The New Academic Year Begins in the West Bank Provinces (Video)

SadaNews - The new academic year 2025/2026 commenced today, Monday, in the West Bank provinces, after being delayed for about a week, due to the ongoing repercussions of the financial crisis resulting from the occupation's piracy of clearance funds.

Minister of Education Amjad Barham launched the academic year from the Deir Jarir Secondary School for Girls, where 800,000 students headed to their seats in 2,459 public and private schools and schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), receiving their education from 51,447 male and female teachers, along with around 22,000 students from abroad, mostly in the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The academic year was scheduled to begin at the start of this month, but it was postponed due to the continuing ramifications of the financial crisis facing the State of Palestine as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation's economic blockade; the piracy of clearance funds, and its implications for completing the readiness to start the academic year on the scheduled date.

In the besieged Gaza Strip, the occupation's aggression has denied more than 630,000 male and female students their right to education for the third consecutive year since October 7, 2023, in addition to more than 58,000 who are supposed to enroll in the first grade for the new academic year.

The war on Gaza has resulted in over 25,000 children being either martyrs or injured, including more than 10,000 school students, amidst the destruction of 90% of the 307 public school buildings.

Most of the schools operated by UNRWA (around 200) in the Gaza Strip have turned into shelters for the displaced, and 70% of them have been bombed, with some completely destroyed and others significantly damaged. According to UNRWA, four out of five school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged.