STORY: Gazan children forced to study in tents amid conflict
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 9, 2025
DATELINE: Jan. 10, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:52
LOCATION: GAZA, Palestine
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Palestinian students taking lessons in tents
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): FARIDA AL-GHOUL, Math teacher in Gaza
3. various of Palestinian students taking lessons in tents
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): NADDA AL-NAJJAR, Student in the tent school
5. various of Palestinian students taking lessons in tents

STORYLINE:

In the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where formal education has ground to a halt, Palestinian teachers are crafting makeshift classrooms in refugee camps, determined to prevent what the United Nations warns could become a "lost generation" of students.

Farida al-Ghoul, 30, a mathematics teacher now among Gaza's over 2 million displaced residents, spearheaded an initiative two months ago to establish tent schools in Deir al-Balah's overcrowded displacement camps.

These provisional classrooms focus on fundamental subjects -- mathematics, Arabic, and science -- offering a lifeline of education to children cut off from formal learning since the conflict erupted.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): FARIDA AL-GHOUL, Math teacher in Gaza
"After more than a year of genocide in the Gaza Strip, children have forgotten what education is and what schools are, as these aspects have been marginalized in the Gaza Strip. Therefore, through this initiative, we are trying to restore a small part of the concept of school for students in the Gaza Strip. There are many challenges and difficulties, but this does not mean that we stop even if the war continues, and this is in all areas, not just the education sector."

The challenges are enormous. Students sit cross-legged on the ground, with few notebooks or writing materials to go around. Lessons are primarily oral, relying heavily on repetition and memorization. Yet for many students, these bare-bones classes provide a crucial link to normalcy.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): NADDA AL-NAJJAR, Student in the tent school
"We are forced to study inside tents because the Israeli army bombed schools and turned the remains of them into refugee centers, so we were forced to study in tents. I hope that the war will end and schools will return."

The educational collapse in Gaza is staggering. According to the United Nations, half of all school-age children are enduring their second consecutive year without formal education. A report from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) warns that the war could push Gaza's education system back by half a decade.

The physical infrastructure of education has been decimated. According to Gaza education authorities, at least 352 schools have been damaged in the fighting, with most remaining buildings converted into shelters for the displaced. The Palestinian Education Ministry in Ramallah reports that more than 4,000 students and teachers have been killed since the conflict began.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaza, Palestine.
(XHTV)