Back to school in Gaza: Learning in tents after years of disruption
After nearly three years of disruption, children return to school in Gaza in makeshift spaces with scarce resources.
Gaza City – Early on Saturday morning, Rana Totah held her two sons’ hands as she walked them to school in al-Katiba, Gaza City, watching them return to a routine they had almost forgotten.
For Totah, 30, the morning was more than the first day of a new school year. It was a return to family life interrupted by nearly three years of war and displacement after Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Displaced from Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood to al-Katiba in western Gaza City, Totah spent the previous night preparing her children for their first day back in face-to-face education.
“We have taken a good step and opened the school year. We are returning to normal life, to education. The student has the right to learn and to sit at a school desk.”