IN PALESTINE, THE OBSTACLES TO RECEIVING AN EDUCATION ARE NUMEROUS. CHECKPOINTS, MILITARY PRESENCE, SETTLER ATTACKS, TREACHEROUS ROADS, CLOSED MILITARY ZONES, DEMOLITION ORDERS, AND VIOLENT CLASHES ARE ONLY A FEW.  BUT STUDENTS & TEACHERS PERSEVERE DAILY IN THEIR JOURNEY TO RECEIVE QUALITY EDUCATION.  WE BRING THESE FACES TO LIFE AND SHARE THEIR HOPES, CHALLENGES, AND DREAMS.

Sameh Shahrouj, Age 24. An English Teacher at As Sawiya School. Photo EAPPI/H. Kjollesdal.

What are you looking forward to this school year?

I am looking forward to teaching the students the new curriculum and building strong bases in English through new methods, like mixing games with abstract material. I want to focus on their personalities [the students], because nobody cares about the students personalities, even in his or her house.

What are your biggest challenges in going to school?

There are a few…

• The location of the school is far from my nearest bus stop
• The number of students in each class is too big. So it is difficult to control them.
• Most importantly. Students don’t like the English language. So it is very hard to convince my students that this is the most important language in the world. So you have to find interesting ways to teach.

What is needed for education to thrive in Palestine?

It needs many things…

The mentality of the teachers needs to change. We need to change this traditional mentality. They don’t want to use technology. Instead of using technology, they are destroying it. The main problem is that the parents don’t care about their children, so they send them to school just to get rid of them. A student is lucky if his friend’s parents care. The popular perspective for students now is to drift away from school to go work in Israel so they can earn money and buy designer labels. So focusing on the teachers, the parents and the whole system is needed. Some statistics I have read say the problem is in the curriculum, or in the teachers, or in the parents. I think the problem is within them all.

I don’t like to focus on the political situation because it is used as an excuse. We have a saying like ‘putting all your clothes on one iron rod’; we find an excuse and blame it on something else. The political situation is a reason for problems, but it is not the only reason, and we need to realize this.

*Read more testimonies from this year’s Back to School series.
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*Check out last year’s photo essay: Visualizing Back to School in Palestine.