You won't find traditional bells ringing or shiny new desks waiting for the roughly 541,000 students heading back to class in the Gaza Strip. Instead, children sit directly on bare mattresses or dirt inside makeshift canvas tents, balancing cardboard notebooks on their knees. After nearly three years of continuous war that completely shattered the local education infrastructure, the Palestinian Ministry of Education reports that formal learning spaces are almost non-existent. UNICEF estimates that close to 98 percent of school buildings have suffered damage since October 2023, leaving a massive generation fighting to reclaim an education under the constant threat of military strikes.
If you are wondering how children manage to study when over 93 percent of schools need major reconstruction or complete rebuilding, the answer is grit born out of sheer desperation. Classes often run restricted hours—frequently from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.—due to looming security hazards like shelling from the sea. Teachers like Nesma Nahid Abu Asim instruct sixth graders in cramped tents with zero stationery, no textbooks, and no chairs. Parents carry water alongside backpacks, knowing that the simple act of sending a child to a learning tent comes with unimaginable risks.
The Scale of Lost Education
The numbers behind this educational crisis are staggering. Around 700,000 children aged four to 17 have lost close to three full academic years of formal instruction. Out of that total, approximately 420,000 kids haven't stepped foot in a real classroom once since the conflict escalated.
Before these temporary tent schools materialized, education happened informally through scattered volunteer efforts whenever safety allowed. Families displaced from areas like the Zeitoun neighborhood to makeshift camps in western Gaza City had to prioritize basic survival over grammar or algebra. Now, institutions like the Ahbab-Shujaiya school near the Gaza City port serve hundreds of children from multiple displacement camps. First and second graders sit entirely on the ground, tracing letters onto scraps of cardboard because paper and pencils are luxury items.
What Happens When Classrooms Are Targets
You have to look past the inspiring headlines about children returning to school to see the grim reality on the ground. Infrastructure destruction isn't just about broken concrete; it represents the systematic erosion of a generation's future. Schools that used to provide safe havens, hot meals, and psychological stability are now either flattened ruins or crowded shelters housing displaced families.
Principal Inaam al-Batrikhi points out that basic supplies like notebooks and desks are desperately missing. Worse yet, with seasonal shifts on the horizon, rainy weather threatens to wash away the fragile tent setups entirely. Education shouldn't look like an emergency relief operation, yet in Gaza, it's the only option left.
Stop treating this as a temporary setback or a heartwarming tale of children overcoming the odds. This is a profound systemic crisis where hundreds of thousands of students study under tarps while the world watches. Support grassroots educational initiatives, demand independent humanitarian access for school supplies, and refuse to look away from what remains of Gaza's classrooms.
Palestine, children return to class amid ongoing Israeli attacks
This video documents the thousands of Palestinian children returning to makeshift classes despite continuing military attacks across the Gaza Strip.
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