Education in tatters: Gaza teachers fight to get children into makeshift classes


Nagham Mohanna
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  • Arabic

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Last September, Mahmoud Shreim was checking his school supplies ready to start his last year of high school. Just over a month later, his education lay in tatters, a calamity faced by hundreds of thousands of Gaza's children, who now seem set to enter a second school year without formal teaching.

Pupils and non-governmental organisation staff say they have not heard of concrete plans to continue education this school term, despite in August the Palestinian Ministry of Education saying it aimed to resume classes in Gaza on September 9. The ministry said students would be taught in a mix of online learning and in tents.

“There has been no announcement or plan from the Ministry of Education about how to compensate students and integrate them to ensure that they don’t lose a year of their lives,” Mahmoud Shreim, from a student from Gaza city's Al Tuffah neighbourhood said. “All the previous years of studying will go to waste without completing my last high school term.”

We don’t have any answers for them but we are working to let students to keep studying
Mustafa Abu Amra,
Arabic teacher, UNRWA school

An estimated 630,000 pupils have been denied access to education since Israel began its strikes and ground offensive last October. Gaza's residents have been forced to flee time and again, each time with fewer and fewer possessions. Some worry that the delay in their children's education will leave them lagging behind their counterparts in the occupied West Bank with no plan on how to catch up.

However, some are less concerned with academic pursuits in favour of helping Gaza's children recover mentally and physically from a year of war that is still raging.

“The war has had a negative impact on our students' psychological well-being; they are much more aggressive now. At this time of year, these students should be in their classrooms, studying normally,” Mustafa Abu Amra, an Arabic teacher who used to work at an UNRWA school.

“Students are suffering from many things, including a lack of education, nutrition, and security – all of which have negatively affected their learning,” he said.

Mr Abu Amra is now volunteering in educational tents set up inside shelter centres to keep students active and busy by teaching them Arabic, maths and English, in lieu of an official curriculum. He says pupils are worried they will not be able to graduate after missing a year of schooling.

“All the students’ questions are if they have lost the last year, or will the ministry make them a plan that can help in counting their previous year with the current year. We don’t have any answers for them but we are working to let students to keep studying,” said Mr Abu Amra.

He said he was in contact with international organisations to try to offer some education.

A man takes cover as an Israeli strike reportedly targets a school in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city. AFP
A man takes cover as an Israeli strike reportedly targets a school in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city. AFP

“I had hoped that the war in Gaza would end by now and a special programme would begin to make up for what we lost last year, so we could catch up with our peers in the West Bank,” Mahmoud, who has ambitions to study abroad and become a PE teacher, told The National.

UN workers also appear to be in the dark about this year's school term. UNRWA spokeswoman Inas Hamdan told The National that “there are no plans for the current education year in Gaza”.

Um Motaz Kaloub, who lives in a tent in Khan Younis's Al Mawasi, is desperate to save her five children's education. Her eldest should be in the 9th Grade, while her youngest is supposed to be starting 1st Grade this year.

“We have to save the students; they are completely devastated. They've already lost one year, and there's uncertainty about this year too,” Ms Kaloub told The National. She said the tents that have been established to teach children are helpful but not sufficient. Instead, she said children are spending their time baking bread, washing clothes and filling water bottles for their families.

“The students go the tents mainly to pass the time, not to study seriously,” said Ms Kaloub. “They need to return to school and be engaged in a structured programme, waking up early, studying and coming home with homework – to keep their minds active.”

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Results

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 32mins 03.897sec

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) at 0.745s

3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 37.383s

4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 46.466s

5.Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 52.047s

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 59.090s

7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 1:06.004

8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:07.100

9. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:25.692

10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:26.713,

Company profile

Company: Verity

Date started: May 2021

Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif

Based: Dubai

Sector: FinTech

Size: four team members

Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000

Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors

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Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo

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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

RESULT

Australia 3 (0) Honduras 1 (0)
Australia: Jedinak (53', 72' pen, 85' pen)
Honduras: Elis (90 4)

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Desert Warrior

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Director: Rupert Wyatt

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Director: Jon M Chu

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Rating: 4/5

THE SPECS

Engine: 3-litre V6

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 424hp

Torque: 580 Nm

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Gulf Under 19s final

Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B

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Price: from Dh362,500

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The Cockroach

 (Vintage)

Ian McEwan 
 

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Company%20Profile
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How to keep control of your emotions

If your investment decisions are being dictated by emotions such as fear, greed, hope, frustration and boredom, it is time for a rethink, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, says.

Greed

Greedy investors trade beyond their means, open more positions than usual or hold on to positions too long to chase an even greater gain. “All too often, they incur a heavy loss and may even wipe out the profit already made.

Tip: Ignore the short-term hype, noise and froth and invest for the long-term plan, based on sound fundamentals.

Fear

The risk of making a loss can cloud decision-making. “This can cause you to close out a position too early, or miss out on a profit by being too afraid to open a trade,” he says.

Tip: Start with a plan, and stick to it. For added security, consider placing stops to reduce any losses and limits to lock in profits.

Hope

While all traders need hope to start trading, excessive optimism can backfire. Too many traders hold on to a losing trade because they believe that it will reverse its trend and become profitable.

Tip: Set realistic goals. Be happy with what you have earned, rather than frustrated by what you could have earned.

Frustration

Traders can get annoyed when the markets have behaved in unexpected ways and generates losses or fails to deliver anticipated gains.

Tip: Accept in advance that asset price movements are completely unpredictable and you will suffer losses at some point. These can be managed, say, by attaching stops and limits to your trades.

Boredom

Too many investors buy and sell because they want something to do. They are trading as entertainment, rather than in the hope of making money. As well as making bad decisions, the extra dealing charges eat into returns.

Tip: Open an online demo account and get your thrills without risking real money.

Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.

The specs: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT

Price, base / as tested: Dh259,000

Engine: 6.4-litre V8

Power: 475hp @ 6,000rpm

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Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km

'Brazen'

Director: Monika Mitchell

Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler

Rating: 3/5

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Meydan Racecourse racecard:

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 1,900m

7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m

7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) Dh265,000 1,600m

8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) Dh165,000 1,600m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh265,000 2,000m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m

10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,600m.

RESULTS

6.30pm Handicap (TB) US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

Winner Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)

7.05pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,410m

Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.

7.40pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner Switzerland, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

8.15pm Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m

Winner Lord Giltters, Adrie de Vries, David O’Meara

8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.

9.25pm Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,400m

Winner Land Of Legends, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor

10pm Dubai Dash Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,000m

Winner Equilateral, Frankie Dettori, Charles Hills.

Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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WandaVision

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany

Directed by: Matt Shakman

Rating: Four stars

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'Nope'
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Updated: September 04, 2024, 6:06 AM