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4.2 Keeping Education Going in Gaza
92 Plays4 days ago
Manar Alzraiy, a Palestinian education professional dedicated to resilience and equity in crisis-affected schools, brings together her colleagues from Gaza to talk about education since October 7 2023, how Israel's war on Gaza and forced displacement has destroyed the education sector, and what is needed to rebuild it both physically and intellectually. These interviews took place in the summer of 2025.
Manar Alzraiy is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and an education professional from Gaza, where she worked for ten years with UNRWA. At LSE, Manar conducted research on embedded inequalities in how United Nations humanitarian principles are applied in UN schools in Palestine. She is currently a fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Dr Alaa Ali Aladini is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction (TEFL). He has over 23 years of experience with UNRWA-Gaza, serving as an English teacher, educational supervisor and education specialist. Dr Aladini brings extensive expertise in language education, teacher training and inclusive education.
Asma Mustafa is an English language teacher who received the title ‘Global Teacher of the Year 2020’ from the AKS Education Award in India, and the title ‘Palestine’s Innovative Teacher of the Year 2022’ for her applied eTwinning approach in English language teaching.
Dr Mohammed Awad Shbeir holds a PhD in Educational Administration. He is also an education supervisor as well as an academic and educational researcher specialising in education and social issues.
To find out more about Manar's work: https://afsee.atlanticfellows.lse.ac.uk/en-gb/fellows/2023/manar-alzraiy.
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Transcript
Introduction to Season 4
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Welcome to Season 4 of Instant Coffee. I'm Nadine Almanasfi and this season we're very excited to be collaborating with our colleagues at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, based at the LSE International Inequalities Institute.
00:00:17
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This season's focus is a question.
Exploring Social Change in the Middle East
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What does it take to affect meaningful social change in the Middle East? We thought what better way of exploring this question than by speaking with Atlantic Fellows past and present who are from the Middle East.
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These activists and practitioners from the region have come to the LSE to dedicate a year to academic research, thinking through how they can find sustainable strategies for social change. The episodes that follow explore questions such as how to build transnational networks of solidarity across the Middle East, what it takes to keep education going during the recent war on Gaza, and much more.
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All episodes have been co-curated with Atlantic Fellows Past and Present based on their spheres of activism and thinking. They have invited friends, colleagues and guests to highlight the challenges facing their communities, the work being done and future thinking.
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Based at the LSE International Inequalities Institute, the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity is a fellowship programme for mid-career social change leaders who are working to tackle inequality.
Challenges in Gaza's Education Sector
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In this episode, Manar Azraei, a Palestinian education professional dedicated to resilience and equity in crisis-affected schools, brings together her colleagues from Gaza to talk about education since October 7, 2023.
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How Israel's war on Gaza and forced displacement has destroyed the education sector and what is needed to rebuild it both physically and intellectually. Now, Manar will take over and share the conversations she had with her fellow educators from Gaza.
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Hello, my name is Manar Izri'i. I'm an education professional from Gaza, where I worked for 10 years with ONRWA. Just a few weeks before the war began, i miraculously left Gaza to join the London School of Economics, where I conducted research on embedded inequalities and how the United Nations humanitarian principles are applied in UN schools in Palestine.
00:02:05
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I am currently a fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and from this position I continue to follow what is happening in Gaza with deep personal and professional concern.
The Genocide's Impact on Education
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What is unfolding there is a genocide, systemic famine, mass death and destruction, forced transfer and occupation. In education, this has meant the deliberate dismantling of schools, the killing of children, teachers and education professionals.
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and trauma beyond description. For this episode, I invited representatives of teachers and education professionals to speak directly about the situation. Reaching our guests was extremely challenging.
00:02:46
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Many are displaced and some even lost family members during the period of preparing this recording. With communication so limited, we relied on low-tech methods,
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guests sent their voice notes over WhatsApp. In some recordings, the hum of drones overhead can be heard, a stark reminder of the environment in which learning and life itself now takes place.
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Each guest brings a unique perspective. Together, their testimonies reveal both the scale of destruction and the extra extraordinary resilience of Gaza's education community.
00:03:22
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I first started by asking my colleagues to describe the situation on the ground in Gaza. These recordings were sent in July and August. For me, as someone who worked for over 22 years in honor of our schools, as both an English teacher and later as an education specialist or educational supervisor overseeing three major educational areas in the Gaza Strip, I can say with deep sadness that this time destruction has been beyond repair.
00:03:57
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Dr. Alaa Al-Odaini is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction. He has over 23 years of experience with UNRWA Gaza, serving as an English teacher, educational supervisor and education specialist. Over 85% of honorable schools have been either destroyed or severely damaged. Many of our students and colleagues, teachers, principals, administrative staff have lost their lives. Gaza's education system, which once managed to recover after each crisis, now faces a level of devastation we had never
Schools as Shelters and Psychological Impact
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imagined.
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When we get back to the wars, the previous wars, in 2008, 2014, 2021, we faced immense challenges, but we always managed to resume education fairly quickly. ah During the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020, we transitioned to online platforms, supported both students and teachers' well-being, and made sure learning continued.
00:05:05
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But this time, even that was not initially possible. During the first year of the ongoing war, there was no formal schooling at all, not even online.
00:05:17
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Dr. Mohamed spoke to us in Arabic. He described the conditions of teaching at present. I will summarize his responses in English after we hear from him. Dr. Mohamed Shabir holds a PhD in Educational Administration. He is also an Educational Supervisor After 7 October or harbi seven october hean taalla minhaitl hasenha iahait in iberdi an italian fi philist stream of viobaas zahabla harb either le miia con bessur al wadia and it in
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The study of Islam is just study of many them, but it has a in and to in students
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Dr. Mohamed explains that after October 7, education in Gaza shifted from a state of fragility to a state of genocide. Even before the war, the situation was far from ideal. Today, 90% of schools are destroyed.
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The few that remain standing are being used as shelters. Classrooms lie in ruins, and in makeshift learning spaces, students sit on empty aid cartons instead of desks.
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He concludes that the very image of what a school should represent has collapsed in the eyes of children. Teachers themselves have lost their homes family members, Dr. Muhammad says. Many are sole survivors of their families.
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teachers themselves have lost their homes and family members dr mahoed says many are sole survivors of their families <unk> will not follow him except the aran if you ha it in eberda a heyro and mayhaibn satatshher elf pa philstini whattiujara halet eberda taallimania alju again hasil jaa fellmo ali ja waaan li pali je air feel will sier pa mujawa Dr. Mohamed spoke about the human cost. 16,000 children have been killed.
00:07:53
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Famine is slowly taking more lives. And those who survive sit in classrooms on empty stomachs taught by hungry teachers. He adds that among the living, 39,000 school-aged children have been orphaned, 17,000 of them having lost both parents. He says that at least 800 teachers and education professionals have been killed.
Education Amid Trauma and Community Efforts
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he adds that among the living thirty-nine thousand school-aged children have been orphaned seventeen thousand of them having lost both parents he says that at least eight hundred teachers and education professionals have been killed italian further roof likes a faha saba and hetaana will just see a be who identity had The is a a
00:09:01
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Dr. Mohamed explains that in such conditions, education is not only logistically and technically impossible, but also psychologically unbearable. He asks, how can a child who has witnessed killing and destruction and lived in constant fear be expected to focus on lessons? Classrooms have therefore transformed into spaces of psychological first aid, he says.
00:09:26
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where the priority is social-emotional learning and psychological support to help students ease, even slightly, the effects of deep trauma. Dr. Mohamed talks about how schools transform into spaces of psychological recovery, an issue also brought up by Asma Mustafa, a teacher in Gaza.
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The children are deeply traumatised. They are facing um a trauma, a very huge trauma caused by the everyday suffering they are facing.
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Asmaa Mustafa is an English language teacher who received the title Global Teacher of the Year 2020 from the AKS Education Award in India and the title Palestine's Innovative Teacher of the Year 2022 for her applied e-twinning approach in English language teaching.
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How can a child who can, who who have already watched their houses be bombed or lost a parent, focused in an English class or mathematics class?
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Still the teachers are trying. Sometimes we teach in tents. sometimes on a sidewalk or even in the the corners of shelters. Some teachers are teaching on a rubble.
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I often teach my my daughters using a flashlight or the dim glow of my phone screen. The psychological impact on children and teachers in Gaza comes up repeatedly in our conversations.
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In fact, UNICEF recently reported that 100% of children in Gaza need mental health and psychological support. In my work, I have seen that in contexts of extreme violence and disruption, educational outcomes cannot be separated from mental health.
00:11:13
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Trauma directly affects children's ability to learn and teachers' ability to teach. This makes psychological support and social-emotional learning not just beneficial, but essential.
00:11:26
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In Gaza, classrooms have become spaces for psychological first aid where learning and emotional recovery happen together. helping students and teachers navigate the daily realities of fear, loss, and displacement.
00:11:41
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We asked our guests to talk about the biggest challenges that they have faced in keeping education going in Gaza. Dr. Mohamed explains that one of the greatest challenges in Gaza is a psychological toll both on students and teachers.
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The same thing is the self-reportation, so that a a he you to
00:13:18
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This is in and in egyptb mm s i laaba car herramoli melon a a big challenge.
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How can a teacher deliver a math lesson while living in a tent without water, food, or medicine? Despite these unimaginable conditions, Dr. Mohamed says that education continues, even at minimal levels, often through popular or community-driven learning efforts.
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Every day in the field, we witness the acute psychological effects of trauma and grief, extreme fear, depression, psychological fatigue, bedwetting, behavioral issues, self-harm or aggression, and separation anxiety.
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He reports that the scale and intensity of these issues in Gaza are like anything seen elsewhere because of the magnitude of the catastrophe these children and teachers have endured. He asks us to imagine children who have witnessed homes being bombed, bodies scattered among the rubble, and in the face of such horror, return to class the next day.
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He also draws a horrifying image. Imagine one of these children approaching a teacher to ask for help finding their lost father, or to write a letter to their mother who was killed.
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They had students who were amputees asking when their missing foot will grow back. Dr. Mohamed says they often feel helpless confronted with such painful and impossible questions.
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I think one of the hardest challenges has been displacement, being forced to leave our houses again and again. i was displaced nine times till now. And I know my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors. Some of them were displaced like 15 times till now. You know, when you when you are displaced, you can't carry everything. You can only carry what you can fit in a small bag.
00:15:13
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Carrying a whole house in a small bag is very, very hard mission for us and sad experience. I've had to teach children in shelters, temporary shelters, and more than once we have had a suddenly stop a lesson because the area was under threat of of bombing and under threat of evacuation.
00:15:36
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Linked to the tragedies of trauma and displacement, Dr. Alaa talks to us about the connectivity challenges and how educators alongside ANRWA have sought to resolve these problems.
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with Gaza divided into unstable zones on the constant rate internet access, which is limited actually to slow 2G signals and electricity actually is scarce.
00:16:04
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Charging devices or staying online for long enough to teach for teachers or to learn for learners or students, um it became nearly impossible sometimes. The communication has been adapted. the education department turned to WhatsApp because it is light, accessible and widely used even in the most difficult conditions.
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And yet, even with WhatsApp, many teachers couldn't reach consistently to the education. ah Many families were displaced multiple times.
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This is one of the reasons. Another reason is the children who were traumatized, actually, and there was no stable learning environment. To tackle this, um the education department of Illinois launched flexible academic framework.
00:16:55
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Teachers who made what is called the contact lists and then WhatsApp groups and things like that. So um they coordinated with administration in order to get emergency plans. and also they coordinated with the educational supervisors. They only taught what is called the essentials or the basics in order to ensure that all students could a grasp the basics so of education, even in a fragmented conditions. Also the academic year.
00:17:24
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The education department here reframed again the the year which was flexible for the students and to get their assessments as soon as they get internet connection. Another major challenge actually that teachers or the supervisors or even the educators face was the psychological exhaustion among both students and teachers. Many had lost their families or family members or were dealing with ongoing trauma. So this was really shifted to what is called the priorities first. Before focusing on the academic performance, and the focus was on the wellbeing and the human connection of the teachers and the students.
00:18:07
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Teachers were encouraged to check in on their students emotionally, not just academically. Even a simple voice note saying, I'm here for you you, are not alone, really made a difference.
00:18:19
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What kept educators going or education going was the spirit of the community. Teachers who had lost everything still showed up in WhatsApp groups. Also parents turned their tents sometimes into classrooms. Children shared learning cars with their siblings, even the devices, by the way.
00:18:40
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It was not actually about the academic perfection. It was about keeping the flame of learning alive, no matter how small.
Storytelling as a Tool for Safety and Learning
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As we think about what is necessary to create a meaningful education system in Gaza, both now and in the future, I ask my colleagues to speak about some innovative and informal education initiatives that have made a real difference.
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Yes, there is one initiative that stands out to me. I remember the date exactly, the 4th of November, 2023, when I directly stood up from the rubble.
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I survived literary. Then I decided to go to an honorable school, which was a shelter. I stayed in the library with my family. The colorful books and a stories attracted me.
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I read most of them. I classified them into two groups for two different groups of children. young children and older children, and then I decided to tell the children around me a story every day. And this was the name of my initiative, and it is a still till now continuing with the children around me in every place I am displaced to.
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I gathered the first day three children. The next day i dedicated a corner for the children More than 50 children came running to me in order to listen to the story and dancing with me, playing with football.
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It was a wonderful session. I still remember the reaction of the children and their parents clapping their hands, jumping around me and dancing with their children. I still remember a mother who cried very much.
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She left an effect inside me and it was a strong message. Asma, do not stop doing this with our children.
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That's why I continued and I am still continuing doing the same with the children around me. I buy stories when whenever I displaced into another place and I can't find stories, I buy them. I downloaded from the internet. My colleagues and and partners all around the globe sent me some links in order to provide me with with the stories, in order to save my time and battery of cell phone.
00:21:16
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to keep continuing telling the children stories and teaching them by telling stories. Sometimes we did drama, sometimes we danced, sometimes we played with football and many, many wonderful games.
00:21:32
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What made this work wasn't resources, it was the intention, it was the hope, it was... You know, when you look to the eyes of a child in front of you, dying and starving, exhausted, doing nothing in life, losing his or her time for nothing, you feel that you have to do something. It's your duty to do something.
00:22:01
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Those sessions gave the children a sense of routine and safety and a world turned upside down. Some kids would run to me in the morning just to make sure that they didn't miss the class.
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I am so happy of this. I feel that I am really alive because I'm doing something for them. It wasn't just a class for me, for the children, for the parents, for the displaced people, for the displacement camp.
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as a whole. It was a pocket of peace and love and hope. It was a light of hope in the middle of genocide, in the middle of horror and fear.
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That's why I decided to take them away from fear and the sounds of rockets and bombs around them. But how do we continue to move children away from rockets and
Future of Sustainable Education Systems
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fear? As Asma said, our final question to our colleagues in Gaza was to ask them what needs to change locally and globally to support a more sustainable and empowering education system for Gaza students.
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Okay, so um regarding the change that should be done locally and globally to support sustainable educational system in Gaza. So this is really vital and timely question. So looking ahead, the first and most pressing change we need both locally and globally is shift in the mindset. We can no longer treat education in Gaza as a temporary service delivered between woes. It must be recognized as a protected right, a lifeline for children, and a long-term investment in peace, stability and justice. The education system in Gaza does not just need to be rebuilt, it needs to be reimagined. This is here the most important part of education. Locally, the priority must be building a system that is flexible, trauma-informed, and community-anchored. The current model where schools, students, teachers are routinely displaced and disconnected demands a new thinking.
00:24:16
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We need to invest in alternative educational models that can survive under extreme disruption that means expanding the concept of education beyond classroom walls through mobile learning centers, learning kits, and home-based community groups. These solutions should be formalized and integrated into the system, not just created as emergency patches. Also, are the teachers, we as educators here and the stakeholders, we must also train teachers not just to teach content, but to navigate crisis. Professional development needs to include the trauma
00:24:53
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sensitive pedagogy, remote teaching strategies, and the skills in community outreach. Our teachers have a proven time and again, that they are capable of extraordinary things, but they need the tools, support and recognition to do this work sustainably.
00:25:15
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Additionally, Gaza needs a decentralized communication network for education. In this war, we saw how WhatsApp became the main classroom. Let's learn from that. So um education authorities should develop low-tech offline compatible platforms that don't rely on high-speed internet. WhatsApp and learning cards and sometimes printed emergency kits should become a standardized components of the curriculum ready to be activated anytime formal schooling is interrupted.
00:25:49
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the public level, we must first look at as as of the we Dr. Mohamed recommends that at the local level, education should not be seen merely as a service sector, but as an existential right and a fundamental requirement for Palestinian national resilience. Rebuilding schools must be a first priority, not only physically, but also in their content and approach. Schools should be designed to withstand crises, both structurally and intellectually, enabling them to continue operating even in the most difficult circumstances.
00:26:45
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The power of the system is in have and
00:27:05
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We need to raise the government's authority through the participation of the community the community, in in He adds that we also need to expand community-based learning and build on existing educational initiatives that filled the gap during the crisis when formal education could not operate as usual.
00:27:42
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He stressed that community learning should not be treated merely as an alternative during war and emergencies. but as a fundamental component of the education system. This approach has proven to be more flexible, closely connected to the students' realities and better able to respond to their needs, particularly in conflict-affected zones.
00:28:02
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Dr. Mohamed confirmed that we need to strengthen community readiness through genuine participation and support, accountability, planning and coordination, as well as policymaking. There should be no detachment between communities and formal educational institutions. Instead, They should function as partners, collaborating closely in policy development and decision-making processes.
00:28:24
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Actually, to build a sustainable education system in Gaza Strip during the genocide or after, i hope it will be soon, the day after genocide, let me let me tell you something. The first thing, the first the most important thing we need is protection. No child of teach or teachers should ever have to fear being killed in a school. or I mean the international community must not only declare education as a right, it must ensure it's a protected right people, it's a protected right.
00:28:59
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We also need a serious investment in digital education including an infrastructure for remote learning that actually works during emergencies.
00:29:09
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We really need globally real partnerships Not just temporary projects for two or three months, sometimes for two weeks.
00:29:21
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They are not useful much. We need long-term commitment. We need a permanent permanent safe educational areas for the children, for the teachers. We need to protect them.
00:29:38
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ah Global solidarity and advocacy must amplify the voices of Gaza's educators and students. Too often, the narrative of Gaza is framed around destruction, but we need the world to see the other side, the creativity and innovation.
00:29:54
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To truly support Gaza or Gaza students, we need to listen to them. include their perspectives in shaping the future of education, give them space to lead, to express and to rebuild.
00:30:10
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And finally, we need to move from empathy to action, from statements of concern to policies of support, from temporary solutions to lasting commitments.
00:30:23
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Gazette children have his dreams, ambitions and limitless po potential. They deserve more than survival. They deserve an education system that gives them the tools not just to cope, but to create, to build the future they imagine even in the face of unimaginable hardship.
00:30:46
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That's what sustainability and education means for Gaza. It's not just about reopening schools, it's about making sure that no matter what happens, learning never stops and hope never dies.
00:31:04
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Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Coffee, brought to you by the LSE Middle East Centre. To learn more about Manar, Alaa, Asma and Mohamed's work, follow the links in the podcast description.
00:31:16
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In next week's episode, AFSI fellow Diana Magdi speaks to Professor Huda Sadda about what feminist approaches to archiving can tell us about organising for women's rights in the future.