No school, living in a tent, but it’s exam time in Gaza

Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip – This week has been perchance the astir important of 18-year-old Dana Shabat’s life: her precocious schoolhouse graduation exams.

Dana is an exceptional pupil – her mean people has ne'er fallen beneath 99 percent – but she’s inactive nervous.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3New York’s primaries awesome a caller unit successful US politics
• list 2 of 3Forever wars: Israel’s rhythm of struggle shows nary decorativeness line
• list 3 of 3Israeli forces sprout and termination Palestinians successful occupied West Bank, Gaza

The exams, successful Dana’s eyes, volition beryllium decisive successful mapping retired her future. She’s not definite astir what to survey astatine assemblage – torn betwixt medicine, finance, and concern medication – but she’s hoping to bash good capable to unafraid a assistance overseas and physique a aboriginal acold from the hardship she has endured successful Gaza.

Dana has already lived done much than 2 and a fractional years of Israel’s genocidal warfare connected Gaza. She survived an Israeli onslaught successful May past year, but her mother, Lina, was killed successful the onslaught – 1 of much than 73,000 Palestinians to person been killed since October 2023.

She grew up successful Beit Hanoon, successful bluish Gaza, but that country has largely been razed by Israeli forces, and she present lives displaced with her surviving household successful a structure successful cardinal Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.

Dana Shabat has to find immoderate spot she tin to survey for her exams [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

With galore of Gaza’s schools destroyed by Israeli attacks, oregon utilized arsenic shelters by the displaced, Dana has been forced to proceed her acquisition remotely. The exams – known arsenic the tawjihi – are nary different.

This week whitethorn beryllium crucial, but Dana is going to walk it waking up each time earlier dawn, walking for an hour, and uncovering a spot successful 1 of the fewer cafes she tin spot to person a bully capable net transportation for her to instrumentality the exams online.

“I ne'er imagined that the astir decisive signifier of my beingness would look similar this,” Dana tells Al Jazeera, arsenic she starts her locomotion with her father, Muhanna. “Losing 3 years of acquisition wasn’t enough. I had to thatch myself each subject, and present adjacent taking the exams has go different root of anxiousness and stress.”

Dana walks to a cafe equipped with energy and net truthful that she tin instrumentality her exam [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Exam time

Dana is 1 of 37,000 Palestinian students taking the tawjihi exams. It’s the archetypal clip since the warfare started that the exams person been held successful coordination with Palestinian authorities successful the West Bank.

In the West Bank, however, dissimilar successful Gaza, students are taking the exams successful schools and introspection halls. Students successful Gaza are each taking the tests online.

Dana is sitting for her physics exam today. It’s not a taxable she finds easy.

“It requires aggravated concentration, but I studied it wholly connected my ain with the assistance of a fewer backstage tutoring sessions and YouTube videos,” the schoolgirl says.

Even with her aboriginal start, Dana arrives astatine the cafe to find that dozens of different students are already there.

At 9am, the authoritative exam time, students softly settee into intimately spaced tables and unlock their phones, connected which they volition instrumentality the exam, waiting for the online introspection portal to open.

Each pupil checks the spot of their net connection, portion Dana’s begetter confirms with the cafe proprietor that the energy is functioning properly.

He past goes to hold extracurricular with the different parents.

Thousands of tawjihi students are sitting for their exams online this twelvemonth aft the demolition of acquisition facilities and schools during the warfare connected Gaza [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

“I’ve dedicated each fiscal assets I person to helping Dana get done this important year,” Muhanna, who worked arsenic a chemistry teacher earlier the war, says. “Despite our hard circumstances, I sacrificed different household needs truthful that I could wage for backstage tutors to explicate the subjects she struggled with.”

But Muhanna has present done arsenic overmuch arsenic helium can, and Dana’s acquisition occurrence is successful her ain hands. It’s successful these moments that helium thinks of their past life, earlier the war.

“Our beingness was wonderful,” helium remembers. “We had a beauteous home, stability, and my woman and I made definite our daughters had everything they needed.”

“Now, each of that has vanished,” helium continues. “We unrecorded successful tents with astir nary basal necessities, and students are going done 1 of the astir delicate stages of their lives nether conditions that nary quality being should person to endure.”

Muhanna explains that Dana, on with her elder sister Hala – a first-year aesculapian student, present helps to instrumentality attraction of their 3 younger sisters – Rama, Sarah, and Alma – successful the lack of their mother. Alma, lone 3 years old, mislaid her close oculus successful the onslaught that killed Lina.

“Their parent was highly educated and profoundly believed successful the worth of learning,” Muhanna says, his dependable breaking. “My daughters hardly knew however to navigator due to the fact that their parent wanted them to give each their vigor to their education.”

“If she were present today, she would beryllium devastated to spot what has go of her daughters’ lives.”

Dana told her father, Muhanna Shabat, that her physics exam went good [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Dreams

Two hours aft she went into the cafe, Dana walked out.

“How was the exam? Was it difficult?” her begetter asks immediately.

“Everything went well. The questions were fair,” Dana replies.

“The net was bully this time, too. Thankfully, the transportation didn’t drop, similar it did during my erstwhile exam,” she adds, earlier saying goodbye to her friends and opening the agelong locomotion backmost to the family’s tent.

There she is greeted by her sisters, anxious to perceive however the exam went. Neighbours and relatives surviving successful the campy besides halt by to inquire astir her progress.

Dana Shabat has faced unspeakable suffering successful the past fewer years, but is hopeful for the aboriginal [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

But earlier she tin rest, Dana sends some her telephone and her father’s telephone to a charging presumption to hole for the adjacent exam.

The deficiency of energy is simply a large challenge, but Dana – similar hundreds of thousands of others successful Gaza – has had to adjust.

Her contiguous is afloat of difficulties. Eight months aft the ceasefire with Israel, reconstruction inactive appears acold away, and Israeli attacks proceed periodically. Dana has nary thought erstwhile she’ll beryllium capable to instrumentality to Beit Hanoon – if ever. And she doesn’t cognize for however overmuch longer she’ll person to unrecorded successful a tent.

But she inactive dreams of the future. She explains she wants to beryllium a assemblage leader, idiosyncratic who makes an impact. She wants to larn languages and excel successful immoderate she chooses to do.

And ultimately, she wants to beryllium harmless and marque her parent proud.

“I anticipation our suffering successful these tents yet comes to an end,” Dana says, “and that I go the palmy idiosyncratic my parent ever wanted maine to be.”