematic reconstruction of Gaza is still somewhere on the horizon, there is an urgent need to make the education system work.
“If we look at the lifelong impact of humanitarian crises, school-age children have the most to lose.
For more information:
Country Director Sabina Bergholm, +358 40 669 3930, sabina.bergholm(at)kua.fi
Communications Specialist Elisa Rimaila, +358 50 599 6986, elisa.rimaila(at)kua.fi