With a Turkish contribution…the opening of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq School in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza policy

Educational officials and activists inaugurated the “Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq” field school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, to constitute an important step in the process of ensuring the comprehensive return of students to in-person education, and breaking what academics describe as the “policy of ignorance” that the Israeli occupation is trying to impose by targeting the infrastructure of educational institutions.

In the courtyard of the alternative school built of wood and tents, voices of thanks and appreciation rang out for all the supporting parties that contributed to the reconstruction of this temporary edifice, most notably the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation.

From inside the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq School, its administrators sent a message of thanks to the supporting parties, led by the Turkish Authority, which contributed to establishing field schools to support the education sector in Gaza.

The Director of the Directorate of Education in Eastern Gaza, Engineer Nayef Al-Hasayna, confirms that the extent of the destruction that befell schools is unprecedented, noting that more than 95% of the region’s schools were completely or partially destroyed.

Al-Hasayna said that the remaining schools were no longer available for education, after they were turned into centers to shelter the displaced, explaining that the educational departments no longer found sufficient classrooms to accommodate the students.

He added that the return to education began during the war through e-learning, then moved to volunteer initiatives carried out by male and female teachers inside shelter centers, by establishing temporary educational points, before the phase of establishing field schools began after the truce under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and the East Gaza Directorate.

In the east of Gaza City, where the greatest destruction occurred, the Muscat Field School bears witness to the attempt to revive the educational process, after the original school was completely destroyed during the war, turning tents and wooden rooms into a temporary alternative that preserves the right of thousands of students to learn.

Al-Hasayna pointed out that this school was a distinguished educational edifice before the war, but it was completely destroyed, which prompted a search for quick alternatives. Schools made of tents and wood were a temporary solution to return students to their seats.

He explained that the goal is to completely restore facial education, which requires establishing more field schools and equipping them with school furniture and basic supplies that students need.

Model of partnership

During the opening of the Muscat School, an educational official confirmed that the project represents a model of partnership between the Ministry of Education and local community institutions, including the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, with the aim of providing an educational environment for the people of the region.

He said that the school currently receives more than a thousand students, with expectations that the number will increase during the new academic year, which requires increasing the number of classrooms and providing seats, blackboards, lighting and ventilation.

He added: “Our message is that we will not stop. Even if the bombing continues, we will continue teaching. In the tent we will not stop, in the wooden rooms we will not stop, and in any place that provides shelter for our students we will continue, to resist the policy of ignorance that the occupation seeks to impose on this generation.”

For his part, Hossam Al-Nabahin, representative of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, said that the organization inaugurated this new educational edifice made of wood in the areas north and east of Gaza City, to contribute to the continuation of the educational process despite the destruction of schools.

Al-Nabahin explained that the project comes within a series of relief and educational projects implemented by the Turkish Authority in Gaza with the aim of alleviating the suffering of students and supporting the Ministry of Education in light of the difficult circumstances and the siege imposed on the Strip, noting that this school is the second that the Authority has implemented with this wooden model.

In one classroom, the usual details of school life returned; A teacher explains to students the properties of a rectangle and a square, and mathematical questions are repeated again inside a makeshift classroom.

The teacher asks about the length of the opposite side in the rectangle, and the students answer in unison, before she continues her explanation about the equality of opposite sides and the measurement of right angles, then she moves on to explaining the law of the perimeter of a square.

Here, the class is not just a mathematics lesson, but rather an attempt to prove that education in Gaza is still continuing, despite the destruction, and that field schools are trying to be a bridge that returns children to their seats and gives them the opportunity to continue learning.