Qatar helps to rebuild Gaza’s schools with a $40 Million grant

The territories of Israel and Palestine have been caught in the middle of open warfare for thousands of years, but the Gaza strip is known as one of the hardest hit areas, especially in recent decades as new advancements in military technology have enabled the complete decimation of buildings and the flattening of areas. During the fighting, over 240 schools, including 70 affiliated directly with the UN, were damaged. A further 26 of them were completely destroyed. In addition, the fighting resulted in the decimation of over 9 thousand homes and damage to a further 8 thousand more.

As a result, Qatar is donating $40 Million to schooling agencies and local governments in order to help repair the damage and revive education in the region. The donation will be administered through the “Fakhura” programme of Qatar’s own initiative “Education Above All”, launched in 2008, which aims to rebuild and re-equip schools and universities alike that were damaged or destroyed through violent conflict. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has also noted that the donation will be used to help start and continue training programmes for teachers, social workers, students and medical staff in hopes of building a brighter future for the Gaza strip.

Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Marikhy, Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development, has spoken out that the contribution would pay special attention to the eight universities in the Gaza strip that have been damaged during the conflict, the greatest damages of which being inflicted to the Islamic University and the University College of Applied Sciences. Marcio Barbosa, Chief Executive Officer of Education Above All, said that the donation represents an absolutely colossal step forward towards achieving the Fakhura objective in terms of rebuilding and reconstructing the Gaza Strip’s educational facilities.

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[Source: Middle East Monitor – Qatar announces $40 million grant for the education sector in Gaza]