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Ismail Muqbel, Headmaster
The UNRWA Basic Boys’ School is located in one of the most volatile areas in Hebron, between what are known as the H2 and H1 zones. H2 has been under curfew for 156 consecutive days and so because of its proximity to H2, the school is in an area of daily uncertainty. Ismail Muqbel is determined to “keep the curfew away” -- that is, keep the children in class as many days as possible -- and ensure the children’s safety when the Israeli security forces do impose curfew. He keeps the school’s staff focussed on education and believes in fostering communication and dialogue among children. Curfews Although IDF-imposed curfews are a continuous problem in the H2 / H1 areas of the city, Muqbel is proud that Hebron Basic Boys’ has the highest attendance record of Hebron’s seven schools. For the past 30 months, the school has faced almost daily curfews. “Every time this has happened I have talked to the IDF to explain that my school is a UN institution and should be respected,” he says. Muqbel wants the school to function on a regular schedule despite the intifada. “Had we not argued with the soldiers daily, our doors would have been shut most of the year,” he says. Juggling curfews, soldiers and 761 students is no easy task, but now Muqbel feels he has acquired an instinctive sense of the severity of the situation and what movement will be allowed when curfew is announced. According to Muqbel, the most dangerous situations arise when a strict curfew is imposed while classes are in session. Soldiers usually give the school director as little as 10 minutes to evacuate the children. Muqbel negotiates every minute he can to get the children out safely and walk them back home. Muqbel has designed an evacuation procedure. Students are organised into two groups: the elder students (315 out of 761) are the first out the door. “I want them to leave first so they don’t have the time to pick a fight [with the soldiers].” The younger children go next. Until the school received UN blue vests a month ago, Muqbel and another teacher borrowed two vests from the school guards. The teachers then would walk in front of the children until reaching the main junction beyond the H2 area, where it is safer for the children to continue home. Throughout the two-and-a half years of the intifada, Muqbel has made a point of steering UNRWA students away from confrontations with the soldiers. He says that his emphasis on discipline has been rewarded: “Soldiers know what to expect with us: no confrontations, regular classes when possible, safely walking the children back home when necessary,” he says. Coping with stress in school Muqbel has creatively altered schedules and morning classes to accommodate the children’s psychological needs and deal with their stress symptoms.
Students start the morning with five minutes of physical exercise outdoors. “Children are hyperactive and accumulate too much tension; they need to let it out.” Afterwards, he encourages two children to speak publicly about a topic of their choice. “It is surprising to see how much children are affected by what happens. It is not true that they get used to the ‘situation’ or that the violence they are exposed to becomes a routine.”
Thanks to the professionalism and cooperation of the school’s teachers, most classes now start with a “morning chat”. Teachers have told Muqbel that children invariably end up talking about soldiers, checkpoints, and what they have to go through on their way to school. Muqbel says: “Even when children say they are not scared, I know they are, from the way they sit and look around.” Afterwards, the morning continues with sessions of sports or arts instead of “drier” classes, especially during tense weeks when the children have a greater need for communication and physical expression. “I would like them to talk out their fears, but also their hopes. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I want them to see it,” the headmaster says. Dealing with children
Violence among children is a real concern for teachers throughout the West Bank. Muqbel acknowledges it is a serious issue, but he wants to deal with it without adding to the children’s stress. “Children are punished enough by the circumstances in which they live. I think that using punitive measures at school as well would be an error.” Muqbel wants to treat children with care and understanding: he talks to them, invites them to his office for tea, and probes the reasons for their behaviour. “At the beginning some teachers said they did not understand why children should not be punished. But when they saw that this approach yielded positive results, they adopted it. We will get nowhere with punishment and more violence. Children already have plenty of that,” he says. The effects of prolonged absence from school worry Muqbel: “When children cannot come to school for a week or more because of a curfew, I feel that everything we have achieved has to be redone. Being confined at home in a city under curfew, surrounded by tense parents, and with no academic or psychological follow-up just shatters them,” he says. The intifada has made many children close themselves from the outside world. Stress, anxiety and fear are making children lose their communication skills and ignore the external world. “This is our biggest battle: making sure that patience, tolerance and dialogue are the only way to go.” Broadening horizons
Like most teachers, Muqbel believes that peace must be a priority and he wants to transmit his conviction to the children. He participates in marches and “right to education” demonstrations. Last Christmas he took part in a peace march in Bethlehem. “We were simply asking for the right of our children to continue their education,” he says. “Despite the intifada, I am still committed to peace. I still engage in these activities because when I do, I unconsciously instil that attitude in the students. If I did not keep that faith, I would lose hope.” Until there is peace, what does he want most? “I want the soldiers to understand what UNRWA schools mean to us. UNRWA has been providing education to generations of Palestinians, and this is our only way out. The right to education should be respected by the soldiers, and I have tried to explain this to them for the past two-and-a-half years,” he says. Muqbel says that, above all, Palestinian children cannot afford to lose school days to the curfews: “We know we are poor and humble. Education is all we have.” By Zeina Mogarbel-Vallès
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Ismail Muqbel started his UNRWA career in 1992 as a teacher in
Deheisheh Camp in Bethlehem. Today he is one of 1,858 teachers in 95
schools run by the Agency in the West Bank. Muqbel has been the director
of the UNRWA Basic Boys’ School in Hebron since 1996. He holds a
degree in English Literature with a minor in Psychology. A resident of
Arroub Camp and a registered refugee himself, he commutes daily to
Hebron. Because of roadblocks and checkpoints, he spends three hours a
day traveling to and from the school. Like the hundreds of other UNRWA
teachers, he works under often difficult conditions to help bring an
education to Palestinian children.
