Hundreds of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip returned to in-person schooling on Saturday for the first time in nearly three years, as the 2026–2027 academic year began in temporary schools and educational centres, some set up inside tents and metal and wooden structures. The return came amid widespread damage to educational infrastructure, shortages of basic supplies and a sharp rise in stationery prices.
Education authorities expect at least 540,000 students to enrol in in-person education this year, either in available schools or temporary centres and sites. Online education is continuing for children unable to reach classrooms, as well as for students who left the Strip during the war.
Temporary educational sites opened for children
The Education Ministry, with support from international and local organisations, has begun operating dozens of temporary sites to return children to education. Some classrooms have no more than mattresses for pupils to sit on and a blackboard, while others have been set up on sandy ground or inside temporary structures. Some schools are still being used as shelters for displaced families.
Ibrahim Ramadan, director of education in eastern Khan Younis, said reopening schools marked a milestone after years without regular in-person classes. He said the conflict had killed about 22,000 male and female students and more than 770 education workers, including 532 male and female teachers. Students' accounts reflect a mixture of joy at returning to school and the difficulties surrounding it.
Muayed Abu Mustafa, from Khan Younis, said: “The last time I went to school was three years ago. Now the new academic year has begun. A year of joy, a year of happiness, a year of success.” But Abu Mustafa pointed to the limited resources at the site, saying: “Even though we study in tents, there is no ventilation or anything, and no desks; we sit on mattresses...
There are no notebooks or pens at all... Despite that, we will study, and we will study in a tent.” His account reflects the reality at several sites that opened despite lacking desks and the usual school equipment. Displaced 15-year-old student Samar Abu Salmi also returned to the classroom after a period in which she followed lessons by phone.
She said: “Before the war, we used to study, and now we want to fulfil our dream,” explaining that her family could no longer afford notebooks, pens, clothes and other necessities that had been available before the war. The challenges are not limited to a lack of equipment, as students also spoke of security fears accompanying their journey to study sites.
Fourteen-year-old Yamen Abu Samra said: “Before the war, we used to wake up happy and go to school... Now we come to school afraid of stray bullets, rockets and shells.” Abu Samra added that the classroom where he studies lacks electricity, power generators and solar panels, describing the conditions inside it as follows: “There is nothing in it at all, nothing but sun and heat.”
Rubble hazards hinder students’ access
In these circumstances, students have to attend lessons at sites without ventilation or power sources. The large quantities of rubble spread across the Strip make it more difficult to reach educational sites. Estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, indicate that Gaza has around 60 million tonnes of rubble, with some areas possibly containing explosive remnants, adding risks to the routes children take to reach their schools and temporary centres.
Alongside damaged buildings and fears associated with the journey to school, families are facing a major increase in the cost of school supplies, as war, displacement and the loss of sources of income have weakened their ability to provide their children with basic necessities.
Rising stationery prices burden families
Supply shortages have also driven up the prices of notebooks, pens and other stationery items. Khaled Alyan, a 30-year-old stationery trader, said import restrictions had caused shortages and higher prices. He added: “This notebook used to cost three shekels; today it costs 15 shekels. All stationery items are expensive.”
This damage explains the education authorities’ reliance on tents and temporary structures, alongside the continuation of online education for those unable to reach classrooms. Children are beginning the new academic year at sites unlike the schools they knew before the war, amid the effects of displacement and the loss of friends and teachers.
Amid tents, damaged buildings and rubble, reopening classrooms represents an attempt to restore regularity to the education process, while keeping distance-learning options available for children outside Gaza or unable to reach study sites.
