For the first two months of Israel’s war on Gaza, Nour Nassar was gripped by intense anxiety and fear.
The 24-year-old law graduate spent her days at her house in the southern town of Rafah, struggling to get by under intense bombing, lack of basic needs, and sometimes bouts of panic attacks.
Then, she decided to go out as the war, now in its ninth month, seemed to be far from over.
Volunteering with local charity groups that tour tent camps housing displaced Gazans, she noticed children yearning for their schools and, most importantly, increasing fears of illiteracy. So she got an idea.
Determined to ensure that the war and displacement do not rob the young of their right to learn, she set up a mobile classroom, with makeshift camps teaching essential lessons in Arabic, English, and math to eager young minds.
“This is an important initiative to rise against the situation imposed on our children who cannot attend school,” Nassar said. “It’s meant to save the children.”
“The turnout is increasing thanks to our presence in the field and the awareness of our project,” she added.
Hope and education for Gaza’s kids
The Nassar’s Schools Without Borders (SWB) project started with nothing more than a portable hand-made whiteboard and a few flashcards with the Arabic alphabet.
Today, SWB boasts daily classes attended by dozens of students in different displacement camps in the southern Gaza Strip.
On a recent sweltering summer day, dozens of children gathered under the shadow of olive trees at a tent camp in the al-Zawaida neighbourhood in central Gaza, sitting in rows. Instead of benches and desks, they sat on flour bags filled with sand.
The students are aged between six and 11 and are divided into groups of 25. The class is about an hour long, followed by a prime time for the children to play.
After a brief revision of Arabic subjects, the children hurriedly put aside their notebooks and indulged in much-needed recreational activities, including musical chairs, balloon games and a clown show.
For these children, who have been deprived of formal schooling since the war began in October, Nour’s efforts are more than just lessons — they are a lifeline to a brighter future and fun.
Razan Ihab, 9, who fled with her family from their Gaza City home in mid-November, said she came “to learn, study and play.”
“I like the classes and the activities, especially the drawing,” the year four student said.
Razan, who herself wants to be a teacher in the future, draws a grim comparison between school life and the current situation in which she studies.
“In the school, we sat on chairs or desks, we had bathrooms, a bag, and everything was beautiful,” she recalled. “Here, it’s hot, tiring and exhausting.”
Razan says she also found an opportunity to “refresh my memory” months after escaping her house and becoming displaced twice, with her school bag containing clothes instead of books.
Alarming figures
The initiative is limited, reaching a tiny number of the 625,000 students whose schools have been shut since October. It comes amid shocking numbers released by the Palestinian Ministry of Education.
The Israeli war has killed over 39,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including more than 7,550 schoolchildren, according to the ministry, as well as 383 teachers and educational staff.
As for schools, 62 schools have been destroyed and 119 badly damaged. This includes both government and UN-run schools.
For the first time in decades, 39,000 high school students were deprived of sitting for the Tawjihi exams, which mark the end of their school life before continuing to higher institutions.
'Not all obstacles are hard to overcome'
SWB’s voyage is filled with challenges, Nassar says. She first started the effort in her hometown Rafah.
“We had to evacuate Rafah to Nussirat (central Gaza), then again to the nearby Deir al-Balah. This is the biggest challenge.”
Israel has further tightened its long blockade on Gaza, imposing a full siege. People in Gaza are struggling to buy food, barely enduring its prices and availability as Israel lets in less than a quarter of the daily truckloads of food and goods that used to enter Gaza before October 7.
In northern Gaza, international organisations are warning of high levels of hunger.
International pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza has not paid off. Given this, stationery and educational resources, which ran out like most goods, are off-limits. This is another main obstacle for SWB.
“Not all obstacles are hard to overcome,” Nassar said, noting that uncertainties that surrounded her idea at the beginning of the journey, including how much people cared for education under the constant battles of survival, had been cleared.
For Now, Nassar, who funds the project from her own and several volunteer teachers, wishes for more official support.
The efforts of SWB highlight the extraordinary resilience and determination of the Gazan community.
Even in the face of overwhelming adversity, Nassar and her team are ensuring that the light of education continues to shine brightly for Gaza’s children.
“When they return to school, we hope that we have built the basic foundation of elementary student knowledge. In other words, we are preparing them for the future and bridging the knowledge gaps.”
Besan Emad is a Gaza-based journalist and a media and translation student. She has experienced multiple displacements with her family in the Gaza Strip