Source: Education database/ Department of Information and Studies – Census service.

Large size schools have several advantages since it is easier to provide highly skilled and well-trained teachers, teaching materials, laboratories, school libraries, as well as other various services.

7- Status of public schools buildings (and Jerusalem schools). A great number of public schools don’t have the minimum in terms of decent school buildings, especially the rented ones. The average of rented public schools is 42 %, private ones 34% and the Agency’s 44%

According to census, 38,3% of Jerusalem schools are rented, and the Islamic endowments are working together with Palestinian civil society in order to solve the problem of narrow classrooms in Jerusalem by extending the existing schools and renting buildings to transform them into schools, though they don’t fit the norms. It seems that there is no clear solution for the schools problem in Jerusalem, since Israel is still holding them, and is competing with the civil society and the endowments on the remaining land and on appropriate buildings for schools.

8- Building and maintaining schools.

The Ministry has been active in building, eliminating and maintaining schools as well as sanitation units. It also contributed to extending the existing schools and building play fields. The lack of schools is being compensated – regardless of the monitoring authority – by:

1. New schools that are being built
2. New schools separated from main buildings
3. Schools that are being transformed into two period schools with two separate administrations.
4. Schools that are being acquired and/or rented.

Source: Ministry of Education/General Administration for Buildings and Projects

Source: Ministry of Education/General Administration for buildings and projects.

There are 55 schools under execution, 36 in the West Bank and 19 schools in Gaza.

9- Distribution of public school buildings according to the type of ownership

Public schools buildings belong to the Government, some others belong to the municipalities, education committees and various other institutions and associations. In addition, some school buildings are rented against very symbolic rents by education committees, by the Agency or by the Private sector, some schools are partly owned and rented.

Source: idem to the last one

As shown in the table, the Ministry owns about 83,5% of the whole West Bank schools (1996 – 1997) and all the public school buildings of the Gaza strip. The number of schools that belong to the Ministry in the West Bank decreased to 79,4% of the total schools there in 1997/1998 and to 82,2% in 1998/1999, while the number of totally rented schools in the West Bank remained as it is. This is due to the increasing activity of the civil society in Education.

10- School facilities

65% of public schools do not have any kind of vital facilities like rooms designed for school libraries, laboratories, housekeeping, computers, canteens, the administration, and the teachers as well as others. Vital facilities that exist in some remaining schools are in a very bad status. The following table shows public schools with non-classroom facilities.

Table (52)

Source: Education database/Administration for Planning and Educational Development

It’s worth noting that school libraries have been reactivated at the beginning of the second period. The average number of public schools whose libraries contain less than 100 books represents 13,2% of the total public schools, the Agency’s schools 9,6% private schools 39,9%. The average number of public schools whose libraries contain more than 1000 books represents 37,7%, the Agency’s schools 76,3%, private schools 30,3%. 30% of the schools contain rooms designed for libraries; 27,1% are in the West Bank and 45,4% in the Gaza Strip for the year 1996/1997; 38,6% of the Palestinian schools own rooms designed for libraries, 34,1% are in the West Bank and 62,2% in the Gaza strip. The average number of public schools provided with a conference room is less than 6,3% of the total schools, and less than 54,3% are provided with canteens.

11- Teaching Materials

The application of modern teaching materials is confronted to many problems, like educational problems as well as socio-economic ones. The educational problems consist in the absence of equally provided programs of modern teaching materials to all the educational institutions; but also in the reluctance of teachers to participate in making the required changes. Social problems consist in the slow action of the society in contributing to social change. While the economic problems consist in the high costs of modern teaching materials. The main problem is related to the optimum use by teachers of the materials available in some schools. For instance, in Palestinian schools, a student can have access to computer devices for not more than 300 minutes per week (equipment are not sufficient). But this percentage is likely to increase with the intensive and increasing training of teachers, and this is what the Ministry is seeking to realize.

Source: Education database/Administration for planning and Educational Development