Education in conflict situations : Palestinian children and distance education in Hebron

Abstract

This paper presents the plight of Palestinian primary school children in the city of Hebron in the West Bank, and documents the attempts of the Palestinian community to provide an education against all odds. Drawing on fieldwork, observations and interviews carried out by the author in November 2001, the case study provides a background and context, highlighting the difficult situation that Palestinian families find themselves in due to the curfew restrictions imposed by the Israeli Military during the second Intifada. The paper then goes on to describe the way the Palestinian community mobilised itself, with UNICEF support, in order to ensure that children do get the basic education they are entitled to, largely through the development of the Distance Remedial Education Project (DREP). Details of the DREP are given, particularly in relation to the development of self-learning education worksheets, extension remedial programmes, and the use of local TV stations to broadcast lessons. The case study of self-help, decentralised programmes with a high level of school community involvement using locally-available resources and materials shows great promise in the challenge of providing educational services in the context of political conflict and violence, as well as in more regular situations. Not only did students attain the minimal competencies expected at their grade level, but also by far the greater majority remained engaged with the school cycle. Interviews with education officers, heads of schools, teachers, parents and the students themselves also suggest that aspects of the programme provided psychological and social support to students who would have otherwise been even more vulnerable to the distressing effects of the political violence that they witness in their daily lives.