Martyred, detained, or displaced: Half of Palestine's students will not graduate this year

This year marks the first time that Palestine’s General Secondary Education exams, also known as Tawjihi (general examination), are being held without the Gaza Strip since the 1948 Nakba.

Nearly three weeks ago, Palestinian schools began their exams. Tawjihi exam results represent a pivotal moment in the lives of young Palestinians. Cities and villages across Palestine celebrate the results with large festivities. Graduates and their families spill into the streets as if it were a collective, national wedding.

For the first time since the 1948 Nakba, Palestine’s General Secondary Education exams, also known as Tawjihi (general examination), are being held without the Gaza Strip

But this year is a year of sorrow. Palestinian records reveal that 56 percent of Palestine’s students are deprived of education—either having been martyred, injured, displaced, detained, or besieged in Gaza and the West Bank.

According to the Ministry of Education, Israeli forces have killed 430 highschool students in Gaza and another 20 in the West Bank since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza.

Additionally, 350 teachers have been killed or injured, and 12,500 students have been wounded. This includes 2,500 students who have become disabled or an amputee.

Thirty-nine thousand students in Gaza are struggling to survive by themselves, after having been deprived of a full year of school.

Palestinian records reveal shocking figures: 56 percent of Palestine’s students are deprived of education—either being martyred, injured, displaced, detained, or besieged in Gaza and the West Bank.

Gaza’s students deprived of right to education

Yara Al-Astal is a high school student from Khan Yunis who achieved an outstanding 99 percent score in her exams last year.

During last summer's vacation, she prepared for the Tawjihi exam, dedicating two hours of study every day to achieve her dream of securing a scholarship to study medicine abroad.

"School resumed for only one month, then the war broke out, and everything stopped," Yara tells Raseef22.

"The start of the exam period in Palestine, as we were deprived of taking them, was one of the most difficult moments for me during this war. Now, I follow news about the exams in the West Bank through social media and eagerly watch televised reports where students discuss their reactions after completing exams. If I had been able to sit for the exams, I would have excelled in both physics and biology, and would have been able to achieve my dream."

Yara has been displaced three times with her family. Before leaving her home for the first time last December, she brought a few of her school books and notebooks along, which she felt were important and something she’d eventually need.

Yara is her family's first joy—the eldest daughter. She says she had been planning a big celebration upon completing high school and passing her exams.

"Our hearts sank. I don't know what to think. I know my dream. It has always been clear to me—I want to study medicine, if I remain alive and well," Yara says sadly.

According to the Ministry of Education, Israeli forces have killed 430 highschool students in Gaza and another 20 in the West Bank since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza. Additionally, 350 teachers have been killed or injured, and 12,500 students have been wounded. This includes 2,500 students who have become disabled or an amputee.

Yara says that while she could have been living a normal school life and taking steps toward her lifelong dream, she was sleeping in a tent flooded with rainwater in the winter and sweltering with heat and insects in the summer.

This is the case for thousands of students who have also lost their schools in Gaza. Israel damaged approximately 307 schools in the region, while completely destroying 62 schools, according to the Ministry of Education.

Khaled Quzmar, the general director of Defence for Children International—Palestine (DCI-Palestine), tells Raseef22: "The right to education is not safeguarded for Palestinian students, and it is almost lost as per the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child."

"We have recorded and are recording hundreds of violations of educational rights in the West Bank. When it comes to Gaza, since October 7, 2023, there has been a systematic, continuous, and wide-ranging violation against Palestinian students and the educational process."

"School resumed for only one month, then the war broke out, and everything stopped. Our hearts sank. I don't know what to think. I know my dream. It has always been clear to me—I want to study medicine if I remain alive and am okay"

Raids and arrests in West Bank schools

"The occupation authorities continue to detain about 40 high school students from the West Bank in their prisons, in addition to hundreds of cases of arrest and detention of students from schools and universities during the ongoing genocide," the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement.

The statement noted that this figure does not include Gazan students who have been subjected to arrest or forced disappearance in occupation prisons.

Amani Sarahneh, the media spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, informs Raseef22: "The arrest of students comes within a context of a systematic policy that not only forcibly removes students from their classrooms but also from their families and homes."

"These students are subjected to complex crimes and violations that do not end with the arrest process. Some students were summoned, while others were beaten and tortured during the arrest process."

Sarahneh emphasizes that Israel has arrested students who were wounded, or are simply related to someone murdered or wounded by occupation forces.

She also highlights that the current situation, characterized by ongoing war, has deprived student prisoners from completing their educational process behind bars.

"I am unable to think about the future. I don't know what I want. I hope our efforts won't be wasted and that this war will end".

Previously, adult prisoners took on the task of organizing lessons for student prisoners before the war, but these initiatives have been completely lost since October 7.

Raiding schools or preventing students from attending their schools is a recurring incident that no force or authority has stopped.

Last week, Israeli occupation forces closed a checkpoint in the village of Beit Iksa northwest of Jerusalem. As the only entrance to the village, this prevented high school students from leaving the village to take their Tawjihi exams.

Occupation forces besieged this village with the apartheid wall. Isolating it from the West Bank, occupation authorities seized part of its land to establish the Ramot settlement.

This is the case for dozens of Palestinian villages facing rampant settlement in the West Bank, where local families and their students pay the price.

"In many cases we have documented, students are arrested on the first day of Tawjihi exams or the day before and released after the exams end, aiming to deprive the child of an entire academic year. This policy not only applies to high school students, but also to young children arrested to deprive them of their right to education," says Sarahneh.

Going to school has become a “dangerous adventure”

High school student Maryam Wshahi lives in the Jenin refugee camp, where daily invasions and raids by the Israeli army have occurred since the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza. Maryam describes their Tawjihi journey as “a dangerous adventure.”

Speaking to Raseef22, she says her school is located outside the camp. The trip to school normally takes no more than ten minutes. However, due to the condition of the streets destroyed by the occupation, the trip now takes twice as long.

Sometimes, raids carried out by the Israeli military occur while Maryam is on her way to school to take exams. "At those times, we don't know where to go.”

"Once we were suddenly surrounded by the military near a shopping complex. Another time, I was trapped with six other students near a location where Israeli special forces were present. We were terrified. I believe our school uniforms protected us during those moments," adds Maryam.

“No one could have imagined that a student's journey to school to take their Tawjihi exam would require international intervention, UN missions, and international bodies and agencies to carry out the necessary arrangements and coordinations.”

Maryam's mother, Ghada, recently gave birth. One day, she needed to go to the hospital. However, the occupation prevents ambulances from entering the camp during its invasions. The ambulance team had to walk on foot to take Maryam and her mother to the hospital. While they were walking, Israeli soldiers randomly fired shots in their direction.

As Maryam framed it, "I am unable to think about the future. I don't know what I want. I hope our efforts won't be wasted and that this war will end."

Maryam's mother says the conditions in the camp are extremely difficult. "I am a long-time resident of the camp, and I can say that what we are going through now, we hadn’t even experienced during the Intifada," she tells Raseef22.

"Maryam is our first joy in the family. We are trying to support her. But the frequent invasions and raids, accompanied by power cuts, restrictions on movement, night curfews, and prevalent fear, make everything very complicated."

Who protects their right to education?

Khaled Quzmar explains that Palestinian students in the West Bank and Gaza live in a constant state of instability and lack personal security.

"In Gaza, for example, children expect to die at any moment. How would their mental state be when their thoughts are limited to staying alive? The situation in the West Bank is also harsh, where the occupation violates their rights on a daily basis," Quzmar confirms.

He points out that the uniqueness of the situation in Palestine makes it almost unprecedented globally.

“No one could have imagined that a student's journey to school to take their Tawjihi exam would require international intervention, UN missions, and international bodies and agencies to carry out the necessary arrangements and coordination," he says.

“The uniqueness of the situation in Palestine makes it almost unprecedented globally. In Gaza, for example, children expect to die at any moment. How would their mental state be when their thoughts are limited to staying alive? The situation in the West Bank is also harsh, where the occupation violates their rights on a daily basis."

Nonetheless, an important question arises: Is there a local entity capable of protecting the right of students in the West Bank and Gaza to education? Sadiq al-Khudour, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, tells Raseef22: "When suitable conditions arise, Tawjihi students in Gaza will be compensated, even if it requires holding a special academic year."

He explains that the Ministry of Education is operating according to an emergency plan in collaboration with its main partners: UNICEF and the World Bank. The plan will be implemented as soon as the war ends.

"The ministry's plan is based on four pillars, including comprehensive field surveys and assessments of the extent of damage, providing temporary spaces until schools are rebuilt, compensating for educational losses, and providing psychological interventions," al-Khudour elaborates. He emphasizes that mental health is a fundamental factor in the return plan and in supporting students in their recovery from the war.

These plans, however, may seem minimal compared to the grave crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against childhood and children in Palestine.

Crimes that can not be compensated.