The Experience of the Culture and Free Thought Association in Gaza
By: Manar Alzraiy
December 2024
As the war on Gaza continues, educational institutions remain at the heart of the humanitarian crisis. Schools have been transformed into emergency shelters, and the roles of teachers and educational staff have shifted dramatically. Teachers have found themselves transitioning from their traditional roles of instruction to emergency tasks, ranging from distributing relief supplies and managing shelter centers to performing administrative duties that meet the urgent needs of the present situation.
In this context, education has faced monumental challenges, including widespread destruction of educational infrastructure, compounded by power outages and limited internet access. The devastating psychological and living conditions caused by the war have further impacted teachers and students, with some losing their lives or sustaining injuries, while others endure harsh living conditions, such as residing in tents instead of their homes.
These sudden changes have cast a shadow over the educational process, turning schools from spaces of learning into arenas of survival, reflecting the profound impact of the war on the educational community as a whole.
Initiatives to Bridge the Educational Gap
Despite these catastrophic circumstances, numerous individual and collective educational initiatives have emerged. These include efforts led by civil society organizations both inside and outside shelter centers, ranging from small-scale to large-scale, in-person and online formats, aimed at saving an entire generation of children affected by the realities of war. Fearing the loss of this generation, many stakeholders have launched initiatives to address children’s needs amidst the prolonged and evolving crisis.
These initiatives have played a pivotal role in bridging the educational gap by providing alternative learning opportunities. Among the most notable examples is the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA), which responded to emergency educational needs by leveraging its crisis management approach and organizational structure. The association operates across multiple areas in Gaza and draws on its long history of partnerships with international and local institutions.
The Culture and Free Thought Association: Outstanding Efforts in Supporting Education
According to Amal Ibrahim Khudair, Director of Childhood and Education Programs at the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA), which was established during the First Palestinian Intifada, the association’s educational activities before the war focused on the “Our Children, Our Future” project. This project aimed to support low-performing students through active learning, alongside teacher training and fostering a supportive educational environment for children.
With the outbreak of war, the association shifted its focus towards improving the psychological and educational conditions of children affected by the trauma of war and interruptions to their education. New activities included recreational, health, relief, nutritional, and awareness programs, as well as psychological support and case management, particularly for orphaned children and those separated from their families due to displacement. Educational activities were expanded to encompass all grade levels through what is known as “educational spaces.”
Khudair explained: “We call them educational spaces because they range from tents to open areas or any place we can prepare and use. It wouldn’t be accurate to call them schools or classrooms due to the extensive destruction of educational infrastructure.”
The association provides these services across 11 educational spaces, serving 6,000 children with the participation of 230 teachers and 30 core staff members. The educational activities focus on core subjects: Arabic, mathematics, science, and English, while integrating life skills such as leadership, protection from exploitation, and coping with wartime conditions.
Each educational space includes specialized teachers for core subjects in addition to a classroom teacher. The school day is divided into four daily sessions to accommodate the largest possible number of children while maintaining small class sizes of no more than 20 students per class to ensure the quality of education.
The educational spaces managed by the association target students in lower and upper elementary grades, as well as middle school levels. These spaces are located in Deir al-Balah, al-Zawaida, Khan Younis, and al-Qarara. In Gaza City, however, the association’s efforts are limited to providing psychological support and case management spaces due to a lack of resources and personnel.
The association’s educational work also includes teacher training activities through workshops on active learning, managing children during times of war, psychological first aid, and children’s general health.
Passion for Education and Strong Community Engagement
For children living in shelters, these educational spaces provide a welcome escape from the harshness of daily life, such as standing in long lines for food and water.
Ms. Khudair vividly describes the initial moments of opening the educational spaces, where children rushed to register, sitting on the ground or on relief boxes they had transformed into makeshift desks and tables. For children living in shelters, these educational spaces provide a welcome escape from the harshness of daily life, such as standing in long lines for food and water. They arrive at the educational tents well-groomed, with neatly combed hair and wearing the best clothes they managed to save.
Ms. Khudair recounts a deeply emotional moment during the first recreational activity when she wept while watching the children eagerly participate in activities at “Tomorrow’s Builders School,” one of the association’s sites. Over 1,200 students attend this site daily, bringing with them an extraordinary spirit of hope and life despite the dire challenges they face.
Even with severe resource shortages, such as a lack of furniture and stationery, the children exhibit an exceptional passion for learning. In many cases, two children share a single notebook to ensure that everyone can participate. This passion extends beyond the children to include the educational staff and parents. The association’s team is marked by a deep sense of dedication and a commitment to serving Palestinian children, while parents demonstrate steadfast resolve and a belief that their children deserve life and that education is the key to their future.
“What makes this work possible is the shared passion among the children, the educational staff, and the parents….This passion and hope are what drive us to continue, no matter the circumstances.”
Ms. Khudair emphasizes: “What makes this work possible is the shared passion among the children, the educational staff, and the parents. We need thousands of educational spaces to accommodate the large number of children eager to learn. This passion and hope are what drive us to continue, no matter the circumstances.”
Collaboration with Local and International Organizations
Thanks to its history as a trusted partner of international and local organizations, the association has been able to implement educational activities and deliver support to beneficiaries despite the immense challenges of bringing aid into Gaza. It has also succeeded in creating more expansive, organized, and sustainable educational initiatives, targeting a larger number of students through a clear and integrated vision.
Support provided includes teacher and trainer salaries, school supplies, and backpacks for children, along with food assistance such as fortified biscuits distributed to students and hygiene kits.
In addition to the Safe Educational Spaces project supported by UNICEF and the UN Population Fund, the association is implementing several other projects that serve the education sector in Gaza during the war. These include the provision of psychosocial support, informal educational services funded by the Arab Palestinian Investment Company, the Recovery of Learning and Well-Being for Children project, and a project for providing psychosocial support and skill development for children affected by the war, supported by the Japanese Campaign for Palestinian Children.
Ms. Khudair highlights the ongoing communication with the Ministry of Education in Gaza. Supervisory delegations regularly visit the association’s operational areas to monitor educational activities. The ministry also approves the educational plans developed by the association’s teams, ensuring alignment with the ministry’s vision and goals.
Educational experts working with the association have designed a unified educational plan for all the educational spaces, based on the emergency educational packages approved by the ministry. These plans are implemented using active learning strategies rather than traditional methods.
The association receives the educational packages electronically and distributes them to teachers and parents, while providing printed copies for teachers and worksheets for students as resources allow, despite challenges such as power outages and limited printing capabilities.
Ms. Khudair states: “We work in coordination with the Ministry of Education to have the lessons we provide recognized as formal education. This allows students to complete an entire academic year in four months. For instance, a student can receive a certificate for completing fifth grade in December, then complete another four months to finish sixth grade by May. This helps make up for the educational loss caused by the war, which has persisted since October 2023.”
Challenges Faced by CFTA Amidst the Ongoing War
According to Amal Khudair, CFTA faces significant challenges due to the ongoing war. From a security perspective, the team endures daily risks to their lives because of constant bombardments. The association has tragically lost some team members, who have either been killed or injured. At times, the association is forced to halt its activities due to bombings targeting the areas where it operates or the shelters housing children.
The association also suffers from a severe shortage of resources, such as fuel necessary for transportation, which complicates travel between cities. The team sometimes resorts to communication through the internet or phone despite power outages and weak telecommunications networks. On occasion, they must travel long distances on foot or use animal-drawn carts. Additionally, they face challenges due to the scarcity of stationery and educational tools, compounded by high prices.
Ms. Khudair notes that the association urgently needs more stable and effective classrooms to replace tents, equipped with proper furniture, adequate supplies of stationery, and clothing and footwear for children, especially during the winter season.
“Our children in Gaza, who endure bombing and destruction, deserve life and education just as much as any child in the world. We will continue striving to secure this right, even with the simplest resources.”
Despite these obstacles, the association spares no effort in overcoming these difficulties. Ms. Khudair states:
“What drives us to continue our work despite these insurmountable challenges is our unwavering belief in the right of Palestinian children to education. Our children in Gaza, who endure bombing and destruction, deserve life and education just as much as any child in the world. We will continue striving to secure this right, even with the simplest resources.”
A Vision for Ensuring Sustainable Education in Gaza
The association has developed contingency plans to ensure the continuity of the educational process once the war ends, families return to their homes, and shelters are vacated. Its teams have created a comprehensive database containing the names of students, their displacement locations, original residences, contact information, and means of communication with their families. This database will facilitate the redistribution of educational spaces and teachers. The plan aims to relocate the current educational spaces, which are near shelters, to neighborhoods where students will reside after their return.
Ms. Khudair explains:
“These measures are essential, especially as the return to formal education and the natural operation of schools may take a long time. Schools that have been converted into shelters require extensive rehabilitation, in addition to those that suffered significant damage or were completely destroyed by the bombings. The restoration and rebuilding process could take up to a year before schools are ready to welcome students again.”
Ms. Khudair reaffirmed the association’s commitment to continuing the educational activities initiated during the war to ensure that students’ education persists under these circumstances. Once the situation stabilizes, the association plans to resume its core pre-war activities, such as supporting low-performing students and enhancing teachers’ skills through targeted training programs aimed at formal education institutions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the experience of the Culture and Free Thought Association in supporting education during the war in Gaza stands as an inspiring example of community and educational resilience in the face of crises. Despite the severe challenges imposed by the war, the association has demonstrated exceptional adaptability to emergency conditions, offering comprehensive educational initiatives that address the psychological and educational needs of children and help mitigate the learning losses caused by the conflict.
The children’s passion for learning and their eagerness to attend educational spaces, even amid bombing and destruction, reflect their thirst for hope and life. At the same time, the dedication of the educational staff and the steadfast commitment of parents underscore a collective determination to ensure children’s right to education.
Amid the ongoing war and continuous challenges, the importance of strengthening local and international partnerships becomes ever more apparent to secure the resources needed and support the sustainability of these initiatives. Protecting the Palestinian child’s right to education in such harsh circumstances is not merely a moral obligation but an investment in a brighter future for a people living under the weight of occupation and aggression.