With Support from the Bank of Palestine Opening Ceremony for Three Renovated Governmental Schools in Gaza
Dec 6, 2016
Students performing at As'ad Al Saftawi School in Gaza during the ceremony
Gaza Strip, 06 December 2016 – As part of the continuing efforts to support the education sector in the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Bank of Palestine and UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) celebrated the opening of three governmental schools in Gaza, providing improved access to educational facilities to over 3000 students.
Ashraf Herzallah, Deputy of Training and Supervision at the Ministry of Education thanked UNDP and the Bank of Palestine for the contributions made. “We want to provide students with the proper educational environment. They are our real fortune. We will invest in our students who are the notion of our culture and their future will shape the Palestinian State.”
The project comes as part of the “Periodic Maintenance of Governmental Schools in Gaza Strip” project, funded by the Bank of Palestine for the amount of USD 150,000 over a three-year period, and implemented by UNDP/PAPP. It is expected that more than 15000 children youth will benefit from access to the renovated facilities in 15 governmental schools across the Gaza Strip.
Alaa Al Radwan, Deputy General Director of Bank of Palestine said that he was proud of the achievements made in rehabilitating the three schools. “Our contribution to the Renovation of Governmental Schools project in the Gaza Strip comes as part of the social responsibility the bank is committed to. Annually, the Bank of Palestine allocates 6% of its profit to be provided to support many sectors in Gaza and education is part of it.”
The rehabilitation works in the targeted schools; As'ad Al Saftawi School, Salah El-Deen School and Shuhada Al Zaitoon school, included painting of walls, maintenance of water and sanitation facilities, and renovation of class boards.
Iman Husseini, Head of infrastructure unit at UNDP office in Gaza highlighted that education is a basic human right. “UNDP and its partners are committed to facilitating students’ access to an improved learning environment. Providing quality education is the fourth sustainable development goal and we aim to achieve it for the students in Gaza,” she added.
It is worth noting that the educational facilities assisted in the first renovation package (Al-Huda Secondary Girls Schools, Hassan Al-Nakhal Primary School and Al-Abbas Ibn Abedl Motalib Primary School) benefited approximately 1900 students, 1561 of whom were female students. The schools were used as a temporarily shelter for internally displaced people during the 2014 hostilities on Gaza.
About UNDP
UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. For more information on UNDP’s work in the West bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, visit www.ps.undp.org.
About Bank of Palestine
Bank of Palestine was established in 1960 with the view of promoting financial services in Palestine, financing projects and fulfilling the financial and banking needs of the different economic and social segments of the Palestinian society. Bank of Palestine is one of the largest national banks operating in Palestine with a broad range of branches, offices and ATMs. The Bank employs a crew of qualified personnel providing services to more than 600,000 customers including individuals, firms and organizations. Through keeping abreast and utilization of the latest technology conjointly with the adoption of the best policies and international practices including disclosure, good governance, transparency, Bank of Palestine has been instrumental in contributing to the development process allocating 5% of its net annual profit to social responsibility programs. The Bank’s trading shares were listed in the Palestinian Exchange in 2005 hence becoming the second largest company listed by its market value amounting to about 15% of the Exchange market value.
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Download Document Files: https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNDP_PR061216a.pdf
Document Type: Press Release
Document Sources: UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Subject: Assistance, Children, Education and culture, Gaza Strip
Publication Date: 06/12/2016