New schools for new school year in Gaza

1,000,154 students headed to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to take their seats in Government On Sunday morning, about 1,000,154 students headed to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to take their seats in Government and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools for the start of the new academic year 2012-2013.
The ministry of education in both Gaza and the West Bank ended all required preparations for the new semester 2012-2013. The ministry is expected to hold a press conference to talk about the numbers of students going to their seats and its preparations.
Mahmoud Matar, Director General of Public Education in the Ministry of Education said that his Ministry had completed all necessary preparations for the new academic year in schools as preparing schools, classrooms, teachers and books, and others.
Matar explained: \"The number of state school students this year is 230,000 student from the Strip and 145,000 from the Bank. The number of students in UNRWA schools is 225,000 in the strip and 53,000 in Bank and the number of private school students in Gaza is 15,000 students with 80,000 in the Bank.\"
However, the opinion among parents and students is not as positive, Zakaria Gabr said: \"I can\'t buy school stationary and uniforms for my children, I have six and all of them in school. I can\'t satisfy their needs. Sometimes I am forced not to send my kids to school at all.\"
This was supported by Shadia Asous who said to Arabstoday: \"I have five children, they are going to school this year and I can\'t save up for school stationary or even pay the school premium due to the hard living circumstances of my family and delays to my husband\'s wages who is an employee of the Palestinian authority.\"
The Director conceded: \"Some schools still need reconstruction, especially old buildings that we need to remove completely but we hope that the next phase will witness building reconstruction and the building more schools.\"
As for the opening of new schools, particularly in marginalized areas, Harb said that the ministry has a plan to focus on areas in region C and areas beyond the barrier, the Ministry held a meeting with the financiers to highlight these areas and their need for schools.Harb confirmed the presence of permanent problems in dealing with the areas under Israeli obstacles, especially if there is a need to move academic staff or the need for a new building.