Broken Budngs and Brused

Psyches Compcate Start of Gaza

Schoo Year
A dspaced Paestnan famy eats dnner at schoo operated by the Unted Natons.Wssam
Nassar for The New York TmesTHE NEW YORK TIMES | UPDATED:
SEPTEMBER 06, 2014 GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP: Here s the
vexng math probem educators n the Gaza Strp are tryng to sove n
order to start schoo Sept. 14, three weeks ater than orgnay schedued:
There are 500,000 students who were schedued to be dvded among 648
schoos, wth 421 of the budngs beng shared n doube shfts. But the
ghtng between Israe and Hamas over the summer eft at east 34
budngs damaged beyond use and dozens more n need of ma|or repar. An
addtona 31 schoos are st sheterng 59,728 resdents who ost ther
homes.
Now, the students must be sorted nto cassrooms, takng nto account that
thousands no onger ve where they dd ast year.
"Ths s the most chaengng year for us," sad Fard Abu Athra, head of the
educaton program for the U.N. Reef and Works Agency, whch runs
schoos for haf of Gaza's students. "We have a pan, but when we see facts,
t mght change. When our teachers face the students n the schoos, I thnk
we w know."
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Gettng students back to schoo s a crtca component n any communty's
return to normacy after a crss, but parents and educators n Gaza know
that t w be a reatvey sma save on a gapng wound. Beyond the
ogstcs of gettng students back nto the cassroom, they face a far more
consequenta chaenge: how to educate a generaton that has survved
three wars n sx years, the atest kng 500 Gazans younger than 18 and
n|urng 3,100, as we as, accordng to one estmate, creatng 1,400
orphans.
For the rst few weeks, omcas pan to set asde the currcuum n favor of
games, sports, drama and other actvtes desgned to dea wth trauma. In
an actvty caed "protected chd," cassmates encrce a student and ward
oh threats by someone outsde; n another, chdren trace each other's
bodes on mura paper and then mark the strong and weak ponts they fet
durng the war.
There s key to be much movement n the rst few months as dspaced
fames shutte among temporary homes. And what f the cease-re agreed
to ast week does not hod?
"They must earn, but they are st confused because of the war; they are
st afrad," sad Zahra Hamad, 36, who has ve chdren, ncudng rst-
and second-graders at a Bet Hanoun schoo that was ht by deady strkes
on |uy 24, when t served as a sheter. "Peope were ked n ths schoo, so
the kds are afrad."
Is
rae managed to open ts pubc schoos on tme Monday, but t aso
ad|usted ts programs. The focus n the rst two weeks, the Educaton
Mnstry sad n a news reease, w be on "actvtes for reaxaton and
provdng emotona support and persona strengthenng," wth students
creatng photo abums, dscussng dreams and experences, takng trps to
natona stes and pannng taent shows. Racsm and freedom of expresson
were among the panned topcs, wth one suggested exercse usng
exampes of verba abuse on soca meda durng the summer's operaton.
Schoos cosest to Gaza, where camps, beaches and poos were cosed and
chdren spent much of the summer nsde bomb sheters amd barrages of
rockets, have extra counseors on hand and pan therapy usng crafts,
drama, dance and musc. Among the 72 Israes ked n the war was a 4-
year-od boy feed by a mortar she on a kbbutz.
"Ths s a very sma country, and everythng s fet," Yoch Sman-Tov, head
of the Educaton Mnstry's unt for copng wth crss, sad n an ntervew.
"We see schoos as a pace that can oher assstance and persona support,
and we know the mmedacy of provdng emotona support can be crtca
for peope's heang."
In Gaza, the rst order of busness s for cassrooms to be ceaned. At the
Saah Eddn Prep Boys A & B schoo n Gaza Cty on Tuesday, the mornng
after the ast of the 2,800 peope who had shetered at the schoo were
moved esewhere, a man wth a green sponge wped dsnfectant on a
doorway. He was part of a crew of 11 cearng trash, xng toets, repacng
broken wndows and pantng was. A barefoot boy carred out a can of
garbage.
Abu Athra, the U.N.'s educaton chef n Gaza, sad that more than 200
computers were stoen from at east 20 of hs schoos that were used as
sheters. Desks and chars aso dsappeared. By Tuesday, copes of ony 89
of the 135 requred textbooks had been prnted, n a process that s
normay competed by Aug. 1.
The U.N. s tryng to consodate about 50,000 peope st n ts sheters nto
20 budngs, but some w not eave. In Bet Hanoun, the northern border
town where whoe neghborhoods were eveed, more than 1,000 peope
staged a st-n Saturday at Grs Preparatory A.
Mohamed Kafarna, a 30-year-od father of sx, sad he spent the war at a
schoo n |abaya, and after the cease-re he moved to Grs Prep, where he
set up camp under a corrugated tn awnng n a corner of the courtyard.
Though the schoo acks eectrcty, Kafarna connected pugs to a schoo
next door to power a standng fan, a ght and a cephone charger nsde
the was he put up, made of bankets and mats wth a U.N. ogo.
"We don't want to move from a schoo to another schoo," he sad. "Let
them nd us somethng na. We are tred."
The U.N. Reef and Works Agency runs schoos through nnth grade for the
descendants of Paestnans who were expeed from or ed homes n Israe
and the West Bank, about 70 percent of Gaza's 1.8 mon resdents. The
rest, and a 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, attend government schoos.
Zyad Thabet, Gaza's deputy educaton mnster, sad government schoos
suhered $13 mon n damage to budngs and $6 mon to furnture. He
estmated costs of $3 mon to provde speca servces to n|ured chdren,
ncudng dstance earnng for those n hosptas and wheechars for those
who cannot wak. Thabet sad casses were key to average 40 or 41
students ths year, up from 36 ast year.
"We consder our success and our vctory s to start the schoo year," he
sad. "Our message to students," he added, "s they must work hard despte
the hard crcumstances n order to make ther future better than the future
of ther fathers and teachers."
One prncpa, four teachers and two guards at U.N. schoos were ked,
aong wth 22 empoyees of the government's Educaton Mnstry, durng
the ghtng. Many more are among the estmated 100,000 Gazans who ost
homes. The teachers start work Sunday, for a week that w ncude tranng
n the trauma actvtes.
Akram Nasser, a teacher of nnth-grade Arabc who spent the summer
runnng sheters, sad arrvng students woud need a ot of support. "I know
some of them have ost a father or a sbng," Nasser sad. "I' try to comfort
them. I' be as a father, as a brother for them."
2014, The New York Tmes News Servce
Posted by Thavam
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