Private schools become a costly choice for struggling parents in Gaza

Gaza families face difficult choices: send children to schools in tents with few resources to pay for private school.

The new school year has not yet officially begun in Gaza. According to the Ministry of Education, classes are scheduled to start on September 19 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/ Al Jazeera]

Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip — In their tent in central Gaza, Khadija Abu Qados gets her 11-year-old daughter, Jouri, ready for another day at school amid the ongoing Israeli air raids and crippling financial crisis.

The family has been living in a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah since their neighbourhood, Sheikh Radwan, in northern Gaza, was destroyed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza City last September.

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Like their home, the classrooms for Jouri and her 14-year-old sister, Ritaj, at Elyaa’ School are also tents. There are few chairs or desks, so children usually sit on mattresses and carpets when they learn. There is no air conditioning or fans, so the heat makes it difficult for children to focus.

Students attend classes at the Elyaa School, which is operating from tents in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, with limited resources [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/ Al Jazeera]

The children have already spent long periods out of school since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023. Online classes were a challenge due to difficulties in internet access during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Now, Jouri and two of her siblings attend a nearby school run by volunteer teachers near their camp, which charges 30 shekels ($8) a month. Even though it is far cheaper than private schools, the modest fee is difficult for the family to afford when food, water and other basic needs come first.

“If I could afford it, I would send them to private school,” 39-year-old Khadija told Al Jazeera.

Before the war, her daughters attended an UNRWA school in Gaza City, where her children performed well and were praised for their achievements.

Now, she watches them study in tents. The conditions may be difficult, but the teachers are helping her children catch up with missed school time.

“The teaching here is excellent [but] I feel sad for my children because they are studying in these difficult circumstances. There are no chairs and no proper seats. This is not an educational environment at all,” she said.

School principal Noha Khader has limited resources and stresses the need for additional support to keep classes operating [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/ Al Jazeera] (Restricted Use)

“Even the stationery is something I can barely afford because prices have become so high. A single notebook costs between four and six shekels.”

The family’s experiences reflect a wider education crisis in Gaza after nearly three years of war.

Around 700,000 children aged between four and 17 had missed formal, face-to-face schooling for almost three consecutive school years during Israel’s war on Gaza, UNICEF said in May.

Just two percent of all school buildings are undamaged and 93 percent of them require major repairs or complete reconstruction. About 420,000 children – three in five – had no access to face-to-face learning.

Israeli air raids are a constant threat, with at least 300 children killed since last October’s “ceasefire”. Last week, eight-year-old Wafaa Akila and her father were killed when their car was struck on the way back home from school in western Gaza.

With the formal education system in ruins, parents and teachers have stepped in, opening temporary learning spaces in tents and volunteer initiatives.

Zahra Saleh works as a kindergarten teacher at the school for a small fee, in exchange for her children’s tuition being waived [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/ Al Jazeera]

Noha Khadra, who spent 10 years as a teacher, opened the Elyaa’ School in January, operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Education.

Pupils learn in tents with a few desks and not enough chairs, while other essentials such as blackboards are in poor condition.

More than 1,100 students have enrolled in the ‘field school, but there are only 40 volunteer teachers and administrative staff.

Despite the obstacles, she said there is high demand for places in the school, but a lack of resources and staff has meant a gruelling initial nine months for the principal.

“At the beginning, there were no tables. The children were sitting on mattresses. Many students come to us without stationery… so we buy it for them ourselves as much as we can,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I am honestly upset about the classroom conditions. This project has drained my energy, and I cannot provide more than what I am already doing.”

The school provides children with a place away from the everyday pressures of displacement and also access to essentials for survival, such as water.

The situation in private schools is better than the voluntary centres, but the high costs make them affordable only to a minority of parents in Gaza.

Zahra Saleh, 25, enrolled her six-year-old son, Ibrahim, in first grade and her five-year-old son, Karam, in kindergarten at the Abdul Aziz Private School in the west of Gaza City.

After finding most private schools too expensive, she finally found one she could afford. Zahra’s husband, like many men in Gaza, is unemployed, so paying the 400 shekels ($131) monthly school fees is difficult. But she did not want Ibrahim, who was beginning his first year of formal schooling, to lose any more education.

She also wanted her children to have a regular routine, with classes from 7am to noon. Learning subjects such as Arabic, English and Mathematics as they would have done before the war, was also her hope.

“I’m in a very difficult financial situation. I had to work at the school so I could reduce the cost of the fees for my children,” Zahra told Al Jazeera.

“I taught him at home as much as I could, but children don’t learn everything at home. In the end, we had to send him to a school. It’s just a normal school environment. That’s what I want.”

Families are also struggling with the growing costs of school supplies, with 12 notepads selling for six shekels ($1.96) before the war but now costing four shekels ($1.31) for just one.

Zahra Saleh with her son, Ibrahim, after enrolment at Abdul Aziz Private School in Gaza City [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

The schooling crisis comes at a time of acute financial hardship for almost every Palestinian in Gaza.

Abdul Aziz began as a field school in tents with volunteer teachers in 2024, before moving to its current rented building in Shujaiya, west of Gaza City, for the new school year starting this month.

Around 20 staff teach 300 students, aged between three and 15, a much lower student-to-teacher ratio than in non-private schools.

Gaza’s labour market is now “largely nonfunctional”, with more than 90 percent of working-age people without a job. The World Bank estimated in May that $71.5bn was needed for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.

The financial pressure facing families is part of a broader economic collapse in the Strip. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said Gaza’s GDP contracted by 84 percent in 2025 compared with 2023, while unemployment reached 78 percent.

Doaa Qdeih, the director of Abdul Aziz School, speaks about the challenges of providing her children with an education in war-torn Gaza [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/ Al Jazeera]

Doaa Qdeih, Abdul Aziz Private School’s director, is mindful of the financial difficulties families face, so has some leeway on payments with parents, including Zahra.

“I found a lot of flexibility. They welcomed me, supported me and understood my circumstances,” she said.

The school does not have one fixed fee for every student. Qdeih said she considers each family’s circumstances before deciding what it can pay.

“I don’t set a fixed amount. Before I set the amount, I look at the situation of the people — what they do for work and what the child’s circumstances are — and then we decide what they can afford,” she said.

“We have families who support each other. You find someone who can afford to pay 300 shekels ($80) contributing, while another family cannot pay anything. There is solidarity among us.”

Almost all this money from the fees goes towards rent and operating costs. Qdeih also used profits from another business she owns to furnish and repair the building the school now uses. But she does not see private schools as the solution to Gaza’s education crisis.

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: if the government or the ministry provides places for education, we are ready to volunteer,” she said.

“We don’t want anything in return. We just want to continue serving the children and give them the education they deserve.”

加沙家庭面临艰难的选择：要么送孩子去帐篷学校上学，要么因为缺乏资源而无法支付私立学校的费用。

加沙新学年尚未正式开始。据教育部消息，课程计划于9月19日开始。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]

加沙地带代尔巴拉赫——在加沙中部的一个帐篷里，哈迪贾·阿布·卡多斯正在为她 11 岁的女儿朱莉准备上学，此时以色列正进行着空袭，金融危机也十分严重。

自去年九月以色列对加沙城发动进攻，摧毁了他们位于加沙北部谢赫拉德万的社区后，这家人就一直住在代尔巴拉赫的巴勒斯坦流离失所者营地里。

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清单2（共3项）：伯纳姆必须对英国在加沙种族灭绝中所扮演的角色展开调查。

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和她们的家一样，朱莉和她14岁的妹妹丽塔在埃利亚学校的教室也是帐篷。教室里桌椅很少，孩子们通常坐在床垫和地毯上上课。没有空调也没有风扇，炎热的天气让孩子们难以集中注意力。

学生们在位于加沙中部代尔巴拉赫的埃利亚学校上课，该校目前在帐篷内运作，资源有限。[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

自以色列于 2023 年 10 月开始对加沙发动种族灭绝战争以来，孩子们已经长时间无法上学。由于以色列对加沙发动种族灭绝战争期间互联网接入困难，在线课程也面临挑战。

现在，朱莉和她的两个兄弟姐妹在营地附近的一所由志愿者教师开办的学校上学，每月学费30谢克尔（约合8美元）。虽然这比私立学校便宜得多，但对于这个家庭来说，在食物、水和其他基本生活必需品都优先考虑的情况下，这点学费仍然难以负担。

“如果我负担得起，我会送他们去私立学校，”39岁的哈迪贾告诉半岛电视台。

战前，她的女儿们在加沙城的一所联合国近东救济工程处学校就读，孩子们在那里表现出色，并因其成就而受到表扬。

现在，她看着孩子们在帐篷里学习。条件虽然艰苦，但老师们正在帮助她的孩子们补上落下的课。

“这里的教学质量很好，但我为我的孩子们感到难过，因为他们在这种艰苦的环境下学习。这里没有椅子，也没有像样的座位。这根本不是一个学习环境，”她说。

学校校长诺哈·哈德尔表示，学校资源有限，她强调需要额外的支持才能维持课堂教学。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]（限制使用）

“就连文具我都快买不起了，因为价格太高了。一本笔记本就要四到六谢克尔。”

这个家庭的经历反映了加沙在经历了近三年的战争后，面临的更广泛的教育危机。

联合国儿童基金会5月份表示，在以色列对加沙发动战争期间，约有70万名年龄在4岁至17岁之间的儿童连续近三个学年没有接受正规的面对面教育。

仅有2%的校舍完好无损，其余93%的校舍需要大修或彻底重建。约42万名儿童——占五分之三——无法接受面对面授课。

以色列的空袭持续不断，自去年10月“停火”以来，至少有300名儿童丧生。上周，8岁的瓦法·阿基拉和她的父亲在加沙西部放学回家的路上，汽车遭到袭击身亡。

由于正规教育体系崩溃，家长和教师纷纷站出来，在帐篷里开设临时学习场所，并开展志愿者活动。

扎赫拉·萨利赫在该校担任幼儿园教师，仅收取少量报酬，作为交换，她的孩子可以免交学费。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]

曾任教 10 年的诺哈·卡德拉 (Noha Khadra) 于 1 月份开办了 Elyaa' 学校，该校在教育部的监督下运营。

学生们在帐篷里上课，帐篷里只有几张桌子和足够的椅子，而黑板等其他必需品也状况很差。

超过 1100 名学生报名参加了这所“实地学校”，但只有 40 名志愿者教师和行政人员。

尽管困难重重，她表示学校学位需求量很大，但由于资源和人员短缺，校长最初的九个月过得异常艰辛。

“一开始，连桌子都没有。孩子们只能坐在床垫上。很多学生来的时候都没有文具……所以我们尽可能地自己给他们买，”她告诉半岛电视台。

“说实话，我对课堂条件很不满意。这个项目耗尽了我的精力，我已经尽力了，无法做得更多。”

学校为孩子们提供了一个远离流离失所的日常压力的场所，也让他们能够获得生存必需品，例如水。

私立学校的情况比志愿中心要好，但高昂的费用使得加沙只有少数家长能够负担得起。

25 岁的扎赫拉·萨利赫将她 6 岁的儿子易卜拉欣送入加沙城西部的阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹私立学校读一年级，将她 5 岁的儿子卡拉姆送入幼儿园。

在发现大多数私立学校学费太贵后，她终于找到了一所她能负担得起的学校。和加沙许多男人一样，扎赫拉的丈夫没有工作，所以每月400谢克尔（约合131美元）的学费对她来说很困难。但她不想让即将开始正规教育的第一年的儿子易卜拉欣继续错过任何教育机会。

她还希望孩子们能有规律的作息，从早上7点到中午12点上课。她也希望孩子们能像战前一样学习阿拉伯语、英语和数学等科目。

“我的经济状况非常困难。我不得不在学校工作，这样才能减少孩子们的学费，”扎赫拉告诉半岛电视台。

“我尽可能多地在家教他，但孩子不可能在家学到所有东西。最后，我们不得不送他去学校。那只是一个普通的学校环境。这正是我想要的。”

家庭也正努力应对不断上涨的学习用品成本，战前 12 个笔记本售价 6 谢克尔（1.96 美元），但现在一个笔记本就要 4 谢克尔（1.31 美元）。

扎赫拉·萨利赫和她的儿子易卜拉欣在加沙城阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹私立学校入学后 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

这场教育危机正值加沙几乎所有巴勒斯坦人都面临严重经济困难之际。

阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹学校于 2024 年以帐篷学校的形式开办，由志愿者教师授课。之后，学校搬到了位于加沙城西部舒贾亚的现租校舍，新学年于本月开始。

大约 20 名教职工教授 300 名 3 至 15 岁的学生，师生比远低于非私立学校。

加沙的劳动力市场目前“基本处于瘫痪状态”，超过90%的适龄劳动人口失业。世界银行5月份估计，加沙的复苏和重建需要715亿美元。

家庭面临的经济压力是加沙地带整体经济崩溃的一部分。巴勒斯坦中央统计局表示，加沙地带2025年的国内生产总值比2023年萎缩了84%，失业率高达78%。

阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹学校的校长 Doaa Qdeih 谈到了在饱受战争蹂躏的加沙为孩子们提供教育所面临的挑战 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹私立学校的校长杜阿·库德伊赫 (Doaa Qdeih) 深知家庭面临的经济困难，因此在支付费用方面对家长（包括扎赫拉）有一定的灵活性。

“我发现他们给了我很大的灵活性。他们欢迎我，支持我，并且理解我的处境，”她说。

学校并没有对所有学生收取统一的固定费用。Qdeih表示，她会根据每个家庭的具体情况来决定他们的支付能力。

“我不会设定固定金额。在设定金额之前，我会了解受助者的具体情况——他们的工作内容和孩子的家庭情况——然后再决定他们能够负担得起的金额，”她说。

“我们这里有互相扶持的家庭。有的家庭能负担得起300谢克尔（约合80美元）的捐款，而有的家庭却一分钱也付不起。我们之间有着团结互助的精神。”

几乎所有学费都用于支付租金和运营成本。Qdeih 还动用了她另一家企业的利润来添置和修缮学校现在使用的校舍。但她并不认为私立学校是解决加沙教育危机的良方。

“我以前说过，现在再说一遍：如果政府或教育部提供教育场所，我们愿意做志愿者，”她说。

“我们不求任何回报。我们只想继续为孩子们服务，让他们接受应有的教育。”