I visited the Deir Ebzee village school just after the start of the new school year. Parents and teachers of the village built the school themselves as the Israelis did not take responsibility of building schools very seriously. After a small and much delayed contribution from the Civil Administration the Director now hopes for help from UNRWA; meanwhile, blackboards and teachers' chairs have been bought on credit. On the roof rises high, for the first time, the Palestinian flag; in the director's office hangs the picture of President 'Arafat. These are the signs of the change that has only just begun, of the hope that things will change. There are many big problems to deal with: overcrowding, for example. I cannot imagine this many children in one room, squatting against the wall of the classroom because there are not enough desks and chairs for everyone, or sitting on cardboard boxes, stones, in one room even on the unpaved floor. Lined up, elbow to elbow, 54 per class, behind iron desks fit for a museum.
The tiny director's room holds the few books the school owns. If you don't have money to replace desks that are falling to pieces, how do you buy books? The same office also serves as a teacher's room. There are only two stoves for winter, stacked away on a cupboard; I cannot imagine how these can keep things warm. In a corner I notice three balls, but there is no playground.
The walls of the girls' school I visited in Kufr Na'ama still bear the graffiti reminders of the intifada; on the roof iron spikes reach up to the sky: the second floor of the school was never built. Rooms in this school are tiny, overcrowded, deteriorated. There is not heating during the winter and sometimes class is suspended due to flooding. There is no library, lab or sports area. The director speaks about the school with a subdued voice, embarrassed; but it is not she who is responsible for this neglect. As I leave the children's smiles, I feel that I, too, have learned a lesson.
Elaine Clark
Educational Network, POB 66, Ramallah, West Bank
tel: 02 995 6230/fax: 02 995 6231 e-mail: eclark@ednet.birzeit.edu