The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) meets a group of graduates from the Gaza Strip to discuss the challenges they face after graduation. Graduates in the Gaza Strip tend to have an inverse relationship with work opportunities, where graduate numbers soar year after year while work opportunities drop, despite the increase in the number of colleges and universities over a wide spectrum of specializations.
The crisis grows under the Gaza Strip siege and economic decline, which affects the employment process, and creates difficulty for the public and private sectors in adapting to the growing number of graduates. These factors have led to the rising rates of unemployment.
It is critical that work be done to manage this problem as soon as possible before it spirals even further out of control, and to achieve a low rate of unemployment that prevents the youth from seeking immigration to foreign countries. The youth’s current state of mind is concentrated on leaving the country due to difficult living conditions, in order to find and secure their uncertain future. Young people who decide to leave do not often find success due to poor planning, because the decision simply comes as an escape from their current life.
According to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the Gaza Strip, the number of graduates from Gaza’s universities in 2014-2015 reached 9454 male graduates and 9371 female graduates. The number of unemployed individuals, according to the International Labour Organization’s definition, was 352,800 in the first quarter of 2016, with 202,800 unemployed individuals in the Gaza Strip and 150,000 in the West Bank.
The disparity in unemployment rates remains significant between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Unemployment in the Gaza Strip reached 41.2% in the first quarter of 2016, as opposed to 18.0% in the West Bank during the same period. While gender-based unemployment rates reached 22.3% for males and 42.8% for females during the first quarter of 2016. The highest unemployment rates were recorded for the age group (20-24), where it reached 43.0% in the first quarter of 2016. In terms of educational stage, females who have completed 13 years of education or higher registered the highest unemployment rate of 48.1% for females in the workforce from this group.
Saeed Nabil Lulu, a graduate on hunger strike for the 14th day, said during a meeting, “I graduated from al-Azhar University in 2005 with a degree in Public Relations. I live with a family of 8 and our situation is only getting worse. My hunger strike is a legitimate protest to demand our legal right to be provided with a work opportunity. I was arrested by security forces in the Gaza strip for the second time to end my strike, but I refused and I will continue until the demands of Gaza Strip graduates are met.”
Raed Nasr, another graduate on hunger strike, said, “I graduated from the Education Department of al-Azhar University. I care for my family of 10, with my father being ill and my brother having his leg amputated. I still have not been able to finish paying back my university tuition fees. I refuse to end my strike even if it costs me my life. Our demands are human rights and we will not give them up. I want my right to a job, and fair work opportunities for graduates. We call on all parties involved to hurry in solving the graduate problem.”
Samah Abu-Harbid graduated top of her class from al-Quds Open University with a degree in English Language. Because of the suspension of top student contracts, she went to the private sector and found nothing but volunteer work. She says, “I’m absolutely speechless at this unforeseen crisis. My dreams and ambitions were sky-high, but I was shocked and frustrated and I decided to travel abroad. But even then, the continuous closing of the border crushed the remainder of any dreams I had managed to salvage.”
Ibtisam Musa, who graduated 4 years ago as a surgical technician, says, “I was hoping to work and pay back my tuition fees, but my debts keep piling up and I still can’t get my certificate issued. I constantly hear about jobs and graduate contracts, but the economic situation is in decline and unemployment is growing rapidly among graduates.”
Rania al-Afifi, who graduated 8 years ago, received her diploma only to be immediately hit by the internal Palestinian division and an unforeseen siege. Her family was hoping to improve their economic situation, but unfortunately, they now can only rely on the services of Social Affairs.
Elham Naeem, who graduated 4 years ago, says, “I did not receive a job or a contract, my family managed to pay the tuition fees with extreme difficulty. The load was heavy on them, having to pay for my 3 brothers and I at the same time. None of us has managed to get a job yet. The Israeli occupation has killed any dreams or ambitions we had with this siege, and with the ongoing 8-year Palestinian division. No one even looks in our direction and our dreams have become nothing but a mirage.”
Under the economic situation in the Gaza Strip and due to the political division and the siege, the dreams of thousands of graduates have become lost between a fantasy and a painful reality.