Another school in Palestine has been reduced to rubble just ahead of the start of the new academic year. Israeli authorities demolished two administrative rooms and a storeroom at the Sha’b al-Butum school in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank on August 4.
According to the United Nations, Israel says the structures were demolished because they lacked construction permits.
But the rest of the school is now also under threat of demolition. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for September 15. As a result, students face uncertainty over whether they will be able to return to school for the new academic year.
The head of the local council in Masafer Yatta says all seven schools in the area are now at risk of demolition.
According to UN figures, 84 Palestinian schools serving roughly 13,000 students in Area C of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are currently subject to demolition orders or stop-work orders.
Palestinian officials say that, alongside school demolitions, settler violence and movement restrictions are also pushing students away from education.
The UN says it is extremely difficult for Palestinians to obtain Israeli construction permits in Area C. As a result, if schools under threat of demolition are closed, it is not easy to transfer students to other schools either.
So, at the start of the academic year, instead of returning to school with books and notebooks, Palestinian children are left waiting — uncertain whether their school will survive at all.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report