Gaza: How is it to be in the graduation class of 2025
Before the war, Students In Gaza they were surrounded by books, not bombs. They woke up every morning with the voices of their mothers who urged them to get ready for school, not with the sound of air raids and screams. They were focused on building a future, hard workers to form a better life for themselves and their homeland.
Before the war started, I and my best friends went to the restaurants near the university, we were discussing, laughed, ate and study together, eating our breakfast together under a blue sky before going to the first lecture.
Prior to the war, all schools and universities were under the energy of students and teachers. Now, many of these buildings have become ruins. The last day the students went to school was Thursday, October 5th 2023. That day became a tragic line between regularity and chaos, Between life and death.
« Continuing genocide that has crushed souls in Gaza »
Read how describes Nadera Mushthawriter and poet from Gaza, who studies English at the Islamic University of the city what has happened and is done in the long -awaited Gaza.
« On that day, my first lecture was the poetry lesson with Dr. Refaat Alareer. He entered the classroom holding his macbook and our lesson book. I remember the first lecture of the first semester, started with a conversation about a poem, and his teaching was impeccable, and every word he said kept the attention of all students. His lectures were like performances, and each was a story.
Schools in Gaza have turned into shelters
On the night of October 6, I couldn’t sleep and I didn’t know why. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but all my efforts were in vain. I began to worry about what would happen the next day if I didn’t sleep. What would happen if I woke up slowly and lost the beginning of Dr. Refat? Eventually, I slept and when I woke up it was not from the sound of my alarm clock, but by the bombs. To date, I wish I could sleep and wake up to go to my university, as if this terrible war was just a nightmare that never really happened.
Thousands of students have been killed by occupation in a brutal, ongoing genocide that has crushed souls, destroyed houses and turned every corner of the road into a place of mourning. Tens of thousands of others have been injured, displaced or forced to leave one temporary shelter to another. My poetry professor, Dr. Refat, who was an internationally recognized poet, was killed in December 2023. «
« Salvation of Salvation or Education »
»Since the beginning of the war, life has become a daily struggle, survival in scenes, under fire, surrounded by destruction. These students have witnessed scenes that no one should ever see: death, bloodshed and sadness. Nevertheless, education remains a lifeline, a small piece of hope and regularity in the midst of horror.
Even before they could return to their studies, they were forced to learn new, hard lessons: how to move quickly under fire, how to transport water from distant places, how to bury their loved ones on their own, because in Gaza, every day it brings another funeral.
Many students returned to their schools not to study but to find refuge with their families
Some students tried to continue their lessons in improvised scenes, under the guidance of students or teachers who were still committed to education. Some students turned to electronic learning with local universities, while others submitted applications abroad in search of a future.
My sister, who goes to high school, reads alone despite the lack of books. Could only read in the morning because there is no electricity or lights in the evening.
There are no school books in the city, people burn them as fuel for cooking. Students also need paper, but they are very expensive now. Students pay a dollar for a sheet of paper. Students try to download and print pdf books needed for the lesson. How is it possible to buy or print more than a hundred pages for each book? «
‘We still hold our pens like weapons of truth’
»As a University student, I completed my third year of my studies during the war. I encountered countless challenges. The internet was disconnected during exams or lectures, leaving me helpless. I remember attending a lesson on my phone, hidden under a ladder, while the sky was burning red. I couldn’t hear my teacher through the sound of drones, but I refused to lose a lesson.
This is supposed to be the year of my graduation, the year I would stand among friends and colleagues, wearing hats and robes on the stage of our University. But everything has changed. Many of our classmates have been killed, one after the other, and the scene of our university burned down and turned into a refuge. They replaced the songs of the feast with the sounds of death.
Despite the horror, we Gaza students still hold our pens as weapons of truth. We write, we learn, we dream. Our schools may have been turned into ruins, but our will is stronger than any bomb. «
