For the second year in a row, thousands of high school students in Gaza were unable to take their Tawjihi exams, crucial for university admission, due to Israel’s ongoing war. While students in the West Bank and abroad began their exams last Saturday, those in Gaza remain caught in a brutal siege that has dismantled schools, cut off internet access, and turned classrooms into shelters. Despite the destruction, the Ministry of Education insists it is committed to upholding these students’ right to learn.

Education Ministry spokesperson Sadeq Al-Khodour confirmed that officials are preparing a special plan to allow Gaza’s students to take the exams electronically, even under aggression. Discussions involving the Minister of Education, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Examination Committee led to an agreement to start technical arrangements for this emergency scenario. The ministry has also prepared digital systems, although many logistical challenges remain, particularly the lack of electricity and internet access in most areas.

The spokesperson acknowledged that the most urgent obstacle is safety, with ongoing attacks posing a daily threat to students’ lives. Equally troubling is the collapse of digital infrastructure. Yet the ministry is exploring alternatives to ensure no student is left behind. Al-Khodour reaffirmed that the exam is a fundamental right and that “tireless efforts” are being made to secure a future for Gaza’s youth despite the war.

Since the start of the war, more than 4,000 students have been killed, and another 4,000 have been displaced outside Gaza. Of the roughly 78,000 students scheduled to take the Tawjihi exams over the past two years, only 70,000 remain. Each of them carries not only a backpack of books, but the burden of war, loss, and a stolen adolescence. Yet they still wait for the chance to sit an exam that, for them, means dignity, resistance, and hope.

The Education Ministry is expected to announce further details soon. For now, Gaza’s students remain in limbo, resilient, determined, and holding onto the promise that their dreams will not be buried under the rubble of war.