section_path: Demographics/Education
section_name: Education
paragraph_text: Education
  
  Palestine had a reported 97% literacy rate (96% for females, 99% for males) in 2019 and youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) of 88% in 2020 (94% for females, 82% for males). According to UNRWA figures, there are 640 schools in Gaza: 383 government schools, 221 UNRWA schools and 36 private schools, serving a total of 441,452 students.
  
  In 2010, Al Zahara, a private school in central Gaza, introduced a special program for mental development based on math computations. The program was created in Malaysia in 1993, according to the school principal, Majed al-Bari.
  
  In June 2011, some Gazans, upset that UNRWA did not rebuild their homes that were lost in the Second Intifada, blocked UNRWA from performing its services and shut down UNRWA's summer camps. Gaza residents closed UNRWA's emergency department, social services office and ration stores.
  
  In 2012, there were five universities in the Gaza Strip and eight new schools were under construction. By 2018, nine universities were open.
  
  The Community College of Applied Science and Technology (CCAST) was established in 1998 in Gaza City. In 2003, the college moved into its new campus and established the Gaza Polytechnic Institute (GPI) in 2006 in southern Gaza. In 2007, the college received accreditation to award BA degrees as the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS). In 2010, the college had a student population of 6,000, in eight departments offering over 40 majors.