Just the Facts: Education Funding and Policy
- UNRWA operates 711 elementary and preparatory schools across the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.
- UNRWA schools serve over 539K students.
- Average class sizes in UNRWA schools in Gaza increased to 41.2 students in 2018-19.
- In 2018, the UN documented 111 different cases of interference (threats of demolition, clashes between students and security forces, teachers stopped at checkpoints, and violent actions of Israeli forces and settlers) to education in the West Bank affecting more than 19,000 children.
- As of 2015, 82% of Palestinian youth age 15-17 were enrolled in education.
- 36% of Palestinian youth in East Jerusalem drop out of school.
- 13% of Palestinian youth drop out of schools in East Jerusalem each year, compared to 1% of youth in West Jerusalem.
- East Jerusalem has a classroom shortage of 3,794.
- 31,485 Palestinian children of compulsory school age in East Jerusalem are unaccounted for in official municipal data and records.
- 36 classrooms are constructed each year in East Jerusalem; 70 are required to accommodate natural growth.
- 45.4% of Palestinian students in East Jerusalem study in recognized but unofficial schools.
Sources
- “Palestinian Youth with a special focus on Jerusalem” from PASSIA.
- “What We Do: Education” from UNRWA.
- “The State of Education in East Jerusalem: Discrimination against the Backdrop of COVID-19” from Ir Amim.
- “Palestinian children’s education deeply impacted by ‘interference’ around West Bank schools, UN warns” from the UN.
Learning More To go deeper, we will be developing an extensive list of Additional Resources at the bottom of this week’s entry as well as a YouTube playlist on the subject.