<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[UN: Gaza&#8217;s youth &#8216;denied higher education&#8217; by Israeli&nbsp;blockade]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><strong>Medicine and engineering among sectors in desperate need of funds and equipment </strong></p>
<p>By IRIN, for the Guardian Development Network | guardian.co.uk,			 																		 				            Monday 21 March 2011 14.02 GMT</p>
<div style="width: 470px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/3/17/1300379235523/Palestinian-boy-in-ruins--007.jpg" alt="Palestinian boy in ruins of his home boiling eggs" width="460" height="276" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Youth in the Gaza strip lack educational and employment opportunities thanks to Israel&#039;s blockade, says the UN. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The next generation in the <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Gaza" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza">Gaza</a> Strip may be less educated, less professional and perhaps more radical  because an Israeli blockade has restricted educational and employment  opportunities, say UN and other sources.</p>
<p>The four-year  blockade has particularly affected youths aged 18-24, limiting access to  higher education, academic exchanges and professional development, says  Gaza&#8217;s education ministry. About 65% of Gaza&#8217;s 1.6 million people are  under 25, according to UN estimates.</p>
<p>&#8220;Higher education in  all its forms is absolutely critical to a functioning society and the  creation of a future Palestinian state,&#8221; UN humanitarian coordinator for  the occupied Palestinian territory Max Gaylard told IRIN, and &#8220;to  maintain a necessary level of skills in professional sectors, like  medicine and engineering.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gaza&#8217;s unemployment rate –  nearly 50% according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics  (PCBS) – indicates dire prospects for the rapidly growing and youthful  population.</p>
<p>The economic blockade, imposed by <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Israel" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israel">Israel</a> after the Islamist movement Hamas took control of Gaza, has obstructed  the import of books, science laboratory and other educational equipment  to Gaza, according to the Unesco. Israel allows in limited humanitarian  supplies.</p>
<p>The lack of facilities, new information and  experiences has caused a marked deterioration of Gaza&#8217;s whole  educational system. Noor, an English education student at Al-Azhar  University, ranked second in Gaza, said she lacked essential books for  her coursework and even chairs were missing from lecture halls.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our  universities are not ready for new generations,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We only  have one laboratory and two computer labs, and it is not enough.&#8221;</p>
<p>Enrolment  levels at Gaza&#8217;s 14 public and private universities and colleges remain  high, but conflict and the stringent blockade have seriously undermined  access to, and the quality of, higher education, said UNESCO in a  report.</p>
<p>According to the <a title="Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza" href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/2010/Illegal%20Closur.pdf">Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza</a> (pdf), &#8220;Under the policy of complete closure imposed since June 2007,  Palestinians from Gaza who once constituted some 35% of the student body  at universities in the West Bank are virtually absent from West Bank  education institutions.&#8221;</p>
<p>The development of two separate  systems due to the Israeli-imposed movement restrictions meant fewer  subjects and facilities for Gaza&#8217;s university students, said UNESCO.</p>
<p>About  80% of the Gaza population is aid dependent, according to the UN Office  for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and higher  education institutions in Gaza are feeling the financial strain.</p>
<p>According to Unesco, students are increasingly unable to pay tuition fees, resulting in drop-outs and postponement of studies.</p>
<p>The  inability of students to cover fees has hit Gaza universities hard,  since student fees provide about 60% of university running costs,  according to Palestinian NGO <a title="Sharek Youth Forum" href="http://www.sharek.ps/new/userfiles/file/publications/Research%20and%20Studies/SharekYouthForum-Promise-or-Peril-The-Status-of-Youth-in-Palestine.pdf">Sharek Youth Forum</a> (pdf).</p>
<p>&#8220;The  level of education is being compromised and we have trouble hiring  qualified professors and staff,&#8221; said Kamalain Shaath, president of the  Islamic University, ranked top in Gaza and the West Bank. Half the  students at the university, he added, were unable to meet tuition  requirements this semester.</p>
<p>Islamic University&#8217;s first  medical school class of about 50 promising young doctors will graduate  this spring, and will be desperately needed in this conflict area,  although the university science labs – destroyed during Israel&#8217;s  2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead that aimed at ending rocket attacks into  Israel – were never rebuilt.</p>
<p>Seven universities and  colleges were damaged during the offensive, which ended in January 2009,  with six buildings fully destroyed and 16 partially, according to  Unesco. As of March 2011, rebuilding has not been possible thanks to the  embargo on building materials.</p>
<p>Overcrowding in schools is  another problem. About 80% of Gaza&#8217;s public schools operate on double  shifts, according Gaza&#8217;s education ministry director-general, Sharif  Nouman. In 2010, only three new schools were built due to lack of  building materials, yet another 100 need to be built, he said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile,  the internal conflict between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas is  putting pressure on the education system, thanks to a lack of  communication between the Gaza and West Bank ministries, he added.</p>
<p>The  unemployment rate among those aged 15-19 is about 72%, while  unemployment affects 66% of those aged 20-24, according to a report in  January by the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Middle East" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast">Middle East</a> Peace Process (UNSCO). West Bank unemployment rates were 29% and 34% for these age groups, respectively.</p>
<p>When  young people graduate they have almost no opportunity to find a job in a  company or association. About 70% of industrial establishments in Gaza  have closed under the blockade, according to OCHA, while 120,000 private  sector jobs were lost in the first two years of closure. A recent  easing has allowed the <a title="limited export" href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=91701">limited export</a> of cut flowers and strawberries from Gaza to Europe.</p>
<p>&#8220;When  young people graduate they have almost no opportunity to find a job in a  company or association,&#8221; said Bassam, a multi-media student at Al-Azhar  University. Some try to start their own businesses, but &#8220;this cannot  succeed in Gaza now because of the blockade,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>UN  officials in the region have expressed concern that isolating youth in  Gaza from broader values and opportunities will backfire. &#8220;A rapidly  growing society, becoming poorer, that is subject to restrictions on  education will encourage extremism in its worst forms,&#8221; warned Gaylard.</p>
<p>Deputy  director-general of the Israeli ministry of public diplomacy, Danny  Seaman, however, said: &#8220;Hamas uses access to Israel to perpetrate terror  attacks against our civilians and this immediate threat outweighs the  concern over increased militancy amongst youth in Gaza.&#8221;</p>
<p>Some 71% of university students surveyed by <a title="UNESCO reported " href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001904/190400e.pdf">UNESCO reported</a> (pdf) they were not hopeful about the future and almost the same number worried there will be another war.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most  of my peers want to emigrate,&#8221; said Shadi, a 26-year-old physical  therapist in Gaza City. &#8220;We are isolated and frustrated.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/mar/21/gaza-higher-education-blockade">Source</a></p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[https://i1.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/3/17/1300379235523/Palestinian-boy-in-ruins--007.jpg?fit=440%2C330]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[440]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[264]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>