Korea funds computers in Gaza schools

Korea has donated $400,000 to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to upgrade schools in Gaza with new computers. Korean representative in Ramallah Lee Sangback signed an agreement Thursday with the UN Relief and Works Agency to provide funding for 721 personal computers to 29 schools in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA said in a statement. UNRWA representative Magnus Lindell thanked the Korean government and said the computers would improve prospects for children in Gaza. "This imaginative gift gives the children of Gaza the ability to escape their present realities and the chance to improve their educational prospects. It is a delightful technology transfer from one of Asia's most techno-aware societies to one of the most disadvantaged in the Middle East." UNRWA is responsible for the education of around 220,000 children in Gaza but Israel's blockade has hampered the constructionof new schools leading to what the agency calls "double shifting," in which one school serves two different sets of teachers and pupils. In order to cope with overcrowding, UNRWA teachers have designed an interactive learning program using computer games to teach Arabic and mathematics. The agency says the initiative has led to remarkable academic improvements.