Since then, a journey to realize the dreams of dozens of hospitalized children to resume their education began.
Within the framework of the Multi-year Resilience Programme in Palestine funded by the Education Cannot Wait (ECW), UNESCO recognized the importance of the Determination Schools as a unique model and started to shed light on them.
Under each Determination School, children resume their learning while being hospitalized, through curricular and extracurricular activities. The activities demonstrate a concern for hospitalized children, their medical and sensory problems, their age, and their academic level. Educational activities are carried out in a comfortable and supportive and conducive environment, dispelling fear, free of anxiety and feelings of sadness or loneliness.
UNESCO is the only UN agency working in Determination schools within the framework of ECW, ensuring the capacity building of school principals and teachers to enhance their professional capacities, behavioral skills, and competencies. A recent workshop aiming at identifying the needs of school principals, teachers and students took place at the Caesar Hotel in Ramallah on 24 August 2020.
During the workshop, UNESCO showed the success stories achieved with Determination Schools in the past, some of which were heartfelt and moving stories, which increased the teachers' confidence in their work, their perseverance, and their continuous development. Success is born with an undying hope and a passion, demonstrated by teachers as well as students. This hope was materialized with Determination Schools.
The spark that launched the program for the determination schools in Palestine came in 2015, when seven-year-old Muhannad, who arrived from Gaza to Nablus to complete his treatment for leukemia, conveyed his wish to the Ministry of Education to resume his studies
Malak, a fifth-grader, was suffering from stomach pain and a lack of oxygen. She had to stay for an extended period at the hospital. At first, she refused to continue studying. Later, she was persuaded to take on the challenge. Her teacher was capable of getting her out of her pain by playing, reading stories, and drawing until she felt safe. She then agreed to resume her education at the hospital
