New school year kicks off in Palestinian territories amid security challenges
The new school year kicked off in Palestinian schools across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Monday amid political and security challenges.
Earlier this month, Israel launched a three-day preemptive military campaign against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza, killing at least 49 people, including 17 children, according to figures released by the Hamas-run health ministry.
In a bid to reintegrate the children into the educational process, clowns carried out psychological and recreational activities in some government schools for students who lost their friends in the latest military conflict.
The Hamas-run education ministry said that the first week of school will start with some educational programs for psychological support for the children.
Nine out of 10 children in Gaza have been subjected to suffering from some form of conflict-related trauma, according to a report issued by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in 2021.
The same challenges have been experienced by the West Bank-based students who were subjected to daily raids by the Israeli army.
During a new school opening ceremony in Ramallah on Monday, the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye told reporters that his government called the new school year the « Year of Sovereignty of Education in Jerusalem. »
SOUNDBITE (Arabic): MOHAMMED ISHTAYE, Palestinian Prime Minister
« Today, about 1.384 million students have enrolled in schools in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, as well as the Palestinian schools in Türkiye, Qatar and various countries. Yesterday, we distributed about 10 million textbooks for all school grades that helped us to give each student his or her necessary textbooks. »
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