Gaza begins a new school year... the battle to recover human capital (1-2)

As the new school year begins, Gaza faces a severe educational crisis: about 700,000 children have been deprived of in-person education for three years, and 98% of school buildings are damaged. Families face a harsh economic equation between spending on education or on food, water, and medicine, amid the collapse of the labor market and weak purchasing power, creating a "family investment gap in human capital."

As the new school year begins, Gaza faces a severe educational crisis that goes beyond simply returning children to their desks. The central question the article raises is: How can a destroyed economy preserve its human capital, when hundreds of thousands of children are deprived of formal education, and families face economic pressures that make spending on education compete with food, water, health, and housing? The latest UNICEF data indicates that about 700,000 children in Gaza, aged 4 to 17, have been deprived of formal in-person education for nearly three consecutive years. About 420,000 children (60%) receive no in-person education at all. 98% of school buildings are damaged, over 93% need major rehabilitation or complete rebuilding, and about 81% have sustained direct hits. The article analyzes the harsh economic equation facing the Gazan family: returning to education means additional expenses (clothing, stationery, transportation, internet, food) at a time when families' spending capacity is extremely limited. Over 60% of the spending of families receiving cash assistance goes to non-food needs. The family faces a painful trade-off: spending on education or on food, water, medicine, fuel, and housing? The article describes this phenomenon economically as a "family investment gap in human capital," where the family wants to invest in their children's education but lacks sufficient resources, amid the collapse of the labor market itself.