Mohamed Shuber | Researcher in Educational and Community Issues– Palestine
Original article on Manhajiyat, dated 20/05/2024.
Eight months into the brutal war on the Gaza Strip, over six hundred thousand students have been deprived of their right to education as schools were either destroyed or turned into shelters for displaced families. However, the striking paradox is that learning has persisted despite the devastation and difficult circumstances. On one hand, schools were completely closed, and the “ordinary” educational process was halted. On the other hand, new forms of learning emerged—experiential learning, communal learning, and informal, non-directive learning—taking place beyond school walls and outside conventional classrooms.
By directly observing learning processes during war, we have documented testimonies of these forms across various educational fields and within students’ daily lives. In the realm of literacy, we observed children acquiring new terminology and enriching their linguistic repertoire—whether in their mother tongue or other languages such as English and Hebrew. We have also noticed students acquiring political, legal, and institutional terminology, grasping its meaning and integrating it into their daily dialogues and conversations.
Under the chapter of Geography, children reignited their understanding of borders, geographical spaces, and climatic conditions. Their displacement along the coast revealed many stories about the sea, sparking a range of questions and discussions that fueled their learning. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of agriculture and humanitarian zones not only heightened their awareness of land and space but, more importantly, deepened their consciousness of survival and resistance.
The tent became a space for learning about measurements, mass, volume, and economics. Children measured the size of their temporary shelters, weighed and carried firewood, tracked food distributions, and monitored their water supply. They also learned about cash liquidity, its disruption, and how black markets function.
In the sciences, students turned to practical learning, exploring methods to preserve food without refrigeration, purify water, harness solar energy during blackouts, and produce yeast for bread-making. Whilst all the above examples lie within the fields of sciences in school, they lie within the realm of resilience in that context of war and displacement.
At the core of this ‘school of life’ was civic engagement. Students not only volunteered to help displaced neighbors or took initiative to assist in providing services but also forged new friendships, exploring what ‘homeland’ and ‘belonging’ truly mean in times of crisis, and what a shared destiny signifies.
This movement of teaching and learning has emerged because of the belief of Palestinian students and their families in the power of learning as a foundational pillar to their existential identity and sumud1. During those times of war and hardship, learning pathways in Gaza took the form of initiatives, campaigns, and educational gatherings carried out voluntarily and organically by Gazans. These learning spaces transcended traditional schooling, evolving into dynamic environments where students could cultivate hope and safeguard their right to education.
The war has sparked an abundance of questions, yet the most significant one remains: Can learning truly thrive in times of crisis? The answer, loud and clear, came from the students themselves: “Yes, learning is possible when we embrace the moment, transform it into a lived experience, and find hope even in the darkest times.”
This blog post was published on the Manhajiyat and was translated into English as part of a joint project with the Centre for Lebanese Studies and (PROCOL). All rights reserved. Republishing or quoting the article is prohibited without citing the source or obtaining written permission.