‘We want to get our lives back,’ Gaza children declare

UN News A teacher engaging with students in a classroom in Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA. After two years of war that kept them out of classrooms, Gaza’s children are finally returning to the classroom, surrounded by devastation – but determined to learn. “What we need now are notebooks, books, and pens. We want to get our lives back”, said one young Palestinian girl, Sham Al-Abd. She now attends the Deir al-Balah Joint Elementary School run by the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA).

Despite the old furniture and the few drawings that brighten the classroom walls at a school visited by our UN News correspondent, the children’s excitement to return there after months of seeking shelter from the bombs, remains undiminished. One of Sham’s classmates, Asil Al-Loh, spoke enthusiastically about how she felt: “We want to learn and play, and study all subjects as we did before. Now we only study Arabic, English and mathematics.”

Following the ceasefire in Gaza, UNRWA is working to restore a sense of normalcy in schools that had previously been used as shelters. Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, announced that the agency is expanding its “Return to Learning” programme in Gaza, offering both in-person and online education. At the Deir al-Balah Joint Elementary School, signs of transformation from shelter to school, are still evident. Our correspondent saw families cooking meals in the corridors, while tents still occupy the schoolyard.

When young student Shahd al-Bahisi returned to Deir al-Balah, she said she found the area “destroyed,” and that “many displaced people were still there.”

Read more>>

Source: The UN