Schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip opened regularly on Monday for the first time this school year after an agreement was reached to end protests against overcrowding in classrooms.
Suheil al-Hindi, the head of a committee representing UNRWA staff, told Ma'an that the agency's 250 schools in Gaza were attended by nearly 250,000 children and 8,500 teachers Monday.
Last week was supposed to be the first of the school year, but staff in UNRWA's schools went on strike to protest overcrowding and unpaid vacations.
Parents later joined the protest, saying they would not send their children to school for the rest of the week.
The union of UNRWA staff, along with parent committees and factional representatives, decided to end their protest Monday after a preliminary agreement was reached with the agency to reduce class sizes from more than 50 students to a maximum of 38.
They said there would be no protests before Sept.10 while a final agreement was reached on all outstanding issues.
UNRWA has faced a financial crisis for months that earlier this month threatened a delay the school year in UNRWA's schools across the Middle East.
The UN agency was only able to announce that the year would go ahead as scheduled after a last minute scramble for funding secured just short of $80 million in contributions against its deficit.
