RAMALLAH, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Virtual schools were first launched in Gaza on Monday since the Israel-Hamas conflict began last October, according to the Palestinian Education Ministry.
"We are working to save the school year lost due to the war," ministry spokesperson Sadiq al-Khadour told reporters in Ramallah. He said a plan is in place to merge two academic years to help Gaza students catch up, adding that the virtual schools use online platforms to deliver core educational content of all the subjects.
More than 806,360 students enrolled on Monday in 2,459 schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, taught by 51,447 teachers, the ministry said in a statement.
It added that over 630,000 Gaza students have been deprived of education since Oct. 7, 2023.
Most of the roughly 200 UN-run schools in Gaza are now sheltering displaced people, with 70 percent of them bombed and some utterly destroyed, the statement said.
Israel has been conducting large-scale military operations in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people. Around 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to the health authorities in Gaza. ■
