Science under Siege

Al-Hurriya boys’ school in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza held its end-of-year Science Exhibition on Thursday, to showcase the students’ science projects to officials from the Education Ministry, parents, and local personalities.

Over 100 people gathered under a canopy in the playground to listen to speeches by the school principal Mr Ethman Abu Hajeir, the Principal of the Educational Directorate of East Gaza Mahmoud Abu Aassira, and the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Sae’d Thabet. The children performed cultural items, before the guests toured the 150+ stands showcasing their projects - produced with less science laboratory equipment than we had access to at my New Zealand intermediate school in the 1960s.

What struck me most about the exhibition was the incredible resourcefulness on display, as well as the level of scientific knowledge and expertise amongst these 13 and 14 year old boys. I can only begin to imagine what more they would have achieved with a bit of number 8 fencing wire, let alone an averagely-equipped 21st century NZ secondary school laboratory...

There was a computer that the child responsible could assemble in five minutes flat, which worked so well that someone’s little brother could not be dragged away from playing on it. There were anatomy and physiology stalls, and even a couple of live 'subjects.'

Numerous examples of electricity-generation ranged from Voltaic piles to solar panels on a mosque roof, and a multitude of resistors and conductors constructed from everything from chemicals to a row of lemons. And just to show its not “all work and no play”, one group contributed a disco lighting system comprised of an LED penlight, some Styrofoam, pieces of mirror, a couple of leads and other assorted bits and bobs.

The official speakers all highlighted the importance of learning by doing, emphasising that the future challenges faced by these students require that they are exposed to more than just theory, as the problems the world faces also require the application of inventiveness and experimentation in order to solve them.

This exhibition showed the Israeli siege clearly does not restrict these students’ minds, the exercise of their inventiveness, or their determination to learn – but it does severely impact on their opportunities to do so. That is a criminal waste – not just for the personal development of these and other Gazan children, but for the world deprived of the realisation of their outstanding talents.

In the following short video, the Deputy Minister of Education Sae’d Thabeth responds to my question during the tea-break about the main challenges facing science students in Gaza.

Principal of Al-Hurriya School, Ethman Abu Hajeir

Mums and Dads came along

Taking a look at the inside exhibits

Whipping up a mother board from bits in 5 minutes

Another use for lemons

High-flyers...

Disco-lights under siege

Creating a 'charge' outside

More equipment is obviously needed

The usual Gaza welcome, despite the hardships

ENDS

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