RAMALLAH: On the International Day of Education, approved by the United Nations General Assembly, on the 24th of January of each year, to celebrate the role that education plays in achieving peace and development, it is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation deprives more than 625,000 students in the Gaza Strip of education due to the of aggression on the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7th.
Since the start of the aggression, the educational system has lost 4,551 students and 8,193 others were injured, including more than 4,510 dead and 7,911 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 41 students were killed in the West Bank and 282 wounded, in addition to 85 being detained. 231 teachers and administrators were killed and 756 were injured in the Gaza Strip, and 6 were injured and wounded, while more than 71 were detained in the West Bank.
Schools were turned into shelter centers, while 281 government schools and 65 affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) were bombed and vandaliz
ed in the Gaza Strip, which led to 83 of them being severely damaged and seven completely destroyed. 38 schools in the West Bank were stormed and vandalized.
The aggression against the Gaza Strip affected 90% of the government schools and educational buildings that were subjected to direct and indirect damage, in addition to 29% of the school buildings that could not work because they were subjected to total demolition or severe damage, while 133 government schools were used as shelter centers in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, 55 schools had to shift to e-learning because they were in areas of contact with the occupation army and colonizers.
In an infinite toll, the number of martyrs since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to about 25,450 martyrs, 63 thousand injured, the majority of whom are women and children, and thousands of victims who are still under the rubble and on the roads where they cannot be reached.
The number of students in the governorates of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip is more 1,400,000 students. Of these students, 915,327 students are in government schools in 3,642 schools. 342,955 students are in 384 UNRWA schools, while there are 149,870 students in 487 private schools.
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency