‘Lost’ generation of Gazan children at risk of a decade without education, Cambridge study finds

Children living in Gaza are at high risk of missing out on education due to a combination of the Covid pandemic, the war with Israel and the trauma and malnutrition it has caused, a study has warned.

The conflict has come close to erasing children’s right to education, researchers from Cambridge University found.

The report, which follows a similar study in 2024, provides an analysis of the impact of more than two years of war in Gaza, as well as escalating violence in the occupied West Bank.

There are about 1.5 million children aged six to 15 in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. The report said the schooling of more than 740,000 pupils had been severely disrupted and the lives of 27,000 teachers affected.

It warns that there is a severe risk of a “lost” generation emerging in Gaza, through a combination of the war’s physical and psychological effects, as well as the destruction of schools.

Even if the ceasefire holds, "learning recovery" would take longer than simply replacing the time lost due to the compounding effects of trauma and starvation, the researchers said.

The study estimates that children in Gaza will have lost the equivalent of five years’ worth of education due to repeated school closures since 2020, first through Covid-19, and then war.

Although temporary and distance-learning measures were introduced by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and the Gaza Ministry of Education, these have been impeded by continuing violence, damaged infrastructure and chronic resource shortages.

The authors calculate that if schools remain closed until September 2027, many teenagers will be