GAZA / PNN /

With schools and educational centres absent from several areas where Palestinians have been displaced, school principal Rana Muslim has launched a personal education initiative in the Al-Zawaida area to provide learning opportunities for displaced children, particularly those who fled northern Gaza after many were cut off from education for years.

Muslim said she noticed during her own displacement to Al-Zawaida that the area had no educational centres or schools for nearly three months. That prompted her to launch the initiative with a team of volunteers, including teachers and other education workers who had themselves been displaced from different parts of the Gaza Strip.

The initiative provides education from kindergarten through seventh grade and serves children from about seven displacement camps in the area, including children from northern Gaza. Some of them, Muslim said, have been unable to attend school for about three years.

The programme goes beyond academic learning. Muslim said it also includes specialists who provide psychosocial support sessions to help children cope with the pressures and psychological effects of war and displacement.

The teaching team includes volunteer women and men from Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, Gaza City, the Zeitoun area, northern Gaza and Jabalia. All have been working voluntarily for about three months, she said.

Challenges ahead of winter

The initiative faces a number of challenges, Muslim said, particularly the lack of adequate educational and logistical facilities as winter approaches. Classes are being held in tents and other spaces that are not properly equipped to accommodate children or provide a suitable learning environment.

The education centre needs stationery, desks, tents or properly equipped classrooms, as well as basic supplies to help children learn in safer and more appropriate conditions, Muslim said.

She said the initiative has attracted a large number of children. About a month and a half ago, organisers began a preparatory programme to help children regain basic educational and learning skills before formal classes began. Registration remains open as children continue to arrive from different displacement camps in the area.

A call for institutions to support the initiative

Muslim called on institutions and relevant organisations to adopt and support the education centre, helping ensure its continuity and expansion while improving the quality of education and psychosocial support available to children.

She also urged organisations to help provide the logistical and educational resources needed to sustain the programme.

The initiative aims to help children reach stronger educational levels while supporting their psychological recovery amid the difficult conditions in which they are living, Muslim said.

She stressed that sustaining the initiative will require institutional support to meet the needs of both children and the volunteer educators in the coming period.

This video was produced as part of the Media Support in Times of Crisis project, supported by the Palestinian Network and implemented in cooperation with Palestine Journalism Hub.