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On July 27, the Palestinian Ministry of Education released the results of the secondary acquisition certificate exams, besides known arsenic tawjihi. Like each year, families sat together, eyes fixed connected telephone screens, hearts pounding, everyone hoping to beryllium the archetypal to entree the ministry’s website and interruption the quality with a jubilant shout. There were joyful tears and celebrations.
Thousands of students, who had endured months of pressure, sleepless nights and fragile hope, had the exam results successful their hands that would find whether and wherever they could proceed their education.
But thousands of others – those successful Gaza – were sitting successful their tents and ruined homes successful despair. I americium 1 of them. This is the 2nd twelvemonth I, on with 31,000 different Palestinians calved successful 2006, was incapable to instrumentality the tawjihi. For different year, we person been stripped of our close to proceed our acquisition and of the anticipation to physique a aboriginal beyond the ruins. Now, we are joined by astir 40,000 students calved successful 2007, who are besides stuck successful this dreadful limbo.
Last year, erstwhile the tawjihi results were announced, I was huddled successful beforehand of a crackling occurrence adjacent a tattered tent, acold excessively tiny to clasp my large dreams. The heavy vexation I felt didn’t slice – it settled successful my caput and stayed. All I could deliberation astir was however each my sacrifices, tears, and relentless effort during a afloat twelvemonth of studying nether hard circumstances had been for nothing.
This year, it feels adjacent worse. Not lone are my dreams of acquisition crushed, present I conflict to support myself and my household alive, arsenic Gaza is starving to death.
In these 2 years, I person watched our acquisition strategy destroyed, schoolroom by classroom. My school, Shohada al-Nusierat, erstwhile a spot of learning and dreams, archetypal became a structure lodging displaced families and past a people for Israeli bombing. My schoolbag – erstwhile filled with notebooks and survey materials – present carries indispensable documents and a alteration of clothes, ever packed and acceptable successful lawsuit we are forced to fly our location again. The world calendar, with each its important dates, has been replaced by a grim docket of aerial strikes, displacement, and nonaccomplishment of friends and loved ones.
Amid this devastation, the Education Ministry has struggled to support an acquisition process going. Wanting to springiness Gaza’s children and younker hope, it has undertaken assorted initiatives to effort to support students motivated. Makeshift schools person been organised wherever possible, portion immoderate assemblage students person been capable to proceed their acquisition online.
For us, the tawjihi students, efforts were repeatedly made to acceptable up our exams. Last year, the ministry announced it would behaviour the exams successful February. I kept studying, contempt the harsh world and the illness of everything astir me, believing this was my accidental to determination forward.
February passed, and thing happened. The ministry past announced that the exams would beryllium held successful April. But erstwhile again, they were postponed owed to the unsafe conditions. Then, successful June, the ministry scheduled an online exam for July for students calved successful 2005 who had either failed their tawjihi oregon missed immoderate of its exams; they were expected to person done this exam successful December 2023. Some 1,500 students were capable to instrumentality the tests online.
This gave maine a spot of anticipation that my crook would besides come, but that rapidly faded. The Ministry of Education hasn’t fixed america immoderate updates connected the process, and it feels similar we’ve been wholly forgotten successful the shadiness of warfare and starvation.
Some readers whitethorn inquire themselves, wherefore amid a genocide are Palestinians truthful preoccupied with an exam?
You person to understand, tawjihi is simply a milestone successful each Palestinian’s beingness – a decisive infinitesimal that shapes aboriginal paths for astatine slightest the adjacent 5 years. It determines whether we tin prosecute our acquisition successful the tract we tendency and summation admittance to apical universities.
But beyond academics, tawjihi carries a overmuch deeper taste and affectional weight. It is not conscionable an acquisition signifier – it is portion of our identity, a awesome of perseverance. In a spot wherever the concern closes astir each door, acquisition is capable to support a fewer doors inactive open.
That’s wherefore we observe it similar a nationalist holiday; the time tawjihi results are released feels similar a 3rd Eid for Palestinians. It gives families hope, brings pridefulness to full neighbourhoods, and keeps live the imagination of a amended future.
Over the galore months I waited for the tawjihi, I held connected to my imagination to survey medicine astatine a prestigious assemblage abroad. I kept applying for scholarships and sending emails to universities crossed the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, hoping for peculiar information arsenic a pupil affected by war. I pleaded with assemblage administrators to waive the tawjihi certificate requirement.
But the responses were painfully consistent: “Unfortunately, we cannot see your exertion unless you supply your last diploma.”
Today, despair and helplessness are not the lone unwanted visitors I have. Hunger is different one. The starvation has destroyed not lone my assemblage but besides my intelligence health.
Most days, we negociate to person 1 meal. We past mostly connected canned beans, adust bread, oregon atom without immoderate vegetables oregon protein. Our bodies are weak, our faces pale, and our vigor astir nonexistent. The effects spell beyond the physical. Hunger fogs the brain, dulls representation and crushes motivation. It becomes astir intolerable to focus, fto unsocial survey for a life-changing exam similar the tawjihi. How tin I hole for the astir important exam of my beingness erstwhile my tummy is bare and my caput clouded by fatigue and worry?
It feels arsenic though my younker has been stolen earlier my eyes, and I tin bash thing but watch. While my peers astir the satellite are gathering their futures, I stay stuck successful a spot of overwhelming symptom and loss.
As a tawjihi pupil trapped successful a warzone, I urgently telephone connected acquisition authorities and planetary institutions to measurement successful and instrumentality contiguous solutions to guarantee our close to acquisition is not buried nether the rubble of war.
We are not asking for much. Giving us a accidental to decorativeness our secondary education in Gaza is not conscionable a substance of logistics, but a substance of justness and aboriginal survival.
The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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