Education Under Occupation: Three School Days Is Not Enough

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Subject: Education Under Occupation: Three School Days Is Not Enough

Dear Friend,

Across parts of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian children are going to school only three days a week instead of five. A recent UNICEF/OCHA humanitarian report estimates that around 808,000 school-aged children in the West Bank are affected in their learning due to a combination of access restrictions and disruption to schooling. This is not a choice made by families or educators, and it is not a short-term disruption. It is the result of political decisions that are steadily stripping children of their right to learn.

The Palestinian Authority is facing a severe financial crisis after large sums of tax revenues collected by Israel on its behalf under the Paris Protocol, have been withheld since 2023. These funds have historically sustained basic public services, including education. With nearly 8 billion shekels blocked, schools are struggling to function. Teachers are not receiving full salaries, school years have been postponed, and many classrooms now operate on a reduced schedule simply because there is no money to keep them open.

In practice, this means that children who should be learning five days a week are now in class for only three - and even that is not guaranteed. Movement restrictions, checkpoints, demolitions, and rising settler violence make daily access to school uncertain across much of the West Bank. Education is being disrupted not by chance, but by the conditions of occupation itself.

For children elsewhere in the world, this reality is almost unimaginable. In cities like London, Berlin, or New York, children attend school around 180 days a year. A full school week is assumed and stability is built into the system. For Palestinian children, that stability is collapsing.

Aisha Al-Khatib is a public school principal in Nablus, and the Coordinator of the Combatants for Peace women's group. She sees the impact every day.

This is what educational deprivation looks like in real life: not just fewer lessons, but fading ambition, growing frustration, and profound psychological harm. Under international law, every child has the right to education, even under occupation. That obligation does not disappear when funds are withheld or when political pressure is applied.

At Combatants for Peace, we are launching a new campaign to bring attention to what is happening quietly inside West Bank schools. We want to make visible what is too often ignored: that denying children a full school week is a form of collective harm, one that reaches far beyond the classroom walls. This campaign will amplify the voices of students, teachers, and families living with the consequences of reduced school days. It will connect education disruption to the broader realities of occupation, while insisting on a simple truth:

No political situation justifies turning off the lights in a child’s classroom.

Share this message with your representatives, your communities, and your networks - more information and resources can be found on our website.

Help make visible what is happening inside West Bank classrooms.

In peace & solidarity,

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Subject: Education Under Occupation: Three School Days Is Not Enough