Tents Standing in for Classrooms
Across the Gaza Strip, displacement tents have become makeshift classrooms, as teachers and volunteers work to counter what they describe as forced illiteracy imposed by the war. According to estimates from Gaza’s government media office, around 80% of educational facilities in the Strip have been completely or partially destroyed, turning what was once a matter of course — going to school — into one of the most complex challenges facing Gaza’s population. In the tents that remain standing, volunteer teachers hold lessons using whatever materials they can find, offering children a fragile foothold back into learning while formal school buildings remain in ruins or occupied by displaced families.
Shared Classrooms, Constant Noise, and Fading Motivation
In schools that have managed to reopen, students now share classrooms with dozens of displaced families still sheltering inside them, and the arrangement is straining everyone involved. One high school student described trying to focus on lessons while surrounded by the sounds of water trucks, food lines, and children crying nearby, saying the environment is simply not conducive to learning. Another student said the presence of displaced families in schools, despite their hardship, poses a major challenge to the educational process and directly affects the quality of teaching and students’ concentration.
Education officials say they are working with local governance bodies, municipalities, and civil society organizations to secure tents and alternative shelter for displaced families specifically so schools can be reclaimed and resume their educational function, while pursuing a mix of in-person classes in safer areas, hybrid models combining limited attendance with digital contact, and remote learning through platforms like WiseSchool and Teams. They have called on local and international institutions to help set up additional tents and mobile schools to ease the pressure on remaining facilities. Parents, meanwhile, describe children who have lost their old enthusiasm for school altogether, with the war reshaping their priorities toward basic survival needs rather than education, while registration fees, clothing, and other requirements remain out of reach for many families struggling just to get by — leaving teachers and relief workers warning that even once classrooms are rebuilt and supplies restored, it may take children a long time to psychologically prepare themselves to learn again after months spent overcrowded, cold, hungry, and afraid.
