Gaza Students Prepare for Final Exams in Tents After Two Years Without Schools

Across the Gaza Strip, students are preparing for one of the most important exams of their lives without classrooms, textbooks or, in many cases, functioning schools.

The Tawjihi secondary school examinations — the final exams taken across the Palestinian territories and Jordan — are scheduled to begin on 20 June. But in Gaza, where war and displacement have devastated the education system, preparation for the exams now takes place inside tents, overcrowded shelters and partially destroyed buildings.

According to estimates from UNICEF, nearly all educational facilities in Gaza have either been severely damaged or rendered unusable. The agency says more than 90 percent of schools now require major reconstruction or complete rebuilding, while hundreds of buildings previously used for education have been converted into shelters for displaced civilians.

Roughly 658,000 school-age children have been out of formal in-person education for more than two consecutive years. Education officials inside Gaza say simply organizing the exams has become an enormous logistical challenge.

Mohammed Hamdan, director of education in central Gaza, said authorities are trying to secure the most basic conditions necessary for students to sit exams, including chairs, stationery and temporary examination spaces. He described the current circumstances as unlike anything education officials had experienced before, explaining that many students are attempting to study without textbooks, notes or stable learning environments.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education has also expanded exam registration this year to include students who missed previous graduation opportunities during the disrupted academic years of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Officials hope the move will help absorb the educational backlog created by nearly two years of conflict and displacement.

Teachers say the collapse of Gaza’s school infrastructure has forced education into improvised spaces that barely resemble classrooms.

Louay Ballour, a teacher in central Gaza, said lessons are now often conducted inside tents or temporary shelters, with students sitting on the ground during classes. He described the destruction of educational facilities as nearly total and said teachers are attempting to continue instruction with whatever resources remain available.

Educators also report growing psychological trauma among students, especially younger children. Teachers say many students struggle with concentration, anxiety and emotional distress after prolonged exposure to war, displacement and instability.

For students themselves, education has become inseparable from displacement.

Many families have been forced to move multiple times across Gaza, disrupting school attendance and separating students from teachers, classmates and study materials. Some students who once attended regular classes in northern Gaza are now trying to continue their education in central or southern parts of the territory after fleeing combat zones.

Mohammed Kamal, originally from Jabalia in northern Gaza, said daily school life before the war had followed a normal structure, with regular schedules and full lessons. Now, he said, students often receive only a few classes a day under far more difficult conditions.

Another student, Hassan al-Sawafiri, said many young people feel they are trying to recover years of lost education while living through continuing instability.

The strain on Gaza’s education system has been intensified by the heavy toll on teachers and academic staff. According to figures previously cited by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, hundreds of teachers had already been killed during the conflict by mid-2024, with casualties continuing afterward.

A later assessment by UNESCO found that more than 1,100 university staff members had reportedly been killed, injured or detained since the war began in October 2023. UNICEF has also stated that nearly all university buildings in Gaza have suffered either partial or complete destruction.

The educational collapse now stretches far beyond damaged buildings. Aid agencies warn that the longer children remain disconnected from stable schooling, the harder it becomes to prevent long-term social, economic and psychological consequences.

At the same time, the effort to hold exams under such conditions has taken on symbolic importance for many families and educators inside Gaza. In a territory where normal life has largely disappeared, simply sitting an exam has become an act of persistence.

For students revising lessons under canvas roofs while surrounded by displacement camps and ruins, education is no longer only about grades or graduation. It is also about holding onto some version of a future — even when the classroom walls no longer exist.