The Teachers' Association laments the educational devastation in Palestine: "More than 80% of schools and universities have disappeared."

PalmThe Professional Association of Teachers of the Balearic Islands has condemned the grave situation suffered by the civilian population in the Gaza Strip (Palestine) and denounced the massive destruction of educational infrastructure as a result of Israeli bombing. In a statement, the organization asserts that "this is not a conventional humanitarian crisis; it is the systematic destruction of a people and their surroundings."

According to the Association, since October 2023, "the moment in which Hamas attacks against the Israeli population were perpetrated," tens of thousands of inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been killed "by a government that has not hesitated to kill children, women, and others." The organization describes a situation "where the violation of human rights is seen daily and where the extinction of life is carried out in a planned manner."

Teachers claim that hospitals and health centers have been systematically bombed, that limbs are currently being amputated without anesthesia in Gaza, and that "hunger has become a weapon used by Benjamin Netanyahu's government." According to the school, the land, sea, and air blockade imposed by Israel "has facilitated this deliberate policy of deprivation for more than two million people."

The disappearance of education

The educational organization believes that precisely in this context, education becomes "an essential public service, especially decisive and sensitive for a society marked by the denial of fundamental freedoms." The College denounces that this area has been the subject of "systematic and deliberate destruction, ordered by the Israeli government and carried out by its armed forces."

The organization states that this "cruelty, which in academic circles has already been termed 'scholasticide,' has resulted in the destruction of more than 200 educational centers at all levels of education, including university." It also cites UNICEF data indicating that 5 schools in Gaza and 80% of the 19 universities have been demolished by the combined action of airstrikes and artillery."

According to the school, this destruction has led to the interruption of all academic activities, affecting more than 600,000 students, in addition to the death of more than 10,000. It states that "the Gaza Strip has become an extermination camp where human rights, health and dignity have been violated" and cites a United Nations report according to which the actions committed by Israel "scrupulously" comply with the legal and moral criteria of genocide.

"The diagnosis is clear: planned annihilation with the intention of making life impossible for the Palestinian people as a human group," the school states. Finally, the island's teachers' representatives emphasize that "the UN Sustainable Development Goals are part of our curriculum and directly impact us," and encourage schools to create spaces for reflection and solidarity. (many have already done so)"Educating for peace today also means giving voice to a people who are being condemned to disappear," the school concludes.

Students for Peace

Students at the Clara Hammerl Secondary School (Port de Pollença), among other schools, have also published a manifesto condemning the genocide in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the child victims. The text, written collectively by the students, denounces the violence and inequalities suffered by thousands of children, calling for an education that fosters peace, coexistence, and empathy. "No child should suffer or lose their life because of where they were born," they assert in the manifesto. The students reflect on what their lives would be like if they had been born in Gaza and value their rights and privileges simply because they were born in Mallorca, a very different part of the world. This awareness has led them to demand a school that is not indifferent to global suffering, but rather educates to understand and transform it.