UNRWA teachers to strike on first day of school

Last week UNRWA announced that it had managed to scare a number of nations into paying some $79 million to allow it to open its schools on time this year.

But it looks like its Gaza schools won't open on time.

UNRWA teachers are upset that they have to make some compromises, like larger class sizes. So the Gaza UNRWA teachers' union announced that they will go on strike on the first day of school, scheduled for Monday.

The same union organized large protests last week in the face of the possibility of the school year being delayed four months.

The head of the union for Gaza UNRWA teachers is Suhail Hindi. He is a known Hamas member. In 2011, UNRWA - under Western pressure -said that it dismissed Hindi, causing large protests and teacher strikes in Gaza. UNRWA then caved, and he is still the head of the union and still an UNRWA principal (with an UNRWA.org email address.)

As far as I know, no one has asked Chris Gunness why they still employ a known Hamas member as a school principal, against all UNRWA rules.