The 2023-2024 new school year started today in Palestine for some private schools while the remaining schools, public and United Nations-run schools, as well as more private schools, start their classes tomorrow and next week, according to the Ministry of Education.
The school year, which normally starts in the first week of September, started earlier this year due to threats of strikes by public school teachers who are demanding better pay.
Last year, a large number of teachers went on strike for more than two months, and this year, the teachers said they will give some classes to the students until the end of the month to see if the Ministry of Finance will honor the government agreement with them from last year and increase their salaries before they announce their next protest steps, which include a general strike, if the agreement is not honored.
Teachers at the 487 private schools, where almost 150,000 students study, and teachers at the 384 schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied territories, where about 343,000 students study, are not participating in the strike.
The school year in the Gaza Strip starts on the 26th of this month, said the Ministry of Education.
Some 55,000 teachers are employed in 2,364 public schools throughout Palestine where over 915,000 students study.
Less fortunate students from dozens of Bedouin communities in the West Bank will not be able to attend schools at the moment after the Israeli military demolished several of their schools, the latest was Ein Samiya school, located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military control and where soldiers and settlers come together to terrorize these communities and force them to abandon their homes and land and re-locate to safer areas.
