On Sunday, 03 October 2010, the Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights Unit in the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
(PCHR) organized a workshop titled “The Impact of the Siege on the
Educational Process in the Gaza Strip.” It was held in al-Quds International Hotel in Gaza City, and was
attended by representatives of civil society organizations and employees of
public education sector, non-public education sector and private education
sector.

The workshop was opened by Mr. Khalil Shaheen,
Director of PCHR’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Unit. He emphasized PCHR’s interest in following up
the impacts of the Israeli siege on the situation and future of the educational
process in the Gaza Strip under the ongoing siege, which undermines efforts to
reconstruct educational establishments, and the severe shortage of educational
facilities and institutions in the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Jaber Weshah, Deputy Director of PCHR,
welcomed the participants. He indicated
that holding the workshop is part of the coordination efforts made between PCHR
on the one hand and educational institutions and civil society organizations on
the other hand, as well as, part of efforts to follow up all issues related to
the lives of a large segment of civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially with
the beginning of the current school year 2010/2011.

In his presentation titled “The Impact of
the Siege on the Public Education Sector,” Dr. Khalil Hammad, Deputy
Director of Supervision and Training in the Ministry of Education in Gaza,
addressed human and material losses of the public education sector in the Gaza
Strip due to the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. He was concerned over the siege imposed on
the Gaza Strip, which hinders the development of the public education sector
and its institutions. Dr. Hammad
presented statistics relevant to the amount of destruction caused to the
infrastructure of the public education sector and its institutions during the
Israeli offensive. He also pointed out
that the Ministry of Education is unable to meet the students’ needs, including
offering new facilities, classrooms and books.

In the second presentation titled “The
Impact of the Siege on Education Sector in UNRWA,” Dr. Iyad Nasser, Human
Rights Advisor in UNRWA, explained the concept of siege imposed on the Gaza
Strip, which includes a complete closure of its land and sea terminals, in
addition to destroying its only airport. He added that UNRWA is in a bad need for the construction of 100 new
schools. The funds needed for their
construction is available; however, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) prevent
the entry of construction materials into the Gaza Strip. Finally, Dr. Nasser talked about the impacts
of the siege on the education sector and the whole educational system in the
Gaza Strip.

In his presentation titled “The Impact of
the Siege on the Private Education Sector”, Mr. Nash’at al-Hamarnah, Head
of Private Education Association, tackled the losses caused to the private
education sector in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli offensive. He also highlighted the conditions in the private
schools and kindergartens and stoppage of construction and development
projects, including the inability to build any new classrooms or repair
children’s toys. Al-Hamarnah presented
some statistics indicating a decrease of students registered in private schools
or kindergartens due to the deteriorating economic and social conditions in the
Gaza Strip.

Mr. ‘Azzam Sha’at, a researcher PCHR’s Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights Unit, had a presentation titled “The Impact of
the Siege on the Reconstruction of Education Sector in the Gaza Strip.” He referred to the most prominent
international standards relevant to the right of education, and tackled the
impact of the siege on the efforts exerted to reconstruct and develop the
infrastructure of the public education and higher education sectors.

A discussion was made by participants who made a
number of interventions and raised a number of questions. In conclusion, the participants recommended
the following:

· Calling upon
all parties, which supervise the education sector, to join efforts in order to
develop the education sector in a way that improves the quality of the
educational environment and achieves tangible results at the level of
educational outcomes.

· Emphasizing
that the Israeli siege, including the denial of entry of construction materials
needed for education sector, is an Israeli systematic policy, whose purpose is
to make the Palestinian people illiterate. Besides, they called upon the international community to act to stop
that policy and open all the Gaza Strip’s border crossings.

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For more information, please contact the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights at [email protected]
or +972-(0)8-282-4776.