Graduation ceremonies held throughout Gaza

Graduation ceremonies for students at universities and colleges were held across the Gaza Strip this week.

Graduates were awarded their diplomas, degrees and master’s degrees. Some 20,000 undergraduates received their certificates.

The Islamic University of Gaza, which produces thousands of graduates every year, has called this year the Year of Hope as students lived through two wars and four years under siege during their degrees. This has had an impact on some of their grades, in particular for students whose homes were bombed or who lost loved ones as a result of the Israeli assaults.

Alaa Kamel, a business graduate, told MEMO that he enrolled in the summer semester after the 2014 war on Gaza. The semester concluded in one week instead of one month, he explained, saying that this led to his grades dropping below 80 per cent at a time when he was trying to raise his average by completing extra credits. Kamel added that his house move from eastern Shujai’iyya, where his home was damaged during the war, also affected his studies.

Due to the continuing siege on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian labour market has become very limited, and unemployment levels have soared. The average income for graduates working in the private sector ranges between $250-350 per month.