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The Ministry
After 27 years of
Israeli military control of the Palestinian educational system,
leaving it in disarray, the Ministry of Education and Higher
Education took responsibility in 1994. Since then, the Ministry has
endeavored to develop and advance Palestinian education, and to
provide quality education for every Palestinian child. Failure was
never an option under any circumstances. We are talking about a
system with 1.1 million students, 30 thousand teachers, two thousand
schools, in addition to overseeing tens of Universities, colleges
and other educational institutions throughout the country.
Since Palestine has
never had its own school curriculum, nationalizing education became
our priority. Therefore, it was important to start the project of
the Palestinian Curriculum. The first five-year plan was designed to
accommodate all Palestinian children, and provide them with
teachers, classrooms, books and quality education. Despite shortages
of school building and teachers, insuring the continuation of the
educational process was the national obsession for the Ministry and
the Palestinian Authority. In this context, we are hopeful that
support will be forthcoming from all quarters, locally, regionally
and internationally, to enable us to reach our goals of keeping up
with demands, in providing our young generation with the knowledge
and education that will equip them for brighter future, peacefully
and freely.
Realizing the
importance of quality education and higher educational standards,
the Ministry has expended great efforts on teacher training,
providing teachers with the necessary skills needed to serve our
youth, and prepare them for the modern age of information and
technology. Four-hundred computer labs have been established in our
schools for the students' use, some of the these schools have also
been connected to the Internet, and the Ministry has adopted a plan
to train teachers in the field of Information Technology (IT) to
improve their performance.
Additionally, the
Ministry adopted a strategy for developing the educational
infrastructure for vocational and technical education, the human and
material resources, the curricula, and the legislation necessary for
achieving these objectives.
Our resources are
limited, and the conditions are very difficult and harsh under
military occupation, only with resolve and determination will we be
successful, and achieve our future aspiration. Our accomplishments
in education will make our people and our President, Yasser Arafat,
proud in realizing what he has repeatedly stated about our
educational system, that "your hard work and your sincere dedication
shall, God willing, continue to pay-off because it is the essence of
of the Palestinian people." Our success will also make our national
hero and poet Mahmoud Darwish pleased, for he has once said: "The
future starts at the Ministry of Education, and the national project
will not be complete without it."
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