Back to school in Gaza: Learning in tents after years of disruption

Early on Saturday in al-Katiba, western Gaza City, parents escorted children back to in-person lessons that had been interrupted for almost three years by war and mass displacement. For families such as Rana Totah’s, the first day of the new school year felt like a return to routine: Totah dressed her sons, brought them to the tented site and described the morning as emotionally significant after long periods when survival needs took priority over schooling. During the conflict the family relied intermittently on volunteer-led informal learning, but attendance was irregular and children often performed household tasks instead of studying. The Gaza Municipality opened a provisional school area made up of about 10 tents to allow face-to-face teaching to resume, but conditions remain austere. Teachers like Nesma Nahid Abu Asim are teaching on mattresses and using whiteboards while students sit with notebooks on their laps. Abu Asim, who worked for the Ministry of Education before the war and now teaches through a UNICEF-supported programme, said pupils frequently arrive without basic stationery, textbooks, desks or chairs and that the constant threat of renewed violence is the greatest risk to sustained education. Official figures show a partial return to education across the territory: the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education reported about 541,000 students returned to education when the new school year opened on September 19. In January the ministry had recorded 317,332 students attending face-to-face spaces and another 120,000 enrolled in virtual schools taught by West Bank-based teachers. Despite the resumption of some in-person classes after an October 2025 ceasefire, violence has not ended; the report notes Israeli bombing continued and that two students were killed earlier in the month. Humanitarian agencies warn the physical impact on Gaza’s education infrastructure is extensive. UNICEF estimates nearly 98 percent of school buildings have been damaged since October 2023 and over 93 percent need major rehabilitation or full reconstruction. Around 700,000 children aged four to 17 missed formal face-to-face schooling for almost three consecutive school years, with roughly 420,000 having had no face-to-face learning at all. Teachers and parents say temporary tented classrooms are a necessary short-term measure, but they call for schools to be cleared of displaced families and rebuilt so students can return to safer, more permanent learning spaces.