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.

Kawthar Al-Nawajah (17) is a student at Al Quds University, Yatta Branch. Photo EAPPI/E. Maga-Cabillas.

What are you looking forward to this year?

I want to learn more about the history of my country and its geography. I want to have more trust in myself and become more confident in facing the future. I want to have a better future after the war and hope life be restored, especially for those people in Gaza. I really want the people to live a life with dignity.

What are your biggest challenges in going to school?

Our house is very far from school. I always take a taxi in going to school which is expensive.

What would you like to be in the future?

I want to be a teacher. I love to teach. I want to teach the children. I want to help them become literate especially on information technology like computer literacy, communication skills and to update them on different technology.

What is needed for education to thrive in Palestine?

Our education system needs to be improved. More schools are needed to accommodate new students. Schools must have better facilities with more rooms. Most classrooms are overcrowded accommodating more than fifty or almost a hundred students without proper ventilation, no lights and lack of chairs and other facilities

Teachers should be trained more to become better in their fields of specialization. They should learn more skills especially in communication and develop methods of teaching for better education. Teachers must also be fit and computer literate.

I am looking forward that there will be more scholarships and other financial assistance to help children go to school and finish their studies, like after high school they can study at college. Others did not finish high school because of poverty.

*Read more testimonies from this year’s Back to School series.
*Share the series on facebook with your friends.
*Check out last year’s photo essay: Visualizing Back to School in Palestine.