12-year-old Rama Abu Seif’s dreams of returning to school are fading as her classroom has become a temporary home for families displaced by relentless conflict. With her school bag now packed with clothes for a quick escape rather than books, Rama’s education is one of the many casualties of the ongoing war.
“My books were burned to light fires in clay ovens,” Rama shared, a stark reflection of the dire conditions many face in Gaza. Having missed grade six last year, Rama is now being deprived of grade seven as the war drags on with no end in sight.
“Of course, the children who are my age and younger than me, they all want to go back to northern [Gaza] and relive their school days, study and play at school, but all of that is gone and we lost two years because of the war,” Rama told Reuters.
Her story is one among many in Gaza, where over 625,000 school-aged children have been left without classrooms. Since the war began on October 7, schools have been either bombed or converted into shelters, making the prospect of education a distant hope for children like Rama.
According to UNICEF, as of July 6, 564 schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged by Israeli attacks, a stark reminder of the war’s devastating impact on the region’s future generation.
