- 18 % of children in East al-Quds live below the poverty line
- School dropout affects 13 % of students in East Al Quds
- Occupation’s systematic destructive plan to obliterate identity, memory and history
Participants in the Arab League of Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO) conference on ‘The reality of children’s education in the city of Al-Quds’ on Thursday revealed the bitter reality faced by the children of Al-Quds as a result of the systematic crime of the occupation authorities aimed at striking education in Al-Quds and imposing the occupation curriculum to obliterate the Arab identity of the school and students alike.
In his speech, Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education Amjad Barham said that what is happening today in Gaza is a war on childhood and an attempt by the occupation forces to strike hope for the future in the hearts of the sons and daughters of Palestine.
Since the start of its war on Gaza, the occupation has destroyed 293 out of 309 schools, while 85 schools have been wiped out.
In Al Quds city, the occupation pursues a policy of intimidation, pressure, detention, violence and preventing students and teachers from reaching their schools, and has prepared a five-year plan to empty the Old City of schools and control its historical and archaeological buildings to turn them into tourist buildings, in addition to closing private schools and kindergartens that refuse to teach the occupation’s curriculum.
Barham explained that these practices have led to a 13 per cent dropout rate among East Al Quds students, compared to only 1 per cent in West Al Quds.
For his part, the Minister of Al Quds Affairs pointed out that there are more than 100,000 students in the city of Al Quds distributed among 46 PA schools, stressing that 81% of children in East Al Quds live below the poverty line, and that East Al Quds lacks the required educational environment (playgrounds, recreation, libraries…) Schools are overcrowded, making the urgent need for 500 classrooms at a rate of 80 classrooms per year.
He said that although 85 per cent of Al Quds students still study the Palestinian curriculum, which enjoys Arab and international respect, the occupation forces sought to enact legislation to impose the occupation curriculum.
He pointed out that the occupation authority controls the joints of the Palestinian economy, especially the financial resources of the Palestinian Authority, which caused the salary crisis and the drop in funds directed to the education sector.
He warned that several new schools are now being established in Al Quds with the encouragement of the occupation forces to adopt the Israeli curriculum, which entails risks targeting awareness, identity, memory, civilisation and history.
He called on Arab and Islamic countries to purchase properties in Al Quds and turn them into schools with the necessary educational environment.
The conference, which was inaugurated by ALECSO Director-General Mohamed Ould Ammar and attended by Director-General of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) Abdelrahim Suleiman and representatives of the League of Arab States, is part of ALECSO’s historical commitment to the Palestinian cause and its continuous support for development in the educational, cultural and scientific fields.
TunisianMonitorOnline (Dhouha Talik – English: NejiMed)
