by Sanaa Kamal
RAMALLAH, Sept 7 (NNN-XINHUA) – Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children returned to schools in the West Bank, following a six-month closure, imposed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19.
All schools run by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Education, and private institutions, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), reopened amid the strict precautionary and preventive measures.
The PA decided that all students from grades one to four, as well as, the 12th grade, will start their lessons in classrooms, while the rest of the students will join them two weeks later.
Sadiq al-Khadour, a spokesman of the Ministry of Education, said, about 300,000 students returned to classes, adding, they are obliged by precautionary measures, including wearing of facial masks and gloves. Ahead of the school year, all educational institutions were sterilised.
Al-Khadour added that Palestinian students are returning gradually to school. Each student will attend classes for only three days a week, as part of precautionary measures to contain the virus.
Muawiya Omar, head of UNRWA Education Programme in the West Bank, said, about 46,000 Palestine refugee students have returned to 96 schools belonging to UNRWA in various districts of the West Bank.
“We will implement a series of programmes that aim at presenting psychological support to the students, who have been negatively affected by staying at home for a long time,” he said, while inspecting a school at the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus.
Both the government and UNRWA schools will be encouraged to integrate traditional education with distance learning, to reduce the number of hours for students to stay at school.
Besides, officials decided to close the school canteens in the current period, calling on students to bring their own food and water bottles.
Bassem Erekat, general director of Education in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, said that, their academic staff will teach students how to deal with COVID-19, by urging them to follow health instructions and making the precautionary measures a part of their daily routine.
On Mar 5, the Palestinian government declared a state of emergency, imposing a series of precautionary restrictions. All schools, universities, mosques, and restaurants were shut down, and public gatherings have been prohibited, especially in marketplaces.
So far, Palestine recorded 33,250 cases, including 199 fatalities.– NNN-XINHUA
