3/2/2006
UNICEF helps children with education kits in Gaza Strip

More than 70,000 children in the Gaza Strip are set to benefit from key educational and sports supplies given provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund as the agency works to improve education standards among Palestinian students.

UNICEF said last week that a recent math and science achievement test in the occupied Palestinian territory had shown a decline in learning. The territory was “among the lowest ranking countries” in the survey.

“The quality of the educational services is hampered by restricted access and lack of essential supplies,” the agency, noting this was particularly true in the worst affected areas such as Al Mawasi and Juhr Edeek where the UNICEF kits would now go.

The UN agency said its contribution was aimed at supporting the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s goals of achieving “universal primary education, creating school environments that encourage children, including girls, to enrol and complete school, and improving the quality of education” especially for the most marginalized children.

UNICEF, which has been working to improve the situation of children and women in the occupied Palestinian territory since the early 1980s, said its donation was made possible thanks to financial support from the Governments of Luxembourg and the Netherlands.