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![\"Palestinian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/408149.jpg\")
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\n Palestinian student Raghad Loai Mhanna, who passed her high school exams while living in a tent after being displaced during the war, sits inside her tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Oct.19, 2025. (Reuters Photo) <\/p>\n
The destruction \u201cis almost omnipresent wherever you go,\u201d Beigbeder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is impossible to imagine 80% of a territory that is completely flattened out or destroyed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
A U.S.-brokered cease-fire that took effect earlier in October has allowed UNICEF and other education partners to get about one-sixth of the children who should be in school into temporary \u201clearning centers,\u201d Beigbeder told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have three days of learning in reading, mathematics and writing, but this is far from a formal education as we know it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Beigbeder said such learning centers, often located in schools or near displacement camps, consist of metal structures covered with plastic sheeting or tents.<\/p>\n
He said there were sometimes chairs, cardboard boxes or wooden planks serving as tables, and that children would write on salvaged slates or plastic boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen everyone sitting properly,\u201d he added, describing children on mats or carpets.<\/p>\n
\u2018Inaccessible\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the cease-fire, Beigbeder said the situation for Gaza\u2019s education system was catastrophic, with 85 percent of schools destroyed or unusable.<\/p>\n
Of the buildings still standing, many are being used as shelters for displaced people, he said, with the situation compounded by the fact that many children and teachers are also on the move and trying to provide for their own families.<\/p>\n
Gaza\u2019s school system was already overcrowded before the conflict, with half the prewar population under the age of 18.<\/p>\n
Of the schools managed by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority alone, Beigbeder said about 80 out of 300 needed renovation.<\/p>\n
He said 142 had been completely destroyed, while 38 were \u201ccompletely inaccessible\u201d because they were located in areas to which Israeli troops have withdrawn under the cease-fire.<\/p>\n
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Oct. 18 that it was launching a \u201cnew e-learning school year\u201d with the aim of reaching 290,000 pupils.<\/p>\n
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused UNRWA of being a \u201csubsidiary of Hamas\u201d and said it would play no role in postwar Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u2018Lost generation\u2019<\/p>\n
Beigbeder said it was vital to put education \u201cat the top of the agenda\u201d and rebuild a sense of social cohesion for Gaza\u2019s children, almost all of whom are traumatized and in need of psychological support.<\/p>\n
UNICEF said one of the priorities was getting permission at border crossings to bring in materials to set up semi-permanent schools, as well as school supplies that have been blocked as they\u2019re considered nonessential.<\/p>\n
Israel repeatedly cut off supplies into the Gaza Strip during the war, exacerbating dire humanitarian conditions, with the U.N. saying it caused famine in parts of the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza since the cease-fire took hold \u2014 and no observable reduction in hunger.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you rehabilitate classrooms if you don\u2019t have cement? And above all, we need notebooks and books … blackboards, the bare minimum,\u201d Beigbeder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFood is survival. Education is hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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