Israel crushes young dreams as Gaza students miss annual university exams

Bahaa Al Bayyari’s father, Moein, was his biggest cheerleader when it came to motivating him to prepare for the Tawjihi exam, a twenty-day-long written test that final-year high school students take to gain university admission.

The 17-year-old’s final year of high school revolved around his dream of studying multimedia at the Islamic University and becoming a photographer like his father and siblings.

His days were a structured routine of attending classes at Julius Secondary School, occasionally helping out at the family-owned photography shop, and reviewing his lessons before heading to bed early to rise for another day of preparation. He reminisces about those days as being beautiful.

However, on November 7, one month into the Israeli military’s onslaught on Gaza, his father Moein was shot dead by a drone on his way to the morning prayers, and Bahaa’s life turned upside down.

“My father had big dreams for me. He wanted me to achieve many things when I finished my Tawjihi, but those dreams were buried with him,” Bahaa tells TRT World.

July 8 marked the conclusion of the Tawjihi exam session, initially set to begin on June 22. Bahaa was supposed to be among 89,000 high school students in Palestine heading to examination halls.

But Israel’s genocidal campaign prevented him, along with an estimated 39,000 other students in Gaza, from sitting for the exam.

“It's something that breaks my heart because this Tawjihi exam was supposed to fulfil my dreams, make my family proud and achieve many things. But all of that is gone now,” he says.

Educational genocide

For over 620,000 students in Gaza, education has been at a standstill for 278 days, depriving them of their fundamental right to learn. The nine-month-long war in the besieged enclave has killed at least 8,572 school-age children and 497 teachers and injured more than 14,089, the ministry’s statistics from early July showed.

According to a satellite-based damage assessment study by Education Cluster, 85.8 percent of schools in Gaza have been partially or completely damaged following months of Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive that levelled the educational infrastructure.

All 12 universities in the besieged enclave, as well as numerous libraries, archives, publishing houses, cultural centres, bookstores, and museums, have been reduced to piles of ruins.

Some schools operated by UNRWA that escaped significant damage are now shelters for displaced Palestinians fleeing the bombardments, while the Israeli military repurposed others, using them as detention and interrogation centres and military bases.

This amounts to Israel committing scholasticide, or educational genocide, in Gaza, a group of United Nations experts said in a joint statement.

Scholasticide refers to the deliberate and systematic obliteration of the education system by targeting physical infrastructure and personnel.

“These attacks are not isolated incidents. They present a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the very foundation of Palestinian society,” the experts stated.

Yet, this destruction is neither new nor specific to the current war, critics argue. The dismantling of Palestinian knowledge systems and the looting of educational, cultural, and archival materials have been ongoing for decades, dating back to the Nakba.

The ongoing brutal attacks on Gaza’s educational infrastructure not only cause immediate devastation but also threaten the future of its youth, depriving a generation of Palestinians of education.

Eslam Qahman was among the top students at the now-bombed Tal Al-Zaatar Secondary School in north Gaza’s Beit Lahia neighbourhood, with very high grades, and was determinedly studying to pursue neurosurgery.

“I was strongly determined to achieve a high average to make my family proud and be their joy,” Eslam says.

“Seeing students worldwide taking exams while you can't do anything but watch is heart-wrenching”.

Now, Eslam's future looks bleak. She laments the destruction of all universities and the considerable time it will take for things to return to normal so she can continue her education.

She prays for the war to end, hoping she will then have a chance to take the exam and make her dreams come true.

‘Most important day of my life’

Every year, students who take the Tawjihi exam eagerly await the day when the results are made public, filled with anxious excitement.

When the Tawjihi exam results are announced nationwide over the radio, internet and television, students and their families flood the streets, celebrating and setting off fireworks to mark this crucial milestone.

“One of the things that motivated me the most when I was preparing for the exam was how the results of the university entrance exams were celebrated in previous years, ” says 18-year-old Batool Abualatta.

“I always felt that the joy of success would be something really wonderful.”

Studying at Al-Zahra’a Secondary School, Batool aspired to study dentistry at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University before her school was partially destroyed. The remaining part now houses displaced people in northern Gaza.

“This year is one of the most important years of my life, determining my future,” Batool says, “And the feeling of losing it makes me feel terrible.”

“ I wished to be one of the students taking the exam. But I wasn’t lucky.”

The Ministry of Education has announced its full commitment to Tawjihi students in Gaza, promising a special session for them to take the exams when conditions allow, and they have covered the minimum required subjects.

But first, Israel’s genocidal war must be stopped and those responsible held accountable, the ministry adds.

Bahaa, Esma, and Batool all say that when the war ends, they will prepare to take the exam and strive to achieve the high grades needed to pursue their desired fields of study.

But at this moment, that looks like a distant dream.