Amid rubble and airstrikes, university students in Gaza resume classes online
Shaky internet connections pose a challenge for virtual learning
Before the Israel-Hamas war broke out last October, Halaa Hamdan's daily routine was built around her life at Al Aqsa University in Gaza.
The fourth-year English studies student dedicated her time to studying her courses, and even teaching English at a polytechnic, an opportunity she dreamed of that came to her only two weeks before the war started.
"When I wake up, I'd have a routine, going to the university, meeting my professors, taking the courses I want and fulfilling my course hours," she said.
"Now it's all gone."
According to Palestinian official data, all 12 of Gaza's higher education institutions have been destroyed or damaged, and more than 350 teachers and academics have been killed. Hamdan is one of 90,000 higher education students whose studies have been interrupted.
But now she and other students are feeling a bit of hope as students and faculty at Al Aqsa University and Gaza University are resuming some classes virtually despite shaky internet connections and near-constant danger around them.
"It's a golden opportunity to be able to go back to classes online," said Hamdan, who was been studying virtually for the past two weeks.
Students are among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that Save the Children estimates lack daily essentials and have been forced to sleep outdoors and scavenge for food and water in the rubble.
Even though Hamdan, 20, has been able to resume learning virtually, she faces many challenges.
"First of all, electricity has been [intermittently] cut off 24/7, the internet is cut off most of the time and this leads to making learning impossible, and the planes don't stop flying above us, 24/7," she said.
"How do you study while this horror is happening around you? At any moment a rocket could hit you and that's it, you're gone, without even knowing it."
But Hamdan, who lives in Deir Al-Balah, in southern Gaza, is adamant about continuing her education.
"I want to go back to school to continue with my life, which is founded upon academics."
Leaders of Al Aqsa University, Gaza University and the Palestinian Ministry of Education, which primarily operates in the West Bank, debated what to do regarding post-secondary education, with many being hesitant to offer virtual classes because of concerns over access.
University leaders and officials from the ministry settled on the idea that virtual learning would offer relief for the mental strain on students, but would also allow universities to start thinking about how the return to classes could happen when the war ends.
The online education comes through a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning, on platforms such as Moodle, Zoom and Google Meet.
"We give our professors and students flexibility. But most of them have been engaging as best as they could. We also have volunteers from abroad, who were vetted for their experience and are helping out in instructing classes," said Raed El Hajar, Al Aqsa University's vice-president.
To help the online classes and websites function more smoothly, the university's data servers lost in the war are backed up in cloud servers hosted in Canada.
Dealing with losses and risking to connect
As virtual classes are offered to some of Gaza's university students, the reminders of war are around them constantly.
Hamdan remembers the first time she was displaced from her home in Deir Al-Balah.
She lives with her brother, sister and mother on the fourth floor of a building, a dangerous place to be as airstrikes and snipers hit higher floors. They sleep in the kitchen, in the middle of their apartment, far away from the windows and walls.
One day, Hamdan recalls hearing a man screaming outside. She said she saw someone shaking on the ground, fighting for his life after he was hit by a nearby sniper. At that point, the family decided to evacuate to her grandparents' home.
"We stayed there for four days, but we decided to come back to our home, where it is still dangerous," said Hamdan.
According to El Hajar, 15 of Al Aqsa's professors have been killed since Oct. 7.
"We have some courses that we can't provide since they were specialties of academics that we lost to the war."
The university is yet to assess the number of students who have died or who have lost family members.
"Yesterday I was calling my friend, and I asked her if her circumstances have stayed the same," said Hamdan. "She told me that she lost her entire family, and she doesn't want to continue any learning because of her mental state."
Hamdan isn't the only student who has to be prepared to drop everything and remember the reality they live in.
In her home in eastern Khan Younis, Dalia Abu Zarifa and her family have their bags and necessities packed and are ready to leave any time.
Abu Zarifa, a 21-year-old nursing student, is continuing her studies through online courses with Birzeit University in the West Bank.
Finding an internet connection is difficult for her, so her father is helping out by going onto the roof, attaching her phone on a long wooden stick and aiming it high in an attempt to download the online materials that she needs.
"My dad told me to raise a stick, and put a phone on it so that the network could become good, but it's not that good," said Abu Zarifa.
Sometimes her father goes to greater lengths to help her.
She said she sends links of her lectures to him and he goes to a nearby hospital, where cellular and Wi-Fi networks are stronger than most areas, so he can download the material and send it back to her.
Education or food
While Hamdan and Zarifa welcome the chance to take online classes, some in Gaza question how effective virtual learning can be.
Mahmoud El Shami, a former sociology professor at Gaza University, said that the online model is not an appropriate solution while a war continues.
"It doesn't make sense. It won't benefit many students in Gaza," said El Shami.
Some observers say it's hard to prioritize education, among other crises in the territory, including evacuation orders, and lack of water and food. Recently, UN experts declared famine has spread throughout the Gaza Strip.
"We argued a lot about returning, about whether our priorities are around food and water or education," said El Hajar.
Some people see that bigger issues are at stake over the return of education.
"How do you expect someone to think about their courses when they just want a cup of water? Or how can you expect someone to think about class after being subjected to so much danger and pressures that we live in today?" said El Shami.
El Hajar said his concern lies with the mental health of students, with a large worry for those who have reached a high level of grief, depression and sadness.
Rebuilding in the future
El Hajar wants to get started on rebuilding educational institutions as soon as possible. He finds that by providing virtual classes during the war, he's able to get a head start on ensuring education is preserved in Gaza.
"Part of our return is to help us start rebuilding from now. It will take years to rebuild but we want to start slowly."
He's unsure of what that future will look like, but he's determined to one day resume face-to-face learning, whether it's done in tents or caravans between the rubble.
As for Hamdan, she is set on finishing her studies, and going back to being a language instructor to others in Gaza.
"I'm studying the English language so that I can talk to the world, tell them everything and deliver my message to the world."
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With files from Reuters