Gaza’s back-to-school coverage misses the crucial test: what are children being taught? – analysis

Gaza students recently returned to in-person schooling for the first time in nearly three years, a development that news coverage, such as a Reuters story, largely focused on logistical challenges like destroyed schools, makeshift classrooms, and the lack of supplies. While these aspects are important, the article argues that the most critical omission in such reporting is what is being taught in these schools. The author emphasizes that for Gaza to have a different future, the educational system must move beyond indoctrinating children with hatred towards Jews and Israel, which has been alleged and documented by Israel and educational monitoring organizations.

“Give me a child for eight years, and I'll give you the future forever.”

A senior US official, referencing a quote commonly attributed to Lenin, highlighted at the Middle East America Dialogue conference that whoever educates the children shapes the future. Israeli participants at the same conference stressed that the deradicalization of Gaza, particularly its education system, is paramount for any peace process to succeed, requiring a generational effort. The article concludes that without a fundamental ideological transformation, including vetting teachers, revising textbooks to remove incitement and antisemitism, and external monitoring of curricula, merely reopening schools will not offer Gaza's children a different future.