The Director of Communications and Private Sector Partnerships at the Qatari "Education Above All" Foundation, Taj Suleiman, announced that her country is exploring possible options to restore the educational sector in the Gaza Strip.

Suleiman stated that this initiative aims to reintegrate thousands of students who have lost their educational opportunities due to the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for the past nine months.

Taj Suleiman added in an interview with "Sputnik": "One of our programs aims to enact children's right to education. On a global level, we are the fourth largest partner of UNICEF in terms of the volume of work and the amount of assistance provided to youth, and we are on par with an organization like Save the Children."

According to her, the foundation's various programs target different age groups, notably the "Fakhoura" program, which was established to assist the youth of Gaza in obtaining higher education since its launch in 2009, under the name of one of the schools affiliated with the United Nations that was destroyed by the Israeli army.

Qatari contributions to the Gaza Strip..

For his part, Hani Shihada, head of the "Fakhoura" youth education program at the "Education Above All" Foundation, stated that Qatar has rebuilt more than 100 educational institutions in the Gaza Strip following the 2014 war.

He added: "During the 2014 war, more than 100 different educational institutions were destroyed in the Gaza Strip, and the "Education Above All" Foundation rebuilt and restored all of them, including schools and universities."

He pointed out that the foundation has worked to improve these buildings using unique architectural solutions, allowing educational institutions to fulfill not only their educational missions but also transforming them into venues for cultural entertainment or shelters during wars. However, the destruction that occurred in Gaza during this war was unprecedented, leading to the total or partial destruction of the restored educational institutions once again.

Shihada confirmed that the "Fakhoura" house established by the foundation in Gaza City, where students and their families gather to participate in educational programs, cultural projects, and recreational activities, did not survive the Israeli bombardment.

Resuming educational operations in the Gaza Strip..

Shihada added: "Basically, we are active in organizing the educational process, and this is being implemented locally, even though we are also providing scholarships for studying in Qatar. So far, the foundation has provided scholarships for education and expenses for 100 students from Gaza, and some of them have been evacuated and managed to start their studies."

He further said: "We are also in discussions with various universities worldwide about the possibility of accepting students from Gaza for study, and we would like to discuss this matter with Russian universities."

He noted that the foundation is cooperating with Palestinian universities in the West Bank, where it has begun to financially support students to enable virtual learning opportunities for students from Gaza.

He continued: "However, it is currently difficult to implement that from Gaza itself due to a lack of internet and electricity shortages. Many Palestinian students have managed to travel from Gaza to Egypt and other countries, where they can benefit from this remote learning, particularly with the leading educational institution in the region, Birzeit University, with which we have established cooperation."

Shihada pointed out that the foundation has received many proposals from potential partners, including various United Nations organizations, to restore the educational sector in Gaza, and we have received innovative ideas, but implementation cannot begin until a real ceasefire is achieved.

According to him, the famous architect Zaha Hadid previously provided the foundation with drawings and designs for so-called "mobile" schools for refugee camps during the Syrian crisis, and the foundation is now considering applying that approach to avoid waiting for the restoration of educational institutions in Gaza, which could take years before it becomes possible to import construction materials there.

United Nations data indicates that 625,000 school-age children and tens of thousands of students in the Gaza Strip are currently deprived of the opportunity to study due to the war in the Gaza Strip.

The "Education Above All" Foundation was established in Qatar in 2012 and has helped more than 16 million children in 60 countries obtain education or participate in educational programs.