Public schooling across the West Bank has been cut from five days a week to three as a deepening Palestinian Authority budget crisis disrupts education for around 630,000 pupils in the Israeli-occupied territory.
In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, 10-year-old twins Ahmad and Mohammed now spend much of their week at home instead of in the classroom. The сокращed school schedule is part of sweeping austerity measures imposed by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, which is struggling to meet its public sector wage bill.
Teachers’ salaries have been reduced to 60 per cent of their usual pay, and schools are operating at less than two-thirds capacity, according to education officials. The financial strain reflects a broader fiscal emergency with political and economic roots.
Ibrahim al-Hajj, father of the twins, said he fears for his sons’ future. “Without proper education, there is no university. That means their future could be lost,” he said.
Fiscal crisis hits education sector
The budget shortfall stems partly from Israel’s decision to withhold customs tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, a move taken after the war in Gaza began in October 2023. The West Bank economy has also been severely affected by restrictions on Palestinian workers entering Israel, alongside expanded checkpoints and movement controls.
The financial squeeze is cutting across public services, but education has been among the hardest hit sectors.
Aisha Khatib, headmistress of the twins’ school in Nablus, said the current generation faces diminished educational opportunities compared with the past.
“Salaries are cut, working days are reduced, and students are not receiving enough education to become properly educated adults,” she said. Several teachers have left the profession for more stable work, while some students have sought employment to support their families during prolonged closures.
When classes are cancelled, Ahmad and Mohammed remain at home while their parents work. Much of their time is spent on mobile phones or watching television. They attend private tutoring sessions, when possible, but the extra cost is an increasing burden.
“We go downstairs to the teacher and she teaches us. Then we go back home,” said Mohammad, who enjoys English and hopes to become a carpenter.
Ibrahim al-Hajj, a farmer, said he cannot indefinitely afford to compensate for what he sees as steady academic decline.
Falling standards and lost learning
Tamara Shtayyeh, a teacher in Nablus, said the reduction in classroom hours has already affected academic performance. Her 16-year-old daughter, Zeena, who is preparing for the Tawjihi secondary school examination next year, has seen her average grades fall by six percentage points since the shortened week began.
Shtayyeh warned that younger children face the gravest risks. “In the basic stage, there is no proper foundation,” she said. “Especially from first to fourth grade, there is no solid grounding in writing or reading.”
Irregular attendance and repeated interruptions have weakened discipline and attention spans, she added, describing a visible decline in academic standards.
UNRWA schools under pressure
The crisis extends to schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which educates approximately 48,000 students in refugee camps across the West Bank.
Jonathan Fowler, spokesperson for UNRWA, described the situation as moving from “a learning poverty crisis to a full-scale systemic emergency". ”.
While UNRWA schools are widely regarded as maintaining relatively high standards, proficiency in Arabic and mathematics has dropped sharply in recent years. Fowler cited the combined effects of the fiscal crisis, Israeli military operations, settler interference and the lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The combination of hybrid schooling, trauma and over 2,000 documented incidents of military or settler interference in 2024-25 has resulted in a landscape of lost learning for thousands of Palestinian refugee students,” he said.
UNRWA is itself facing funding shortages after several major donor countries, including the United States under President Donald Trump, suspended contributions. The agency is considering reducing school days as it attempts to manage its own financial constraints.
In the northern West Bank, where Israeli military operations displaced around 35,000 people in 2025, some pupils have reportedly lost up to 45 per cent of learning days. Elsewhere, schools face demolition orders or closure, including six UNRWA-run institutions in annexed east Jerusalem.
Teachers say the cumulative impact of fiscal austerity, political instability and security pressures threatens an entire generation.
“We are supposed to look toward a bright and successful future,” Shtayyeh said. “But what we are seeing is things getting worse and worse.”
