- Title: GAZA: Beach school encourages Gaza children to read
- Date: 24th April 2014
- Summary: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (RECENT) (REUTERS) BOYS SITTING AT TABLE ON BEACH READING VARIOUS OF BOYS READING TEACHER INSTRUCTING BOY CLASS INSIDE BEACH HUT SIGN VARIOUS OF ORGANISER WORKING FOR THE ORGANISATION FOR FREE CULTURE AND THOUGHT, A'TIDAL ANABREES, INSTRUCTING BOYS BOY TURNING PAGE OF BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ORGANISER WORKING FOR THE ORGANISATION FOR FREE CULTURE
- Embargoed: 9th May 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Gaza
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Education
- Reuters ID: LVA7HUQIB4KH0Y0XFJ88IKGB7SYM
- Story Text: A charity has begun running reading classes on the beach in the hope of encouraging Gazan children to love books.
As part of a wider cultural festival, school children have been invited to spend time reading on the beach at Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
"This year we came up with the idea to read on the beach so we can create a fun environment for the children that is different to the traditional environment that is normally between four walls at a centre or at home, to encourage them to love books. Sure enough we found that this idea was a success and the children feel that they are at a special place which they are in need of," said A'tidal Anabrees, one of the event's organisers.
Anabrees said she and her colleagues were motivated by a desire to improve life for Gaza's children who live under the shadow of the Egyptian-Israeli blockade of the coastal strip.
"The children have a difficult life here, so it is our role as charity organisations to try as much as possible to provide fun environments for children to try to lessen the pain from the difficult lives that children live," she added.
The children said they enjoyed the change of scenery.
"I was happy to see the beach and to watch the waves as they fold," said 12-year-old Iyad al Kzaz.
"We are a people who are under siege, our children are confined and don't know what to do, so we came to ease our troubles," said 14-year-old Mohammad Abu Gali.
"It's very quiet here, not like in the city. The environment here is such that you do not feel like you are under siege. It's a nice environment and you actually enjoy playing here and you enjoy the beauty from around you through this festival," added 12-year-old Mohammad al Agha.
Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, are routinely denied decent schools, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child has said.
According to UNESCO high rates of illiteracy remains a serious problem in many Arab countries.
But according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), 4.1 percent of the population in the West Bank and Gaza is illiterate, down from 13.9 percent in 1997 - one of the lowest rates in the region.
In total, some 104,487 people are illiterate, with higher rates in rural areas and refugee camps, and amongst those aged 65 and older. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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