Reach Out to Asia Inaugurates 11 Rehabilitated Schools in Gaza
Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) has announced a milestone in one of its key projects benefitting school children in Gaza. ROTA inaugurated the first 11 of 22 schools, rehabilitated and equipped in joint partnership with Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) in Gaza.
ROTA's partnership with IRW, an international relief and UK-based development organization, was launched in June 2009. The partnership focuses on improving access to quality education in the Gaza Strip. Following the Israeli military assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009, which destroyed educational facilities and infrastructure in Gaza, school children and teachers were struggling with the burden of accessing and providing even the most basic education-related services.
ROTA's partnership with IRW aims at rehabilitating 22 schools located in Gaza. The degree of damage ranges from slight (10 schools), moderate (5 schools) and severe (7 schools).
The eleven rehabilitated schools were inaugurated in April and May 2010. ROTA's Acting Director, Essa Al Mannai, emphasized "The inauguration of the first 11 schools is a very special occasion for us at ROTA, because it represents a moment of hope and a new beginning. Those are two things that the children here in Gaza deserve more than anything else. To have a sense of hope that they can look forward to a life where their right to education is granted and a new beginning where they can put behind them the many painful realities they face day after day. "
Commenting further, Essa Al Mannai said "ROTA is strongly dedicated to improving the quality of education for students attending schools in the Gaza Strip. The focus of this project is twofold: ROTA's first objective is to provide a safe, healthy and adequate learning environment for Palestinian students in Gaza. That is why we are proud to have been able to support the rehabilitation of the first 11 out of 22 schools as well as providing equipment for a school library, a science laboratory, a computer training laboratory, an educational technology room, a school health room and a psychosocial and educational counseling room in every school. ROTA's second objective is to improve the educational quality within these schools by providing training for the teachers and school staff based on their training needs."
ROTA's project of rehabilitating and equipping schools is poised to directly impact the lives of over 21,000 students who attend these schools and assist over 126,000 families who have been struggling under extremely harsh living conditions, while attempting to maintain normalcy in Gaza.
