Palestine Seeks Malaysia’s Continued Support For Education Recovery
By Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali
KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- With hundreds of schools and most university buildings in Gaza destroyed, Palestine is seeking Malaysia’s continued support to help sustain and rebuild its education system for hundreds of thousands of students affected by the conflict.
Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Amjad Barham said Malaysia’s assistance, including scholarships for Palestinian students and direct support for communities in Gaza, had helped ensure that education remained accessible despite the difficult conditions.
Describing the toll on students and teachers alike, Barham said some teachers in Jerusalem and the West Bank spend five or six hours at checkpoints just to reach their schools in the morning.
“We thank the Malaysian government and our brothers and sisters, the people of Malaysia, for their continued support for our students and children.
“We hope this support will continue, as we need more assistance for our students and children in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank,” he said in an interview on Bernama TV's programme, Bernama World, themed Palestine Beyond the Headlines: Education in Focus, aired on Thursday.
Amjad said Palestine’s education sector was facing a severe crisis, with nearly 293 government school buildings in Gaza destroyed over the past three years, leaving more than 700,000 students unable to attend school normally.
More than 80 per cent of university buildings in Gaza had also been destroyed, affecting over 82,000 university students, he said.
The crisis, he said, extended beyond Gaza, with students and teachers in Jerusalem and the West Bank facing checkpoints, road closures and restrictions that made travelling to schools and universities increasingly difficult.
Amjad said the Palestinian Authority’s financial difficulties had further affected the education sector, particularly its ability to pay teachers’ salaries, following Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues collected at the border.
“Teachers received only partial salaries, sometimes at intervals of 40 days or two months, over the past three years,” he said.
Despite the situation, Amjad said the ministry was working with the international community to establish temporary schools and learning centres in Gaza, with more than 3,000 teachers in the West Bank also delivering online lessons to students in Gaza.
The ministry had also conducted the Tawjihi secondary school examination for Palestinian students, including those in Gaza, with results for students from Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank expected to be announced on Friday.
The results would also cover students who had left Gaza and were currently residing in more than 46 countries, he said.
“We want to restore hope among them. Despite everything that is being done against Palestinian education, we will continue and restore the education system throughout Palestine,” he said.
At the university level, Amjad said some students in Gaza were attending classes in tents, while universities in Gaza and the West Bank continued offering online learning.
Palestinian universities were also working with academics from other countries to provide virtual laboratories, simulation facilities and online lectures.
“Efforts are being undertaken to restore face-to-face learning in buildings that remain usable and at temporary locations in Gaza,” he said.
More than 5,000 university students who had left Gaza for Egypt and other countries were also being assisted in completing their studies and eventually finding employment to support their families.
-- BERNAMA
