A school in Deir Al-Balah. Photo: Khaled Al-Qershali

The annual Tawjihi exams mark a significant turning point in the lives of Palestinian secondary education students, shaping their future opportunities and academic paths.

Every year there is a nationwide celebration in Gaza when the Tawjihi results are announced. Nothing compares to the joy students feel when they succeed at Tawjihi. The countless hours of dedication, the sleepless nights spent battling exhaustion, and the weight of expectations all lead to that magical moment of achievement.

I was in the 2020 Tawjihi cohort. Back then, all I had to do was study. The materials were easy to acquire, both on paper and online. Schools were filled with teachers eager to guide us. Private tutors were available if needed.

My parents took care of everything I needed at home. My physical and mental health were prioritized. I had plenty of good food, and my environment was tailored for studying. For three months before exams, I was given space at home where I could focus and navigate the course materials at my own pace.

Now students are deprived of even the most basic conditions for learning.

Last year there were no Tawjihi exams in Gaza. No celebrations filled the streets, no laughter echoed through homes, and no proud families gathered to honor their children’s accomplishments.

Instead, the dreams of thousands of students were buried under the rubble of destroyed schools and shattered homes in a genocidal war that leaves no room for normalcy. Hopes for graduating and making parents proud have vanished in the struggle for survival.

Belal

Each day, in the midst of the destruction and chaos in Gaza, Belal* embarks on a dangerous journey to charge his laptop or phone, waiting in long queues for hours. Then he makes his way to a place with a weak internet signal to download study materials. The process is exhausting, but he will not give up.

Belal is an 18-year-old Tawjihi student, clinging to diminishing hope of attaining his ambition to become a teacher. His path is fraught with obstacles that no student should ever have to face.

In the early days of the war, he and his family of eight fled their home, forced to abandon familiar walls that once held their lives together. They found shelter in Rafah, crammed into a single room that offered no privacy and no comfort. There was no place to study, no electricity, and no internet to access online materials.

After a short-lived ceasefire and the family’s return to Gaza City, Belal’s hardships only worsened. His family’s home was reduced to rubble, leaving them with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

For the second time, they are living in a tent. To study for these exams, you need a relaxed mind. Belal is always on alert.

Amer

Belal has a cousin, Amer,* who dreams of becoming a doctor. Amer is also a Tawjihi student from northern Gaza. He chose to stay in the north with his family of 10, despite the harsh conditions.

Internet access in Amer’s area was completely cut off for nearly a year. He had no way of learning online, although studying was far from his thoughts. Living in the north meant preparing to die at any moment; no place was ever safe from bombing by the Israeli Air Force or ground invasion by the Israel Defense Forces.

Amer has been displaced twice, escaping from his home to shelter in safer places during the worst periods. His mother always keeps “go-bags” to hand for each member of the family when the violence comes too close.

Amer faced death daily as he walked to get food from the aid trucks so his family would not starve. Survival was his only priority; there was no space in his mind for thoughts of education or the future. But as soon as the ceasefire began, despite being far behind, Amer began studying for Tawjihi exams.

With the widespread destruction of Gaza’s educational infrastructure by Israel’s military, students like Amer and Belal are forced to find creative ways to continue their studies, hoping to excel despite the challenges.

Amer set up a tent on his roof and invited Belal to study with him there. For almost two months, during the short-lived ceasefire, they studied daily in preparation for their exams.

A war on education

The Tawjihi exams for their cohort were scheduled to take place in April 2025, but they were cancelled again this year. With war ongoing, no alternative date for the exams has been scheduled.

Belal and Amer worry that the exams will never take place. They are not alone. The dark shadow of uncertainty spreads across Gaza, clouding the prospects of all Tawjihi students, further destabilizing their lives, and threatening their fragile progress towards the future.

This war on education stretches far beyond the borders of Palestine. The Israeli Occupying Forces knows that learned minds everywhere threaten an oppressive system.

Mahmoud Khalil’s detention in the U.S. is more about suppressing the power of a student movement than it is an attack on an individual.

Similarly, the scholasticide in Gaza only deepens the students’ calls for freedom here.

Belal and Amer study despite all obstacles, not just for themselves and their families, but to amplify those calls.

*Last names held for reasons of personal safety and security