For the first time ever, the Palestinian high school leaving exams – the tawjihi – are being limited to the occupied West Bank and not being held in Gaza.
Some 39,000 students in Gaza are being prevented from taking the exams during a school year that is considered essential in the education system. Sitting the tawjihi is a prerequisite for going to university.
Education has been disrupted in many other ways.
Students in schools and universities across Gaza have been deprived of a full academic year. Life has been put on hold.
Schools are not functioning as schools but as shelters for displaced people.
Theoretically schools enjoy protection under international law. Yet Israel has damaged or destroyed most of Gaza’s schools…..more