UNICEF: Dream of Returning to School Remains Alive Among Gaza’s Children
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that around 700,000 children in Gaza City, for the third consecutive year, are living with the dream of returning to school. According to information provided by the organization, most of these children have been deprived of classroom learning due to ongoing conflict and the critical situation in the Gaza Strip.
Tess Ingram, UNICEF spokesperson in Geneva, issued a statement highlighting the hopes and aspirations of displaced children, noting that despite all hardships, their desire for education remains alive. She relayed the words of one child who said: “Nothing in the world is better than going back to school.”
The lack of access to education for children in war-affected areas, including Gaza, carries wide psychological and social consequences. UNICEF has consistently called for security, stability, and investment in education in these regions; however, the protracted crisis has led to children’s educational needs being dangerously overlooked.
Although Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has captured most of the international community’s attention, questions remain as to why the Taliban authorities have also failed to provide comprehensive education for Afghan children, particularly girls. Despite the absence of widespread war in most provinces, millions of children—especially girls—are still deprived of schooling, a situation whose continuation will carry irreversible consequences.
