Psychosocial Assessment of Education in Gaza and Recommendations for Response

A UNESCO-commissioned assessment of the psychosocial impact of the ongoing blockade and military campaigns on the education system in Gaza. The research, conducted by Kathleen Kostelny and Michael Wessels of the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity, attempts to describe how students and education staff at all levels of education are being affected by the difficult situation in Gaza, and identifies significant, unmet needs that the education system should address. The assessment uses a mixed methods approach that includes qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions with education leaders, teachers, and learners; discussions with youth who have had to drop out of school to work; and information from body mapping with children in primary school. This assessment hopes to provide an inter-agency baseline that may be used to gauge the effects of future psychosocial interventions.