Fate of Education in Gaza due to Recurrence of Conflicts and the 2020 COVID 19 Breakout
July 2020
Blog 2 19th July 2020
IDR 1 – Blog 2
19th July 2020
Now the topic and the title have shaped up in my mind, communicating the idea of the topic with Robert was the next step. What was harder than choosing the topic, was choosing the time to talk to Robbie as we are 8 hours apart. So, we agreed to have the first Skype Call early in the morning for me before I leave to work at 7am. This time is towards the end of Robert’s working hours. Technology failed to allow us to connect on time. I sent an email to Robbie saying I am not able to connect with him on Skype for Business. By the time Robbie saw my email, and prepared to send me a new invitation link, I was out driving on my way to work. I received his invitation halfway through the way. So, I pulled over to the side of the road, and connected to Skype. Our first communication occurred on the side of the road, on a rainy day for me … 😊
A very fruitful discussion indeed, Robbie was very insightful and informational. Moreover, he was very knowledgeable about the topic I communicated with him. Education as a human right and the situation of education in a place like Gaza, that works on very limited resources of food, shelter, electricity and basic needs of life.
The idea of the research that I had in mind to start with, evolved around finding the suitable ground and resources for teaching children in Palestine who are exposed to extreme circumstances of social and emotional isolation. Maybe in such situation, all students are considered special needs learners with difficulties and disabilities, even though the definition of learning difficult or disability here might be different. Those learners, although they don’t get diagnosed with learning difficulties or learning disabilities as per se’, yet they become disadvantaged learners, as they continuously experience oppression, anger, bitterness, regret, sadness, feelings of isolation, losses of family members and homes,.
These learners are socially abundant. They live under occupation that controls their daily lives, basic needs and necessities. They are not part of the globalized world and are not heard by most nations, and not heard by political systems. Their true story is lost, and their identity is stolen.
What I was looking for at the beginning of the talk was is to integrate legitimate Indigenous knowledge of Palestinian education systems and students into having a say in international education development. If there voice is absent from development plans that will be implemented in their schools, it is certainly a postponement in development and a delay in applying solutions. What if there is an indigenous successful practice, that is not defined in today’s sciences and yet to be discovered, will be obsolete as per the list approved in the book?
Therefore, I wanted to research possibilities of providing an education system that:
- is accessible to learners in Palestine
- is served by global educators
- meets international standards
- prepares the learners to join international universities and institutes
- feeds their intellectual, social and emotional needs
- introduces them and their true identity to the world, as well as get them to be introduced to other true stories from the rest of the world. Story telling is a fabulous technique to educate and connect people at a shared moral base.
(hopefully the same procedure will be later applied to suit all leaners in refugee camps as well).
COVID 19 was not the talk at that time. This conversation took place early February 2020.
Robert was well connected to a great resource of support who could help me conduct such a research. Robert linked me with Mr. Sabbah, the president of ACEA (defined in Blog 1).
Global Concepts 