Christmas in the Middle East: Education between Palestine and Syria
In the Middle East, the crisis is hitting families and children through poverty and unusable schools. In Palestine and Syria, we support 4,200 families every day, guaranteeing access to school, education and protection.
Palestine today: between prospects for peace and ongoing conflict
Palestine today is going through a phase of unexpected change. In the Palestinian Territories — the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem — a crisis persists that is rooted in decades of unresolved conflicts. The latest war, which began on 7 October 2023, is part of a long history of tensions, also linked to key events such as the Six-Day War of 1967, which redrew borders and generated many of the current instabilities, as described by Emma Garroni in her article on the history of Gaza. Today, a possible de-escalation is in sight thanks to the peace agreement between Hamas and Israel and the recent UN resolution supporting the American plan for the deployment of an international stabilisation force, with the aim of facilitating humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
The challenge of education
Despite these signs of opening, Palestinian families and children – both in Gaza and in the West Bank – continue to have an urgent need for help and protection. The crisis, in fact, does not only concern daily security and survival, but also affects education and the right to schooling: many schools have been destroyed, others have been turned into emergency shelters, and thousands of students have interrupted or completely lost their school year.
The impact of the conflict on the youngest is alarming. Since October 2023, more than 500 school buildings have been struck and 96% of institutions in the Strip are damaged or destroyed, depriving more than 625,000 children of access to education. In the West Bank too, education is severely compromised: restrictions on mobility, combined with prolonged strikes and a climate of constant insecurity, have caused continuous interruptions to lessons. During the last school year, 2,040 episodes of school-related violence were documented, with a direct impact on the educational path of 84,749 students. In a context where more than 70% of the population is under 29 years of age and youth unemployment exceeds 40%, guaranteeing access to education is not only a response to the emergency, but remains the only concrete path to securing the future of an entire Palestinian generation.
A Christmas in Bethlehem: the right to study for Palestinian children
In the West Bank, where Bethlehem is located, the Terra Sancta School is a fundamental pillar for education, for the protection of the right to study and for the defence of children’s rights. In this area of the Holy Land, most families have lost their only source of income: many parents struggle to make ends meet and are no longer able to cover school fees for their children. This Franciscan school, always founded on the values of education and respect, has welcomed generation after generation of Bethlehemites without any religious distinction, contributing to raising the level of education in the community and daily imparting solid principles of civic education.
As our project manager for the renovation of the Terra Sancta School premises, Muna, reports: “My father, Jamal Salman, attended the school and for 40 years was guided by its values: he is now the mayor of Bethlehem.”
Today, however, despite its essential role, the school finds itself in serious difficulty: water infiltration is damaging Block 1, which includes the entrance, offices, library, chapel and some primary school classrooms, making urgent maintenance work necessary — work that the institution, already strained by the loss of fee income, cannot sustain on its own. In this complex situation, the school does not want to stop welcoming Palestinian students: for this reason, especially during the Christmas period, every contribution becomes essential to continue guaranteeing them a safe and adequate school environment.
Syria: a country unable to rebuild itself
As we described in the article “Syria today: what is happening and how did things come to this?”, over the past fifteen years Syria has been shattered by a conflict that, born from the protests of 2011, transformed into a complex and fragmented civil war. The different areas of control — government, opposition, Kurdish forces and jihadist groups — favoured the rise of extremist movements such as Islamic State (ISIS).
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024 and the rise to power of Ahmed al-Sharaa in January 2025 have brought no stability: the new leadership does not represent the country’s ethnic and religious plurality, and violence against Alawite, Druze and Christian minorities persists, with formal accusations of crimes against humanity. In the Idlib region, where ancient Christian communities survive, the population is recovering a partial autonomy after thirteen years under the control of Islamist militias. Damascus, Syria’s capital, and Aleppo, despite a fragile stability, also remain marked by widespread poverty, a collapse of public services and an still uncertain future. The reconstruction of the country seems distant, held back by damaged infrastructure and a social fabric incapable of a genuine fresh start.
Destroyed schools: the educational crisis in Syria
In a country already tried by more than a decade of war, education in Syria today is among the most severely affected sectors. More than 2.5 million children do not attend school and over 1 million are at risk of dropping out. Thousands of school buildings have been destroyed or turned into shelters, while those still active function in critical conditions: overcrowded classrooms, insufficient teaching materials, inadequate essential services and continuous power outages, all of which compromise the right to study and the normal running of lessons.
This fragility exposes minors to growing risks — from child labour to early marriage — drastically reducing their future and their level of education. The rise of the Islamist party led by al-Sharaa has also introduced controversial reforms to school curricula, raising concerns about possible ideological pressures and the protection of a genuinely inclusive education. A positive signal, however, comes from the new national initiative “Give Me Back My School”, which aims to rebuild at least one school for every destroyed area. An ambitious project which, to become reality, will have to contend with political instability, a scarcity of funds and an economic crisis aggravated by years of violence, pandemic and natural disasters. In this context, the work of our educational centres in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods remains essential in offering support, educational continuity and safe places where learning can and must find space.
A Christmas at school in East Aleppo, Syria: education that resists war
In Syria, in East Aleppo, our three educational centres represent one of the rare educational and psychosocial outposts still active in a territory marked by continuous demographic fragmentation and by the insufficient capacity of the state school system to meet the needs of the population. “A name, a future”: within our project, which began between 2018 and 2021, three different but complementary centres operate: Karm Dodoa, Shaar and Myasser.
Together they welcome approximately 4,500 young Syrians per year, of whom 61% are children and 38% are women, offering them an integrated model that combines education, psychological support and assistance for people with disabilities. The educational programmes include targeted interventions to counter school dropout and to facilitate the transition between different levels of education through to the attainment of a diploma. They aim to increase literacy levels and to promote the wellbeing of a generation of young people who would otherwise be exposed to heavy labour.
Alongside this, particular attention is also paid to adults: through empowerment programmes and gender-based violence prevention initiatives, the rights of Syrian women and girls are promoted and protected. To date, more than 3,400 people are on the waiting list: a figure that highlights the strong and urgent demand for educational services in these neighbourhoods on the margins of society. Despite the difficulties and the closure of many international organisations due to lack of funds, the Centres continue to be recognised by the local educational authorities, who recently renewed their approval until July 2026. It is essential to maintain the quality of activities and services unchanged in order to be able to offer access also to those who, for the time being, remain excluded from them.