Gaza Strip Nuserat – Nibal Abu Armana sits in her tent teaching her 7-year-old son Mohammed basic literacy and numbers.

Nibal, 38, a mother of six, is forced to rely on the dim light from battery-powered LED lights.

Two hours later, Nibal and Mohammad’s eyes were tired.

this is educate Like many people in Gaza. Most Palestinians in the enclave live like Nibal and her family: displaced and forced to survive in makeshift shelters that are barely habitable.

But Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, has lasted for more than two years, and the necessary reconstruction is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Most school buildings, as well as most other buildings in Gaza, have been damaged or destroyed by Israel. Many of the remaining school buildings are now used as shelters for displaced families.

Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, students – both children in schools and young adults in universities – have largely missed out on any form of regular education.

“Before the war, my children had a routine: get up early, go to school, come home, have lunch, play, do homework, go to bed early,” Nibal told Al Jazeera. “There’s a sense of discipline.”

Now, she said, her children’s days are organized around their basic needs: getting water, meals from soup kitchens, finding things to burn on the fire to cook and keep warm. After all, there’s not much time left in the day.

Nibal, who is originally from the Burij refugee camp but now lives in Nuserat in central Gaza, said her children had a hard time, especially at the start of the war, when all forms of education stopped for several months.

Now, while things are improving, it’s still hard to catch up. Many older children have missed out on education during critical periods in their lives and are reluctant to resume their studies.

“My eldest son Hamza is 16 and he completely refuses the idea of ​​going back to school,” Nibal said. “He was isolated from learning for a long time, displaced and lost interest in education. He had new responsibilities. He worked as a porter with his father, helping people carry aid boxes. He focused on making money to buy food for us and clothes for himself.”

“He grew up ahead of schedule; he took on responsibilities and thought of his youngest sibling like a parent,” she said.

Nibal’s second son Huzaifa, 15, is eager to continue studying but feels uncertain about his future as he believes it will take him years to make up for the time lost due to his inability to study properly.

Currently, he is studying, but he is forced to go to school temporary tent classroom.

“I feel tired sitting on the floor, and my back and neck are sore from writing and looking at the teacher,” Huzafar said.

attack on education

Since Israel launched its genocidal war in Gaza, 745,000 students have been out of school, including 88,000 higher education students who have had to suspend their studies.

Even as Israel continues to violate the ceasefire since October, more than 95 percent of severely damaged school buildings still need to be repaired or rebuilt, according to UNESCO satellite damage assessments. At least 79% of higher education campuses and 60% of vocational training centers were also damaged or destroyed.

Ahmad al-Turk, Director of Public Relations and Assistant to the President Islamic University of GazaIt said that Israel has been deliberately attacking education.

“Targeting professors will impact future generations, especially given the experience and skills these professors have in their areas of expertise,” Turk said. “There is no question that a lack of capable professors will have a negative impact on student outcomes and the future course of research.”

This is particularly worrying for Raed Salha, a professor at the Islamic University and an expert in regional and urban planning.

“University expertise is not something that can be replaced quickly,” he said. “It is knowledge accumulated through years of teaching and research. Losing it – whether due to death, forced displacement or long-term disruption – is a devastating loss for students, academic institutions and society at large.”

Most families and university students are also troubled by the online education system, as it is difficult to purchase electronic devices and mobile phones, even aside from Gaza’s weak internet connections.

“Teachers are trying to teach, students are trying to follow, but the tools are almost non-existent,” Saha said.

“We cannot recreate the experience of students leaving their homes in the morning, meeting friends, sitting in a university courtyard, library, lab or attending an event,” he said. “This experience shaped the identity and sense of belonging of generations of students. Today, those experiences are being taken away.”

college challenge

College student Osama Zimmo explained that adapting to online learning has been a challenge.

“We became the names on the screen rather than the full experience for students,” said the 20-year-old civil engineering student from Gaza City.

Osama studied computer systems engineering at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University before the war and completed his first year there.

Despite his initial enthusiasm for the field, he struggled to continue studying online once the university moved to e-learning.

“I found that I had no laptop, no stable electricity, no good internet, and even my phone was old and unreliable,” he said. He added that uncertainty about when the war would end and the impact of artificial intelligence made him hesitant about his chosen field.

Eventually, he decided to switch majors and begin a civil engineering degree at the Islamic University, which would allow him to rely less on electricity and the internet.

The Islamic University resumed face-to-face classes in December.

“It is a choice to continue rather than stop; to adapt rather than surrender,” Osama said.

“We learn not because the path is clear, but because giving up is exactly what reality tries to impose on us.”