OMU Science Café for Gaza Examines Education Crisis and Reconstruction

Academics and Palestinian students discussed the damage to Gaza’s education system, the loss of educational capacity, and how universities and international academic partnerships could contribute to long-term recovery.

The “Science Café for Gaza”, organized jointly by the Üstün Küsefoğlu Science Communication Office and the International Relations Office at Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) with the support of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Science Communication Office, examined the impact of the continuing destruction in Gaza on education, the loss of educational infrastructure, and the role of education in the reconstruction process.

The program was attended by OMU Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Alper Kesten, Rector’s Advisor and Academic Director of the Science Communication Office Prof. Dr. Emine Şendurur, Head of the International Relations Office Dr. Ahmet Aycan, academics, and international students.

Speakers included Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Altuğ, a faculty member in the Department of Geography at the OMU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the Center for Regional Development and Strategic Research, and Rita R. Y. Eid, a doctoral student in OMU’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Sciences.

The event also featured a live connection with Gaza. Basım Ali El-Kefarne, a law student living in the region, showed participants the destruction around him and described the challenges of everyday life under blockade, difficulties in continuing education, and his expectations for the future.

Participants also watched a short video prepared specifically for the event by Palestinian students, depicting the difficult conditions under which they continue their education and daily lives. A small exhibition featuring materials reflecting Palestinian culture was displayed in the foyer.

Prof. Dr. Kesten: “Rebuilding the Future Depends on Science and Education”

Opening the event, OMU Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Alper Kesten said the program had been organized following a call from the Council of Higher Education and was intended to raise academic awareness of the situation in Gaza.

Addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis and its impact on fundamental rights, Kesten said:

“When we speak about the most basic rights of a child or any human being, shelter, healthcare, and education are among the first that come to mind. Yet under the current circumstances, people living in Gaza have been deprived of access to these fundamental rights.”

He emphasized that young people are essential to the future of any society but are growing up amid fear and uncertainty.

While humanitarian and financial assistance remain essential in the short term, Kesten argued that education, science, and technological capacity would be crucial to long-term recovery.

“We must not forget that the most fundamental elements in rebuilding the future are education, sustained effort, and science,” he said.

“Our long-term response must be to work harder and become stronger and more capable in science and technology. I believe brighter days will come when the response is shaped not by wrongdoing, but by knowledge, reason, science, and the pursuit of what is good.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Kesten thanked the International Relations Office under the coordination of Dr. Ahmet Aycan, Prof. Dr. Emine Şendurur, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Altuğ, and the Palestinian students who contributed to the program.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Altuğ: “Rebuilding Gaza’s Education System Requires More Than Reconstructing Buildings”

In his presentation titled “Education in Gaza: War, Destruction and Building the Future,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Altuğ examined Gaza’s education system before October 7, 2023, the subsequent destruction, and the measures that could contribute to rebuilding educational capacity.

“Before October 7, Gaza had substantial educational capacity across primary, secondary, and higher education,” Altuğ said. “The literacy rate was around 98 percent, and approximately 800 primary and secondary schools and 17 higher education institutions were operating. Despite all the restrictions, this educational structure demonstrated the importance Gaza’s society attached to education.”

Altuğ emphasized that the losses extend beyond physical infrastructure to human resources and accumulated academic knowledge.

He cited figures indicating extensive destruction or loss of functionality across Gaza’s educational institutions, as well as the deaths of thousands of school-age children and hundreds of university students, academics, and teachers.

“We are not talking only about reconstructing physical buildings,” Altuğ said. “The human resources of the education system, its academic memory, archives, libraries, and scientific capacity must also be rebuilt.”

“Financial resources may eventually be found, but rebuilding lost human capital is a much longer process. For this reason, reconstructing Gaza’s education system cannot be achieved simply by rebuilding buildings.”

“Permanent Academic Partnerships Could Be Established Between Universities in Türkiye and Gaza”

Altuğ said educational recovery should encompass far more than physical infrastructure and called for a comprehensive approach incorporating psychosocial support, assistance for teachers, digital education infrastructure, and academic cooperation.

“Education can also play an important role in healing the trauma experienced in Gaza,” he said.

He highlighted the need for temporary learning spaces, including tents and prefabricated schools, psychosocial support for children, assistance for teachers, and measures enabling students with disabilities or injuries to return to education.

Altuğ also stressed the importance of digitally preserving university records, academic archives, and library collections.

He further argued that Türkiye could contribute to the reconstruction process through its academic capacity and through cooperation involving YÖK and Turkish universities.

“Universities in Türkiye could be paired with universities in Gaza,” he said. “Student and academic records could be maintained through a shared digital system, credit-recognition mechanisms could be established, joint-degree protocols could be developed, and students could be enabled to continue their education through different channels.”

Altuğ also proposed the establishment of a possible “Türkiye–Gaza Universities Consortium.”

“Cooperation with YÖK in this area would be important for supporting the education of students in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. “Our universities can contribute through their academic capacity, laboratories, distance-learning infrastructure, and student mobility opportunities.”

He added that such cooperation should be developed in ways that include higher education institutions and students in the West Bank as well as Gaza.

Rita R. Y. Eid: “Gaza Should Not Be Seen Only as a Place of War”

OMU doctoral student Rita R. Y. Eid, who was born and raised in Gaza, shared her personal experience of pursuing an education amid repeated periods of conflict.

“I was born in Gaza and grew up there. My childhood, my youth, and all my memories are connected to Gaza,” Eid said.

“I lived through more than one war. I tried to continue my education amid bombardment, fear, and uncertainty. Being a doctoral student in Türkiye today is therefore not an ordinary academic journey for me.”

She urged participants to remember the children of Gaza not simply in relation to war, but as students with aspirations for the future.

“They are not merely ‘children of war.’ They are students, children with dreams, and the scientists of the future.”

Eid recalled that before the current war, Gaza had hundreds of schools as well as universities and other higher education institutions, reflecting the importance placed on education within Palestinian society.

“Gaza Was Not Only Pain; Gaza Was Also Resilience, Intelligence, Education and Science”

Eid said the protection of children’s right to education was particularly important to her because her family, including her 12-year-old sister, remained in Gaza.

“When I send my own children to school today, I think about the children in Gaza who cannot go to school,” she said.

“My family lost their home, and we lost many relatives and friends. Every loss is more than a number; it is a life and a story.”

She emphasized that education represents much more than schools or qualifications.

“Education is also evidence that children are alive and that they still have dreams for the future,” Eid said.

“I do not want to speak about Gaza only through suffering. Gaza was not only pain; Gaza was also resilience, intelligence, education, and science. Gaza was a society that continued trying to send its children to school despite every difficulty.”

The Science Café for Gaza concluded with Prof. Dr. Emine Şendurur presenting Rita R. Y. Eid with a certificate of appreciation, followed by a group photograph.