The day, usually awaited with ululations and chants, arrived this year amidst displacement camps and the rubble of destroyed schools, bringing incomplete joy to thousands of families who lost their children, homes, or school desks.
Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, educational life in Gaza has come to a complete standstill. Hundreds of schools and universities have been destroyed, most of which have been converted into shelters for displaced persons. Thousands of students have lost their homes, notebooks, and school supplies.
On September 6, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education began conducting high school exams electronically for Gaza students born in 2006, noting that "more than 70,000 students born in 2006 and 2007 were prevented from taking the exams, in addition to 4,000 who were martyred and 4,000 who took the exams abroad over the course of two years."
In the streets of Gaza and the displacement camps, a timid joy spread among the families of the successful students, as they tried to express their happiness despite the simple circumstances and harsh reality.
Success mixed with loss
At a shelter in Khan Yunis, student Dima Abu Amer sat quietly, sadly checking her results on her phone. As soon as the results appeared on the screen, she exclaimed, "Thank God!" before hugging her mother and crying with a mixture of joy and sadness.
Dima passed her science exam with a score of 77.7, and tears welled up as she remembered her brother, who had been killed 20 days earlier by Israeli fire while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip.
"I didn't feel a hint of joy because I lost my brother Mohammed a few days ago," Dima said, speaking of her suffering during her studies, emphasizing that it was one of the most difficult periods of her life. She studied her lessons by the light of her phone inside a small tent, buffeted by the winter winds and the sounds of shelling.
According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Education as of September 16, Israel killed 17,711 students in the Gaza Strip and wounded 25,897 others in its war of extermination. It also killed 763 school staff and wounded 3,189 others.
According to the same data, Israel destroyed 172 government schools in Gaza, bombed and damaged 118 other government schools, and bombed and damaged more than 100 schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Displacement and suffering
Among the successful students was Qamar Sheikh Al-Eid, who achieved a score of 90.1% in the science stream, despite two years of displacement and suffering under bombardment, hunger, and fear.
Qamar told an Anadolu Agency correspondent, "The war delayed our educational life for two years. We were deprived of education for two years." She added, "I dedicate my success to all the martyrs." She continued, "I have been living in a tent for two years, under bombardment, hunger, and fear, but despite that, we managed to accomplish our goals."
On September 3, Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the government media office in Gaza, said, "For the third consecutive year, the Israeli occupation has deprived approximately 785,000 male and female students of their education, and 25,000 teachers of their basic right to education, in a systematic crime whose impact amounts to cultural and educational genocide."
On August 7, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Israel's attacks on Gaza schools will disrupt education for years to come. It added that "repairing and rebuilding these schools will require significant resources and time, with significant negative impacts on children, parents, and teachers."
Another life
In Khan Yunis, student Malak Abu Amsha, from Khan Yunis, north of the Gaza Strip, recounts her story of displacement and education during wartime, after achieving a score of 89.6 in the science stream.
She told Anadolu Agency: "We were displaced from the north to the south because of the war, and despite the oppression, fear, and difficult circumstances, we succeeded and excelled."
Malak speaks with regret about her life before the war, saying, "I was living in my own room, studying quietly at my desk, but suddenly everything changed. The war transformed us into a completely different reality and turned our lives upside down." She adds, "We studied by the light of our phones inside the tent, moving from one place to another, but we never lost hope."
The Israeli war forced nearly two million Palestinians to flee and live in harsh and extremely difficult humanitarian conditions.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023, leaving 67,913 martyrs and 170,134 wounded, most of them children and women, and causing a famine that claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.
