Gaza Herald – Gaza’s education system is entering its fourth consecutive year of collapse amid Israel’s devastating genocide on the Strip, with the Gaza Center for Human Rights warning that the destruction of schools, students, teachers and educational infrastructure has made education one of the war’s most serious casualties.
According to figures documented by the center, more than 20,051 school-age students have been killed since the war began, while another 19,886 have been pushed out of education due to displacement, travel, detention or injury. More than 532 teachers have also been killed, along with more than 769 education ministry employees and administrative and support workers.
The crisis has also created a major demographic and educational gap. Gaza had around 609,751 school-age children before the genocide and was expected to reach 665,769 students in the 2026-27 academic year. Current estimates put the figure at only 625,832, a shortfall of nearly 40,000 children compared with the prewar trajectory.
Schooling itself has been drastically reduced. Annual school days have fallen from 200 to 60, while weekly classroom hours have dropped from 30 to 12. Gaza’s 584 school buildings have suffered extensive damage, including 96 completely destroyed and 44 partially destroyed, while hundreds of thousands of desks and seats and thousands of classroom boards have been lost.
The rights group said the destruction extends beyond buildings to the broader educational system, including teachers, equipment, administration and student records. It warned that years of interrupted schooling are creating learning losses that will be increasingly difficult to reverse, particularly for children who have been deprived of formal education for several consecutive years.
The center said schools and educational facilities are protected as civilian objects under international humanitarian law and called for attacks on students, teachers and schools to be investigated. It noted that while the term “educide” describes the systematic destruction of education and knowledge, it is not itself an independent legal category of genocide, though such destruction may be relevant when assessing the broader context of alleged international crimes.
The Gaza Center for Human Rights called for urgent international action to protect civilians and educational facilities, investigate alleged violations and fund the reconstruction of Gaza’s schools. It also urged UNESCO, UNICEF and UNRWA to support educational supplies, school rehabilitation, psychosocial care and remedial education, warning that continued destruction risks leaving an entire generation without the education and institutional foundations needed to rebuild Gaza.
