Palestinian schools strive to modernize classrooms

As the teacher pointed to the large touch screen, her first-grade classroom came alive. With the click of a link, an animated character popped up on the screen, singing and dancing as it taught the children how to read.

The day's lesson was the Arabic letter "Raa," and the screen displayed cartoon pictures of objects that contain the letter desert, chair and pomegranate as the teacher asked the children to come up with other words. The students smiled and sang along.

Just a few years ago, such scenes were unthinkable in most Palestinian classrooms. Like elsewhere in the Arab world, schools in the Palestinian territories have traditionally emphasized memorization and obedience over critical thinking and creativity.

With an eye to the future, some Palestinian educators now hope the use of technology and the arts will create new opportunities in a society that has produced large numbers of unemployed college graduates.

"The students don't need to memorize things. They need to understand first," said Ruba Dibas, the principal of the Ziad Abu Ein School in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Then they need to express their understanding through writing, speaking, drawing, acting."
"I love the school," said Malak Samara, a 9-year-old fourth grader. "We learn and enjoy. We learn and play."