|
By Rania Al Abdullah Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Divided… partitioned… severed.
Wherever you look, Palestine is a fractured land.
In fact, as you have no doubt experienced, it is impossible to visit Palestine and not be confronted by blockades and barriers. As a visitor, it is likely you will have had the luxury of being delayed only momentarily…a brief hiccup in your journey.
It is a luxury the children of Palestine do not enjoy.
Too many little boys and girls begin their school day negotiating hurdles no child should have to: lengthy queues to be let through checkpoints, brusque demands for their identity papers, armed soldiers searching their school bags and schoolbooks. All they want to do is learn. But their day begins with divisions and segregation, with insecurity and fear.
Left unchecked, these feelings can take root and taint the young minds of a new generation. In a region yearning for reconciliation, we simply cannot risk that happening.
Access to quality education, well-equipped classrooms, and motivated teachers eases those feelings. That is why, against all odds, the people of Palestine - parents, grandparents, teachers, and children - fight for the right to education every single day. They know, more than most, the importance of lifelong learning, critical thinking, and innovation, not just for economic progress, but for social and political peace.
In fact, education is the one thing that unites people in this splintered land. They know that a good education equals justice, and the beginning of healing between nations.
But with a burgeoning youth population, restrictions on building new schools, overcrowding, teachers waylaid at checkpoints, and crippling poverty, ensuring that all of Palestine’s children receive the education that is their right requires a herculean effort.
So, one is mobilised.
When roads are closed and children barred from reaching their schools, teachers hold classes at checkpoints. When schools are falling apart, teachers open their homes to students to provide a space to learn. And when there are no teachers, retirees step in to fill the void.
Pride and dedication extend throughout the whole school community.
Recently, I smiled at the story of one headmaster in Jerusalem who demands that students wear clean and pressed uniforms; shirts tucked in regardless of the fact that they are amid a conflict zone. For him, respect for appearance is respect for education.
Teachers, too, have displayed remarkable grit under conditions unthinkable in the West: some have laboured throughout the school year without pay because of a lack of funds. In thanks, some communities have donated money to the schools to help pay wages. One of the main reasons they don’t give up, according to a teacher in Jerusalem, is because “the students push us to stay and teach them more.”
What drives such determination to educate at all costs? Simple: education is a defining trait of the Palestinian national character; it is integral to their identity, their resilience, and their resistance. It is cohesion. It is the preservation of their culture.
And yet, even this spirit, this commitment, cannot guarantee education for all. Currently there are 108,000 Palestinian children out of school, denied an education, through no fault of their own. Ten years ago, this figure was just 4,000.
Those numbers are rapidly going in the wrong direction if we hope to raise a generation of open-minded, tolerant young people; if we hope to secure a future of justice and stability for Palestine and our region; if we hope to heal.
The world needs to hear Palestine’s story: the pursuit for peace … the desire for healing … the craving for education … the longing to rebuild. That’s why your visit here is important. Even as a traveller, just passing through these blessed lands, you can help Palestine’s children by telling their story … in their words.
Thank you.Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Queen Rania Al Abdullah.
No comments:
Post a Comment