Khan Younis: Two years ago, Sarah Qanan was a star high school student preparing for final exams and dreaming of becoming a doctor. Today, the 18-year-old lives in a sweltering tent in the Gaza Strip and says she is just trying to stay alive.
She’s part of a generation of Palestinians from grade school through university who have had virtually no access to education in the territory since the war began in October 2023. Classes were suspended that month and schools were transformed into crowded shelters as hundreds of thousands fled their homes at the start of Israel’s campaign of retaliation after Hamas Oct 7, 2023, attack.
The closure of schools has removed a key social outlet for young people as they grapple with war, hunger and displacement. For younger children, it has meant missing out on basic skills like reading and simple arithmetic. For older students, advanced subjects, graduation exams and college applications have all been put on hold.
Even if negotiations lead to another ceasefire, it’s unclear when anything in Gaza will be rebuilt. Vast areas have been completely destroyed, and the U.N. children’s agency estimates that nearly 90% of schools will need substantial reconstruction before they can function again.
Like many in Gaza, Qanan’s family has been displaced multiple times and is now living in a tent. When an Israeli airstrike destroyed their home in early 2024, she dug through the rubble in search of her books, but “there was nothing left.”
“My sole dream was to study medicine,” Qanan said. “I stopped thinking about it. All my thoughts now are about how to survive.
More than 650,000 students have had no access to education since the start of the war, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF. That includes nearly 40,000 students who were unable to take university entry exams that largely determine their career prospects.
It’s the first time in decades that the exams were not administered in Gaza.