With the return of classes throughout Libya, controversy has emerged over the fate of school students in the areas affected by Storm Daniel, which hit the cities of eastern Libya, especially Derna, leaving thousands dead and missing and extensive destruction of buildings, including schools.

Libyans interacted on social media platforms with the children of the city of Derna, coinciding with the resumption of classes on Sunday after a 10-day hiatus due to the flooding disaster.

While the authorities announced measures against students in the affected areas, Libyans supported the progress of education, while some rejected it, citing the displacement and displacement of a large number of families living in the city of Derna.

Education in areas of displacement

Minister of Education in the Government of National Unity Moussa Magarief announced that his ministry is working to return to studies throughout the country, even those affected areas, stressing that they have issued instructions to educational institutions to contain displaced students in the areas to which they moved.

This trend follows a decision to form a committee to prepare the alternative study plan for the 2024-2023 academic year for the affected areas in eastern Libya.

A few days ago, Prime Minister of the Unity Government Abdul Hamid Dabaiba announced the issuance of his recommendations to open the doors of universities and higher institutes to displaced students and accept them, in addition to opening internal departments to study for students at any academic level.

What are the plans for the return of studies in Derna?
I know very well that the people of Derna are ready to forget their sleep, food and drink in order to educate their children

— Nora Eljerbi | Nora Jerbi (@noura_eljerbi) September 22, 2023

Despite these directives, Libyan activists saw that the matter is much more complicated and requires more time given the consequences of the disaster and what it left on families and their children, wondering about plans to return to studies in Derna, whose people will not forget the magnitude of the tragedy that befell their city, in addition to the widespread destruction that spread to educational facilities, while some saw the illogic of stopping education in the country as a whole in order to damage a specific area.

Who takes them to the institution and they don't have cars
and where are the study supplies such as stationery and clothes
and where is the house that embraces the surviving family in the place of the institution

— Nariman Tashani🌬️ (@NAltshany) September 22, 2023

Earlier, the Director General of the Educational Facilities Authority, Ali Al-Qwaireh, said that the total number of schools affected by floods and floods in the Eastern Province amounted to 114 institutions, distributed over 15 municipalities, classified according to the type of maintenance required, comprehensive or light.

UNICEF Libya is on the ground and active. Stay updated with our recent #FloodUPDATE #SitRep on #East emergency response 👇https://t.co/jOoTSuPHtB

— UNICEF Libya (@UnicefLibya) September 22, 2023

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates the number of displaced children in the areas affected by the devastating storm at 17,43, out of 59,<> and <> displaced people, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Sheltering the displaced

Neither government in Libya (the Government of National Unity and the government mandated by the parliament) has announced the provision of alternative housing for those displaced by the floods, making it difficult for some low-income families to move to other cities, according to activists, and some schools in eastern Libya have been used to shelter families who lost their homes as a result of the disaster.

Libyan official sources estimate the number of completely destroyed buildings in Derna at 891, while rescue efforts continue by local and foreign teams to search for the missing, especially those who were swept away by floods to sea.