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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced this week that following the start of the ceasefire Gaza, it was reopening some schools in the territory, with children gradually returning to classes.<\/strong><\/p>\n UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X Tuesday that more than 25,000 schoolchildren had already joined the agency\u2019s \u201ctemporary learning spaces\u201d, while some 300,000 would follow online classes.<\/p>\n At Al Hassaina school in western Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, classes had just resumed despite the shortage of available classrooms.<\/p>\n Warda Radwan, an 11-year-old student, said she was looking forward to returning to her learning routine.<\/p>\n \u201cI am in sixth grade now, but I lost two years of schooling because of displacement and the war,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n During the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, Al Hassaina, like many other UNRWA facilities throughout the territory, became a shelter for dozens of displaced families.<\/p>\n Their presence was still visible in the lines of laundry strung across the building\u2019s three floors.<\/p>\n Radwan explained that classes \u201care restarting classes slowly\u201d as the school is emptied of the families living there.<\/p>\n Then, she said, she and her classmates \u201ccan continue learning like we did before\u201d.<\/p>\n In the school\u2019s courtyard on Saturday, young girls lined up for the morning assembly, performing stretching exercises under their teachers\u2019 supervision and chanting: \u201cLong live Palestine!\u201d<\/p>\n As classes began, about 50 girls crammed into a single classroom, sitting on the floor with no desks or chairs.<\/p>\n They responded enthusiastically to the teacher\u2019s questions and eagerly copied the lesson from the blackboard into their notebooks, happy to be back in school after two years.<\/p>\n Another classroom hosted a similar number of older girls in their teens. The conditions were identical \u2014 all sitting on the floor with notebooks resting on their laps.<\/p>\n Jenin Abu Jarad, a relative of one of the students, said she was thankful to see the children back in classes.<\/p>\n \u201cSince October 7, there hasn\u2019t been any school for our children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this time, all they could do was fetch water, get food, or play in the streets. But thankfully, about a week to ten days ago, schools began reopening gradually,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n