Education

At a recent meeting of California’s high school sports governing board, two seniors from Arroyo Grande High School spoke out against a transgender peer competing on their track and field team and allegedly “watching” them in the girls’ locker room.

One of the Central Coast students said she is “more comfortable” changing in her car now. The other cited a Bible verse about God creating men and women separately, and accused the California Interscholastic Federation of subjecting girls to “exploitative and intrusive behavior that is disguised through transgender ideology.”

“Our privacy is being compromised and our sports are being taken over,” she said.

During the same meeting, Trevor Norcross, the father of 17-year-old transgender junior Lily Norcross, offered a starkly different perspective.

“Bathrooms and locker rooms are the most dangerous place for trans students, and when they are at their most vulnerable,” he said. “Our daughter goes to extreme lengths to avoid them. Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t.”

Lily Norcross with her parents, Trevor and Hilary Norcross.

(Owen Main / For The Times)

Norcross said Lily’s teammates had for months been misrepresenting a single moment from the year prior, when Lily had to use the restroom after a full day of avoiding it, chose to use the one in the locker room because it is monitored by an adult and safer for her than others, and briefly stopped to chat with a friend on her way out.

“There’s always more to the story,” he said.

The conflicting testimony reflected an increasingly charged debate over transgender athletes participating in youth sports nationwide. Churches, anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, cisgender athletes and their conservative families are organizing to topple trans-inclusive policies, while liberal state officials, queer advocacy groups, transgender kids and their families are trying to preserve policies that allow transgender kids to compete.

The battle has been particularly pitched in California, which has some of the nation’s most progressive statewide athletic policies and liberal leaders willing to defend them — including from the Trump administration, which has attacked transgender rights and is suing the California Department of Education and the CIF, alleging their trans-inclusive sports policies violate the civil rights of cisgender athletes.

Along with a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the legality of policies banning transgender athletes from competing in states such as Idaho and West Virginia, the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California could have sweeping implications for transgender athletes — with a state loss potentially contributing to their being sidelined not just in conservative states, but nationwide.

For the handful of transgender California teens caught in the middle of the fight, it has all been deeply unnerving — if strangely motivating.

“I have to keep doing it, because if I stop doing sports, they won,” Lily Norcross said. “They got what they wanted.”

A coordinated effort

The movement to overturn California’s trans-inclusive policies is being coordinated at the local, state and national levels, and has gained serious momentum since several of its leaders joined the Trump administration.

At the local level, cisgender athletes, their families and other conservative and religious allies have expressed anger over transgender athletes using girls’ facilities and resentment over their allegedly stealing victories and the spotlight from cisgender girls.

In 2024, two girls at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside filed a lawsuit challenging the participation of their transgender track and field teammate Abigail Jones, arguing her participation limited their own in violation of Title IX protections for female athletes. A judge found insufficient evidence of that, and recently dismissed the case.

Last year, Jurupa Valley High School track star AB Hernandez won several medals at the CIF State Track and Field Championships despite President Trump personally demanding she be barred from competing. Critics argued Hernandez’s wins were unfair, despite CIF having changed its rules so that her cisgender competitors received the medals they would have received had she not competed.

AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The challenges to Abigail, AB and Lily competing have all been driven in part by a network of conservative organizations working across California and beyond to oust transgender girls from sports, including by coordinating with evangelical churches, pushing social media campaigns, lining up speakers for school board meetings and working with cisgender athletes to hone their messages of opposition.

Shannon Kessler, a former PTA president and church leader who is now running for state Assembly, has worked within the wider network. In March 2025, Kessler founded the group Save Girls’ Sports Central Coast, and the next month distributed fliers at Harvest Church in Arroyo Grande that called on parishioners to challenge Lily’s participation on the track and field team.

Kessler said the two seniors on Lily’s team, who did not respond to a request for comment, had initially asked if she would “speak on their behalf,” so she did, but she has since let the girls “take the lead.”

“They took the initiative to speak and wrote their own speeches,” Kessler said, of their remarks at the recent CIF meeting.

Norcross said the effort to sideline his daughter has clearly been coordinated by outsiders from the start. He blames Kessler, Harvest Church and the state’s wider network of conservative activists for stirring up baseless fears about transgender athletes, exposing his family to danger and leaving them no choice but to defend themselves publicly.

“It’s not a fair position to be in,” he said.

Tied up in court

Within months of Trump issuing his February 2025 executive order calling for transgender athletes to be barred from competition nationwide, two leaders within the California conservative network turned Trump administration officials — Harmeet Dhillon, who is now assistant attorney general for civil rights, and former state Assemblyman Bill Essayli, who is now in charge of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles — quickly moved to bring the state to heel.

They launched an investigation into California’s trans-inclusive sports policies, ordered its school districts to comply with Trump’s order in defiance of state law, and then sued the Department of Education and the CIF when they refused — alleging the state’s policies illegally discriminate against cisgender girls under Title IX by ignoring “undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous ‘gender identity.’”

Neither Dhillon nor the Justice Department responded to a request for comment. Essayli’s office declined to comment.

Assistant Atty. Gen. for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon arrives for a news conference at the Justice Department in September.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

The Department of Education and the CIF have called for the lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that Title IX regulations “do not require the exclusion of transgender girls” and that the Justice Department had provided no evidence that the state’s policies left cisgender girls unable to compete.

The CIF said in a statement that it “provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law,” but it and the Department of Education said they do not comment on pending litigation. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office has slammed the Trump administration’s efforts, and filed its own lawsuit to block them.

Separate from the California litigation, there is a major case on transgender youth athletes before the U.S. Supreme Court.

After athletes successfully challenged West Virginia and Idaho bans on transgender competition in lower federal courts, the states appealed. During arguments last month, the high court’s conservative majority sounded ready to uphold the state bans — but not necessarily in a way that would topple liberal state laws allowing such athletes to compete.

Pressure and resolve

Lily, AB and Abigail — all of whom are referenced anonymously in the federal lawsuit against California — agreed, with their parents, to be identified by The Times in order to share how it has felt to be targeted.

Abigail, 17, graduated early and is preparing to start college but hasn’t stopped being an advocate for transgender high school athletes, continuing to show up to CIF and school board meetings to support their right to compete.

“This is a part of my life now, whether I like it or not,” she said.

Speaking can be intimidating, Abigail said, but it has also become familiar — as has the cast of anti-transgender activists who routinely show up to speak as well. “It’s always the same people,” she said.

Abigail Jones participates in a protest against President Trump and his attacks on transgender people in April in Riverside.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

AB, also 17, said last year — when everyone, including Trump, seemed to be talking about her — was “just so much — too much.”

She felt she had to constantly “maintain an image,” including among her peers, that she was “not bothered by anything and just confident,” which was exhausting, she said. “There were a lot of times I just didn’t go to school, because I felt like I couldn’t keep up that image and I didn’t want them to see me down.”

It still can be overwhelming if she looks at all the vitriol aimed her way online, she said, but “off the internet, it’s a completely different story.”

AB was nervous headed into last year’s championships, but a couple of other competitors reached out with their support and the meet ended up being “a blast,” she said. At track practice this year, she’s surrounded by friends — one of her favorite things about being on the team.

For Lily, the last year has been “different and interesting, in not really a good way.”

She has had slurs lobbed at her and been physically threatened. She sometimes waits all day to use the toilet, nearly bursting by the time she gets home. When she has to use a school restroom, she times herself to be in and out in under three minutes. She took P.E. courses over the summer in part because she felt there would be fewer students around, but faced harassment anyway. Like AB, she feels as though she’s under a constant spotlight.

And yet, Lily said she is also “a lot happier with who I am” than she ever was before transitioning a couple of years ago. She said she’s enjoying her classes and her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, where LGBTQ+ kids gather at lunch to swap stories, and is optimistic about the future — even if things aren’t great right now.

Her dad said watching her come out and transition has been gratifying, because “the smile came back, the light in her eyes came back.” Watching her navigate the current campaign against her, he said, has been “really hard,” because “she has been forced to grow up too quickly — she has been forced to defend herself in a way that most kids don’t.”

Mostly, though, he’s just proud of his kid.

“We had our fears as parents, as any parent would, that, OK, this is a different path than we thought our kid was going to be on, and we are worried about her safety and her future in this world,” he said. “But she is amazingly strong — amazingly courageous.”

Feb. 18 (UPI) — A federal court gave a final ruling Wednesday negating the Department of Education’s 2025 directive that sought to prevent federally funded schools and universities from practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.

The U.S. District Court in New Hampshire issued the ruling that permanently invalidated the “Dear Colleague” letter of Feb. 14, 2025, after the Department of Education backed down from the lawsuit. The letter, signed by Craig Trainor, who was then the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, told schools they had 14 days to comply with the directive or face consequences, including loss of funding. Trainor cited the Supreme Court‘s 2023 ruling on Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which effectively ended affirmative action.

Soon after, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Massachusetts and lawyers for the National Education Association, filed suit to block enforcement of the letter. The Center for Black Educator Development and several New Hampshire School Districts later joined the case as plaintiffs.

In April, the court issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Department of Education from enforcing the new ruling.

District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled earlier in the case that the letter’s “isolated characterizations of unlawful DEI” conflicted with the term’s meaning, saying that DEI is fostering “a group culture of equitable and inclusive treatment.”

McCafferty said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that the letter was vague, viewpoint discriminatory and unlawfully imposed new legal obligations.

Plaintiffs said they were pleased with the decision.

“This ruling affirms what educators and communities have long known: celebrating the full existence of every person and sharing the truth about our history is essential,” Sharif El-Mekki, CEO at The Center for Black Educator Development, said in a statement. “Today’s decision protects educators’ livelihoods and their responsibility to teach honestly.”

“While [President Donald] Trump and [Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon want to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, educators know these values are at the core of our nation,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s unlawful Dear Colleague letter and certification requirement have now been vacated and abandoned, underscoring how badly Trump and McMahon overreached in their attempt to interfere with curriculum and instruction.”

Ali Juwon’s future shattered at the same time his father’s leg did. The year was 2012, and the 9-year-old, hand in hand with his mother, was fleeing his home in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram members had stormed their community in Gwoza, killing neighbours and burning buildings Ali had known his entire life. 

As he and his mother ran, a familiar voice cried behind them. Both turned to see that Ali’s father had crashed to the ground, crushing his leg in the process. Yet, with all the odds stacked against them, the three managed to make it out with their lives. 

The family travelled for half a day to Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja, and sought refuge in the Durumi IDP camp like many survivors at the time. 

The camp, with the flurry of Borno survivors, was overcrowded, but Ali’s mother promised him it would not be home, only a resting place before they could find their footing again. Over 14 years later, the Juwon family continue to reside there. 

Ali, now 23, explained how the situation derailed his life, “Before fleeing, my father had a business and was able to afford all my needs. Since he broke his leg, he hasn’t been able to work, and because we couldn’t get him properly treated, his leg never healed well. He hasn’t walked since the fall. Suddenly, all the luxuries we could afford before have vanished.”

Being the only child in his family, Ali took it upon himself to care for his parents. The only thing he needed was a decent education that would lead to a business or accounting degree. He planned to join whatever lucrative fields these courses would thrust him into and use his money to get himself and his parents a place away from the camp.

But Ali quickly learnt that he was no longer in Borno, dependent on his well-to-do father. His education now rested in the hands of IDP leaders, non-profit donors,  government promises, and his own hustle. As the years wore on, he learnt that even with seemingly more helpers, his chances of finishing school had dimmed significantly.

In the Durumi IDP camp, displacement does not end with fleeing violence. For many, it continues in the classroom. While primary education is often supported by NGOs or private donors, secondary school is where the system collapses. 

According to camp leaders, the girls in the camp are often married off after their basic education ends, as secondary education is no longer attainable without sustained government intervention. Hundreds of displaced boys, on the other hand, are forced to choose between survival and schooling, a gap that is reshaping their futures and deepening Nigeria’s long-term social and economic vulnerabilities.

No way past secondary school

“In primary school, things were okay. NGOs sponsored my schooling, but once I got to secondary school, that was where the real problem began. No one sponsored secondary schooling for us,” Ali explained. 

Liyatu Yusuf, the woman leader of the Durumi camp, finds the schooling situation distressing.

“We had certain sponsors who do everything for these children. Usually, it’s from an individual with a good heart. We used to do their secondary school education in the camp as well, but due to a lack of teachers and overcrowding, we had to stop it.”

According to her, over 1,000 students occupy the less spacious class, forcing them to have seven different sessions in just one class. But that’s not just the problem. There is a lack of teachers, too.

“The teachers we have are university volunteers. They would come three times in a week, but then refuse to come the next week because no one was paying them or giving them transport money,” Liyatu said.

Liyatu says the children never receive government sponsorship, and that many of the people who help the children through primary school are good-natured individuals or NGOs. Despite record education budgets announced in Abuja, camp leaders say they have not seen much implementation, especially for the displaced children like those in Durumi.

In a 2025 press release by the Presidential State House Villa, Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, called for collaboration between the government and the private sector to invest in education, as the burden of educating children cannot fall entirely on the government’s shoulders. But in the Durumi IDP camp, help has come mainly from the camp leaders and individual sponsors. 

So, with no one to help him through secondary school, Ali did what several boys in the camp chose to do: work and fund his education in tandem. This way, he would be able to pay for school with the money he made and leave some for his unemployed parents. 

But this was not an easy route, and soon the stress of paying for so much caught up with the boys. Salim Aliyu, for example, now runs a small provision shop near Durumi, as his education ended in Senior Secondary (SS) 1.

“I’m 25 now,” he said. “I stopped at SS1 because it was too expensive. Transport alone was about ₦1,000 every day. How much was I earning to pay that?”

At the time, Salim did menial jobs, sweeping houses and cleaning compounds to survive. Eventually, the numbers stopped adding up. “One day, I realised I couldn’t continue. I just had to leave school.” His story is common in the camp. For many boys, the challenge is not only tuition fees but the impossible balance between earning and learning.

Sulieman Nobo repeated SS3 three times after running out of money repeatedly. By his final attempt, anxiety had overtaken ambition. “In junior secondary school, I learned a lot,” he said. “But in senior secondary, I was focused on passing, not learning. I didn’t have time to retain anything.”

School ended by mid-afternoon. Work began soon after. By nightfall, he was too exhausted to revise his notes. Despite the strain, Sulieman managed above-average grades. Others were not as fortunate.

“I was funding my education myself,” Usman Selman, another young man in the camp, told HumAngle. “My school fees were ₦20,000 a year, so I had to work. But the stress became too much.”

The dual burden affected his concentration. “No matter how hard I tried to listen in class, the only thing on my mind was money.” For some, the pressure pushed them out entirely. Aliyu Usman began paying his own fees at 15. By 17, even ₦3,000 per semester proved unsustainable.

“I was tailoring while in school,” he said. “But I couldn’t cope with fees and transport. I dropped out in SS2. Now I do laundry. It feeds my family.” He paused before adding, “If I could go back to school, I would. But I know in my heart I can’t.”

Salim, now financially stable enough to run his shop, no longer sees school as essential.

“Even if I had the chance, I wouldn’t go back,” he said. “Everything I need for business, I learned here. And after school, where is the job? Unless you already have money, there’s nothing waiting.”

For the few who make it through secondary school, graduation does not guarantee anything. Umar borrowed ₦87,000 to register for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exam, one the final secondary school tests that qualify one for further education in the university and other higher insitututions. It took him half a year to repay the debt. In those six months, he was forced to cut back on food. “After all that, I still didn’t get a job,” he said. “If university graduates are struggling, who am I with only a WAEC certificate?” 

The repeated disappointments take a toll. According to Liyatu, who coordinates the camp, more than half of the 1,000 boys there are currently out of school and unemployed. “If they even register for WAEC, we are lucky,” she said. “Most cannot finish secondary school. When they see there’s no support, they lose hope.” She worries about the ripple effects.

“With no school and sometimes no work, small arguments turn into fights. I saw boys punch each other over ₦200. I don’t excuse it, but I understand the frustration.”

Humanitarian worker Mohammed Abubakar, who has spent over a decade in Nigeria’s humanitarian sector, says prolonged educational exclusion carries broader consequences. “When young people are cut off from opportunity, their productivity drops,” he said. “They become more vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation.” He cautions that marginalisation, not ignorance alone, creates risk. “If society neglects them, others will step in, sometimes with harmful intentions. That is how cycles of insecurity and poverty sustain themselves.”

Beyond security, he points to economic cost. “When you underinvest in education, your population becomes less competitive. It affects productivity, innovation, even GDP. The impact goes far beyond one camp.”

Yet, despite the barriers, many of the boys continue to dream. Sulieman plans to register for JAMB, hoping for a scholarship. If that fails, he wants to join the armed forces.

“My dream is simple,” he said. “To live a better life and take my parents out of this camp.”

Umar still hopes to study computer engineering. Aliyu once imagined becoming a doctor. Sadiqi Shauku, 18, who left school in SS2, says he would return “if someone helped.” And Ali Juwon, still carrying the weight of his family’s survival, has not let go. “If there is anyone who can help me continue my education, I will continue,” he said. “I want to study something that will help me start a business or work in government. I want to be a better man.”

For now, he survives on friends’ support and periodic food distributions. Hope remains, but evidence of escape is scarce.

“Since I started primary school, I have never seen anyone gather enough money to leave this camp,” Sulieman said. “I believe in my future. But no one has gotten out.”

Nestled in the Cheviot Hills, College Valley in Northumberland is home to wild ponies, roe deer and ancient ruins including Iron Age stone circles, hillforts and a well-preserved Romano-British settlement

Tucked away in the Northumberland hills lies the lush College Valley, teeming with stunning wildlife and ancient ruins.

Maintained by the College Valley Estate, this expanse of countryside is immaculately kept and readily accessible for both walkers and cyclists.

Wandering through the meadows, you’ll encounter wild ponies, roe deer, hares and wild goats, according to Northumberland National Park.

Hethpool

Leaving your vehicle at the Hethpool car park, you can discover remnants of an Iron Age stone circle. The area offers picnic spots along Great Hetha, with ancient fortifications perched above the Hethpool Linn Pools, where you can take a refreshing dip during summer, reports Chronicle Live.

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Come autumn, you can witness sea trout and salmon jumping upstream towards their spawning grounds.

Approximately 2,800 years ago, during the Iron Age, communities built timber roundhouses surrounded by substantial wooden palisades. Opposite Hethpool House sits a well-preserved Romano-British settlement.

History

People have lived in this area at least 7,000 years, with traces of late Stone Age farmers.

During the early Bronze Age, when temperatures were warmer than today, farming reached higher altitudes. Various terraced fields and numerous burial cairns survive from this era.

Given its closeness to Scotland, the valley suffered significant devastation during battles between English and Scottish armies throughout the 14th to 16th centuries. Border Reiver raids resulted in the land being plundered.

Hillforts

Northumberland claims Britain’s highest concentration of hillforts, and College Valley is no different. Scattered across the Cheviot Hills, these ancient Iron Age fortifications provide a glimpse into prehistoric settlements.

As an added benefit, they also offer spectacular vantage points overlooking the undulating hills.

Wildlife

Covering more than 12,000 acres, College Valley hosts an abundance of wildlife including flora, trees, birds and even Exmoor ponies to admire.

Bear in mind – mobile phone signal is virtually non-existent and only 12 vehicles are permitted entry daily. If you fancy a longer break surrounded by nature, you can reserve one of the numerous holiday cottages on offer.

Visitors can see everything from the extinct volcano Cheviot Massif to the enchanting Collingwood Oaks.

Tucked away at the valley’s head, just a mile from the Pennine Way, lies Mounthooly Bunkhouse.

Housing 24 guests across three rooms, this charming bunkhouse offers walkers, cyclists and all visitors unique accommodation in a beautifully remote part of the valley.

With beds starting from £17 per night, you may be inclined to prolong your visit and discover more of what the valley has to offer, safe in the knowledge you can return to hot showers and a log burner.

One TripAdvisor review stated: “What a wonderful valley to visit, either walk or to drive through, they only allow 12 cars a day to drive through and you need a permit £10 you can book online.

“It was so peaceful and in May the colour of the gorse it just beautiful. The memorial to the pilots that crashed during WW2 over the Cheviot Hills is so moving.”

Feb. 13 (Asia Today) — Poverty is increasingly being passed down across generations in South Korea’s non-metropolitan regions, with education reform cited as a key starting point for reversing the trend.

A recent report by the Bank of Korea titled “Interregional Population Mobility and Intergenerational Economic Inheritance” found that social mobility has sharply declined outside the capital region.

According to the report, eight out of 10 children ages 36 to 40 who were born to parents in the bottom 50% income bracket outside the capital region and remained in their hometowns still fall within the bottom half of income earners. The rate has risen significantly from 58.9% in earlier years to 80.9% in recent data.

The findings support the long-held perception that children from economically disadvantaged families who relocate to the capital region have greater chances of upward mobility, while those who remain in provincial areas are more likely to experience continued economic hardship. The pattern has become more pronounced among younger generations.

Regional income disparities have also widened. The per capita income gap between the capital region and non-capital areas grew from 3.2 million won ($2,370) in 2005 to 5.5 million won ($4,070) in 2023, based on prevailing exchange rates. During roughly the same period, real apartment prices in Seoul rose 19.6%, while prices in non-metropolitan regions fell 3%.

The report suggests that birthplace increasingly shapes economic opportunity in South Korea. While manufacturing once provided quality jobs in regional areas, high-paying positions in knowledge-based industries are now concentrated in the capital region. Young people continue to migrate to Seoul and surrounding areas in search of work, reinforcing the cycle of concentration.

Experts say a comprehensive government response is needed. They argue that reforming the education system should be the first step, particularly by expanding opportunities for students in disadvantaged regions.

As one proposed measure, the central bank recommended a regional proportional admissions system. Under the proposal, top universities in the capital region would consider the regional distribution of the school-age population when selecting students. The framework would also include additional consideration for low-income students in non-capital regions, who face greater barriers to admission compared to higher-income peers.

In the longer term, analysts say substantial investment is required to strengthen the competitiveness of schools and major universities outside the capital region. They argue that students in provincial areas should be able to develop their potential without relocating to Seoul.

More broadly, the report calls for an effective national balanced development strategy. Among the options discussed is a development model centered on regional hub cities capable of achieving economies of scale.

The authors conclude that poverty should not be determined by birthplace and urge the government to demonstrate resolve in implementing balanced regional policies.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260212010004700

Nablus, the occupied West Bank – For decades, the Zenabia Elementary School has been offering an intimate learning environment to aspiring young students from across the educational spectrum in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

But now, due to Israel’s years-long withholding of tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian school system is effectively broke. Like administrators at all government-run schools in the West Bank, the Zenabia school principal, Aisha al-Khatib, is struggling to keep her small, public school in session.

For most of the week, the Zenabia school is shuttered, and children roam the streets or stay at home. School supplies are woefully missing, with even regular schoolbooks now reduced to “bundles of pages”.

“We do everything we can, but we do not have the time or the materials or the consistency to properly teach our children and keep them off the streets,” says al-Khatib. “And this is everywhere in the West Bank.”

Targeting the education of Palestine’s children, she says, “means destroying the nation”.

Under the direction of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel has systematically been withholding billions of dollars in tax revenues over the past two years that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The measure is partly intended to punish the PA for its longstanding policy of paying families of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for resisting the occupation – even after the PA announced early last year that it was reforming such policies.

Public services have faced severe cuts, affecting the salaries of bureaucrats, sanitary workers, and the police.

But possibly nowhere has that budgetary crisis been felt more than in the education sector.

At Zenabia and elsewhere in the West Bank, public schools are currently only open for a maximum of three days a week. Teachers face long stretches of not being paid, and when they are, they only receive about 60 percent of what they were earning before, resulting in strikes.

And the effects of these cuts in education are showing up on the days when school is in session. Class time is so diminished at Zenabia that teachers focus almost solely on teaching mathematics, Arabic, and English, with subjects like the sciences being essentially cut altogether.

The result, educators warn, could be lasting educational gaps for a generation of Palestinian students.

“As principal of the school, I know that [the students] are not [at] the same [educational] level as before,” al-Khatib says.

‘We are always absent from school’

Spending most of his days out of school, star student Zaid Hasseneh, 10, tries to keep improving his English by looking up words on Google Translate. Zaid dreams of going to university someday in the United States, with hopes of becoming a doctor.

“I want my son to grow up to be cultured – not just memorise the material he learns at school,” says his mother, Eman. “No, I want his cultural knowledge to develop and become diverse and advanced.”

Eman helps Zaid when she can with his studies, but she is busy keeping the family afloat financially after her husband lost his work in Israel. Before Israel’s war on Gaza began in 2023, Eman’s husband worked in Tel Aviv as a mechanic. After Israel revoked his work permit, along with those of some 150,000 other West Bank Palestinians, he has been unable to find work. Eman now works in a halawa factory as the sole breadwinner.

“I go home tired from work, but I have to keep up with [Zaid] regularly,” says Eman. “I tell him, ‘The most important thing is studying. Studying is essential for life.’”

But Eman realises how limited she is in helping her son with his studies. “The teacher knows one thing, but I don’t know how to explain it,” says Eman. “And now, the books [they receive in school] aren’t complete books anymore. They’re bundles. Regular books are 130 pages, but these are 40 or 50 pages.”

To compound the dearth in school resources, students and their families describe erratic schedules that make cumulative learning a near impossibility. “The whole family’s routine is affected,” says Eman.

Even Zaid is now often spending his days out in the streets rather than studying in the classroom – or otherwise on his phone, playing mobile games.

That is the case for most students these days.

Muhammad and Ahmed al-Hajj joined Zenabia four years ago as six-year-olds when they faced extreme bullying in another school. They came to love the new school and the intimate setting it offers. But the twins now mostly spend their time on their phones. With their parents also struggling to earn enough money to get by, they’re left at home alone during their days off from school.

“It’s not good at all. We are always absent from school,” says one of the twins. “It’s not like a full schedule, and we try to study as much as we can, but still, we don’t feel good about it.”

Some families have switched their children over to private schools, but few can afford to do so. “My [monthly] salary is 2,000 shekels [$650],” explains Eman Hassaneh. “About 1,000 goes towards the home rent. Another 500 goes towards bills. And only very little is left for food. I cannot also take care of his education.”

Teachers quitting, and mounting dropouts

Collectively, the PA’s multi-year budget cuts of billions of dollars are shrinking both the attendance of students and the number of teachers, too.

“Many of the teachers left working in the schools to work in factories because they do not get enough salary,” says al-Khatib. “And they don’t feel that they are giving what they need to give the students.”

Tamara Shtayeh, a teacher at Zenabia, nowadays only teaches maths, English, and Arabic due to the reduced funding. “As a teacher, the three-day solution is a bad solution because it doesn’t cover the minimum education that is needed,” she said. “Not for the students, and not for the teachers as well.”

Due to her reduced salary, Shtayeh, a mother of three girls, is selling products online on the side to support her family. Even the school’s principal, al-Khatib, says she can now only afford to send one of her two college-age daughters to university, with the other daughter staying at home.

School hours are reduced even further as Israeli soldiers regularly raid the surrounding areas, closing the school every time they do so. With the crisis stretching on for years now, Shtayeh is sensing a generational gap widening between the previous generation that received five days of school, and this one going to school for about half of that.

Shtayeh and al-Khatib worry about the lack of routine in the children’s lives. For every student like Zaid, who is devoted to educating himself despite the circumstances, many more students are dropping out of the system altogether.

Not far from Zenabia, Talal Adabiq, 15, now spends his days selling sweets and drinks for eight hours a day on the streets of Nablus.

“I don’t really like school,” says Talal. “I prefer working.”

Talal told his parents about a year ago that he wanted to drop out of school. Though they wanted him to continue his studies, he told them he did not find much use for school anymore – and he used the irregular school schedule to prove his point.

Offering to help support his struggling family financially, Talal subsequently dropped out of al-Kindi School. He now makes “about 40 to 50 shekels a day” ($13-16) hawking street goods.

As he sells lollipops and other sweets on a Tuesday afternoon, several teenage boys looked on nearby. They say they’re still in school, but on this budget-mandated day off, some of the boys joke about how “fun” it would be to not go to school at all.

Talal, meanwhile, shrugs off questions about what dropping out of school portends for his future. “God willing, things will be better,” says Talal. “I don’t know how.”

In the estimations of educators and representatives from the Palestinian Authority, about 5 to 10 percent of students have dropped out of school in the West Bank in the past two years.

‘Our children deserve a chance at life’

While massive budget cuts roil the education sector, the Palestinian Authority is struggling to come up with solutions as its budgetary woes deepen – and schoolchildren otherwise face threats, violence and demolitions at the hands of Israeli soldiers, settlers and the Israeli Civil Administration.

Even before the war on Gaza began, the school sector was facing a variety of crises, with teacher strikes commonplace, as well as Israeli attacks on school infrastructure and children on their way to class, with at least 36 demolitions of 20 schools between 2010 and 2023.

But systemic attacks on education are now intensifying. According to Ghassan Daghlas, the governor of Nablus, in his district alone, three schools have been attacked in the last two months by settlers. In nearby Jalud last month, settlers set a school on fire. The rise in violence is leaving students at once traumatised and fearful of going to school, says Daghlas.

“In the past three months, most of the invasions that target homes in the Nablus district are targeting schoolchildren. They will take the kid along with one of the parents. They subject them to interrogation for a few hours,” says the governor. “What kind of psychological state will the students have after these interrogations?”

According to PA estimates, more than 84,000 students in the West Bank have had their education disrupted by incidents including settler attacks, military raids and demolitions of schools. More than 80 schools serving approximately 13,000 students are under threat of full or partial demolition by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Between July and September 2025 alone, more than 90 such education-related incidents were documented in the West Bank.

In Area C – the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control – students from isolated villages sometimes have to walk several kilometres to reach their schools, in which they regularly face harassment or attacks from settlers as well as soldiers on the way, with a rising trend in settler outposts deliberately placed near schools.

“These are not individual acts by some violent settlers,” says Mahmoud al-Aloul, the vice chairman of the central committee of Fatah, the Palestinian Authority’s ruling political party. “Rather, it’s a general policy that is supported by the occupation.”

In 2025, Nablus governorate alone had 19 students killed by Israeli army gunfire, according to Daghlas. A total of 240 were injured.

Education officials say the longer the crisis persists, the greater the long-term impact will be as teacher attrition, interrupted learning and rising dropout rates compound over time.

“The continuation of the crisis means risking long-term institutional erosion, in which temporary solutions become permanent, and the regime becomes less able to restore its previous level of quality, efficiency and justice,” says Refaat Sabbah, the president of the Global Campaign for Education. “Saving education today is not a sectoral option, but a strategic necessity to protect society and its future.”

For Eman Hassaneh, that means safeguarding her son Zaid’s future hopes and dreams. “We hope all of these barriers to education won’t actually affect our children and their passion for learning,” she says.

“Our children deserve a chance at life.”

Gillian Philip met Henry during a solo trip and it changed her life

A teacher who met her now-husband on a solo trip in China and moved more than 5,500 miles – 9,000 kilometres – across the world after only meeting him four times in person has said “you will find love when you least expect it”. Gillian Philip, a teacher from Scotland, decided to “give up on dating” when she turned 30 and moved to South Korea to start a new chapter, where she could focus on herself and “enjoy (her) life”.

In October 2019, however, Gillian, now 39, found herself on a Flash Pack trip to China after her original holiday plans fell through – and this is when she met Henry Philip, 42, a software developer, also from Scotland. They soon formed a bond while exploring Beijing, riding motorbikes and watching the sunrise at the Great Wall, describing the trip as “unforgettable”, but they both “didn’t expect to meet anyone” romantically.

Despite living in different countries, they kept in contact via messaging and video calls, and Gillian decided to move across the world to be with him in July 2021 after only seeing him in person four times. Now living in Edinburgh together, they have since married and welcomed their first child, and Gillian wants to encourage others to travel the world and “dream big”.

Speaking about an amusing anecdote, Gillian said: “I remember talking to one of Henry’s best friends, and he said to me, ‘So what’s going on with you two?’. I said, ‘Well, it’s probably just a holiday fling that’s overrun’, and he went, ‘Why do you say that?’.

“I just said, ‘We live 9,000 kilometres apart, there’s a nine-hour time difference in our relationship. In reality, it’s going to go nowhere’. What’s funny is I said that to the person who ended up being the best man at our wedding.”

Gillian explained that she had a long-term relationship while at university but, otherwise, she tried the usual avenues for dating in her 20s. She downloaded various dating apps, including Tinder, signed up for online platforms such as Plenty of Fish, and her friends tried to set her up with potential partners – but without success.

“I’d go on a date and I’d be thinking, ‘I could genuinely be doing anything else with my time right now’,” Gillian said. “I could be getting my marking done, I could be sorting out my emails instead of sitting in this pub.”

When she turned 30, Gillian decided to move to South Korea to teach at an international school. Although “terrifying” at first, she said she wanted to focus on herself and enjoy activities such as walking, swimming and travelling.

“I just thought, I’m going to stop trying to do this stereotypical route – you work hard in your profession, you work up the ladder, then you buy a house, you meet a partner, you get married etc.,” she said. “I just wanted to go and enjoy my life.”

While in South Korea, Gillian said she ventured on her first solo Flash Pack trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2018. Flash Pack is a social adventure travel company which specialises in creating bucket-list experiences for like-minded solo travellers, and Gillian thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Then in 2019, she decided to go on another Flash Pack holiday after other plans fell through – this time, to China.

“In 2019, I was originally meant to be going to the Rugby World Cup in Japan with my sister and her husband, but they couldn’t go in the end,” Gillian said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to do that by myself, so I just thought, ‘Actually, while I’m here, I’m not far from Beijing and I know Flash Pack’s a great company, so let’s just go and do that trip’.”

Gillian booked her spot in September and Henry booked his in August, and they both flew out separately to China in October that year with no expectations to meet anyone. The 12-day adventure included seeing the Great Wall at sunrise, exploring Beijing and being invited into the homes of locals to make dumplings by hand, along with seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.

The group practised tai chi, explored lantern-lit streets, visited various food markets, travelled on high-speed trains, rode motorbikes, saw pandas and journeyed by boat in Shanghai. It was on this trip that she met fellow adventurer Henry, but she admits it was not love at first sight.

“The first time I met him, it was in a group in the evening, when everyone is introducing themselves,” Gillian explained. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, wow, he’s amazing’, it was more, ‘He seems like a nice person’.”

Gillian remembers spending time with Henry one afternoon when they had time to do some shopping, and he helped her pick out a jumper as she had only brought 6kg of hand luggage for the trip. They then ended up “sitting and chatting” on various train journeys and visiting food markets, allowing them to form a closer bond, and Gillian said he was “really kind and really easy to talk to”.

“I thought by fluke we just ended up sitting next to each other on every train journey, but I found out later he planned some of that,” Gillian said. “It was nice to just sit and chat and, as we chatted, we realised we had a few mutual friends in common.”

In Shanghai, they ended up “staying up all night talking to each other”, and they shared their first kiss there before flying home. However, Gillian did not think they would see each other again and even considered setting Henry up with one of her friends in Edinburgh.

“I knew he was a great guy, but we lived so far apart,” Gillian said. “We did say that we travel really well together, so it would be great to travel again, but it was one of those things where you say that and don’t know if it will ever happen.”

Despite living 9,000 kilometres apart, they maintained contact and managed to meet up a few times in December 2019, where they visited the Christmas markets in Edinburgh and spent New Year together. Then, after months of not seeing each other because of Covid-19, countless messages and an “I love you” moment over a video call, Gillian decided to quit her job and move across the world in July 2021.

“If any of my female friends said they’re moving halfway around the world for a guy they’d met four times, I’d say, ‘What are you doing?’,” Gillian said. “Surprisingly, only two people turned around to me and said, ‘I don’t think that’s a wise idea’… but a part of me thought, if I don’t give this a go, I’ll always regret it.”

After moving in together in Edinburgh, Henry proposed in May 2022, they got married in July 2023 and they have since welcomed their first child, who is now 17 months old. They have continued to travel together, visiting Alaska for their honeymoon and other places such as Toronto, Vancouver and Croatia, and they love “spending time as a family”.

Reflecting on how they met and her advice to others, Gillian said: “Henry and I say to each other, if we saw each other in a bar, I don’t think either of us would have had the confidence to go up to each other. Our paths were meant to cross, we just took the long way round to get there. It’s the old cliche which people used to say to me and I hated them saying it, but you will find love when you least expect it.”

A record number of school holiday fines were handed out across England last year, and there’s one region that saw the most children take unauthorised time off as parents are hit with penalties

The English town with the highest number of pupils heading on holidays during term time has been revealed, as holiday penalties hit an all-time high.

Across England last year, a record-breaking 459,288 school holiday fines were handed out, the Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed. The number of penalties shot up by four per cent in 2024-2025 and accounted for 93 per cent of all fines issued for unauthorised school absence.

These mark the first statistics published since school holiday fines increased in 2024, jumping from £60 to £80 per parent, per child, per holiday. While parents risk a substantial penalty, they can save thousands of pounds by booking their family getaway during term time, swerving peak-season prices.

READ MORE: ‘They said my daughter had growing pains but she’ll lose ability to walk’READ MORE: School rules that mean parents can be fined up to £2,500

Yet, if the school fine is not paid within 21 days, it can be raised to £160, and if parents receive a second penalty for the same child within three years, it will instantly cost £160, according to Gov.uk rules. And there’s one region willing to take this risk most of all.

The area with the highest recorded number of fine notices per pupil in 2024/25 was Barnsley, making it the holiday fines capital of England. The local authority issued 5,275 fines to parents over the year for unauthorised family holidays, meaning 1,672 for every 10,000 pupils.

Following news of a spike in penalty notices across England, parents have shared their views. Among them is Jodie Salt, from Cheshire, who has insisted that her three daughters learn ‘far more through travel and real life’ than in a classroom.

Jodie exclusively told the Mirror: “I’ve always taken my kids out of school, and I’ve been fined for it, and I’m fine with that (and will continue to do it in the future). School curricula are so outdated. They’re still focused on memorising information and passing exams, instead of developing real-world skills, confidence and behaviour. My kids learn far more through travel and real life than they do sitting at a desk in a classroom!

“They develop their social interaction, learn resilience when things don’t go according to plan, they learn about money and currency, they broaden their horizons about what’s possible for their own futures and careers, they clearly develop more language capability and learn about different cultures first hand too – all priceless!”

Another mum, who wishes to stay anonymous, took her children out of school for a wedding anniversary and admitted: “The fine was a struggle to pay, but it cost less than going on summer holidays.”

She shared: “We took five of our children to Lanzarote for two weeks. The second week was half-term, so I was fined for the first week for four children. The holiday was very educational for the children. We visited a volcanic crater and ate dinner at the top of a volcano. The children learned about the eruptions on the island. They rode camels, visited an animal park. It was our 10th wedding anniversary.

“Ten years previously, we took our eldest three on the same holiday for our honeymoon, and we did the same activities. I would definitely do it again, especially for a special occasion. We saved so much money. Originally, I was going to book for a week in half-term, but when we extended it to two weeks, flying out the week before half-term, the price didn’t increase much.”

For teachers, it can be disruptive when children are taken out of school during term time. However, one teacher, who is also a mum to three children, said: “I’m completely against blanket school fines, and I think wholeheartedly it’s the wrong approach.”

The parent, who also wishes to stay anonymous, continued: “As a teacher and a mother, I think holidays are important. If your child has generally good attendance, I think families should be given the right to take their children out. Home-schooled children have this ability (when they can afford it), but state children do not? Holidays are great learning experiences and bonding time. I don’t mind when my students go on holiday; I love seeing them excited, and I ask them questions when they come back.

“I do not make those children worry about their ‘attendance’ either, and ruin their experience. The only time I am concerned about parents taking their children out is when those parents do not parent. They do not care about their child’s education, whether that is poor attendance and lateness, no homework/or they never show up to a parents’ evening. This reflects in their grades and general attitude towards school.”

She added, “What really needs to be targeted is the holiday resorts that jack their prices up.”

However, many parents disagree with taking children out during term-time, arguing that it is disruptive for a child’s education.

One shared on Facebook: “I’m firmly in ‘camp no’ to taking out during term time. However, I still disagree with the fines or further punishment due to the high amount of Sen parents who get punished!”

Another commented on X: “I don’t agree with taking kids out of school for a holiday – if holiday companies were regulated, there’d be no need.” One more agreed to the fees and wrote on X: “Yes, and enforce them properly. These parents who take their children out of school are likely the same ones who moan that the teachers aren’t doing their jobs properly because their kids are not getting the grades.”

Cllr Ashley Peace, Cabinet Support Member for Children’s Services in Barnsley, told the Mirror: “Improving attendance is a priority for us, and we will continue to work with schools and parents to share the importance of preventing term-time absences.

“We ask parents to consider the impact of taking children out of school for holidays. While we acknowledge that families want to keep holiday costs down, there is research which demonstrates that term-time holidays can create gaps in learning that are difficult to bridge.

“It can feel hard to catch up and for some children it can be challenging to settle back into school when attendance is inconsistent or disrupted. We continue to follow government guidance when issuing any school absence fines, and the money raised through these penalties is used to cover the costs of running the system.”

A Department for Education spokesperson also shared with the Mirror: “Every child deserves the best start in life, and that begins with being in school. Term-time holidays place the burden on teachers to support missed learning and affect the entire class.

“We are playing our part to support those children who face barriers to attending school, and this is making a difference – with 5 million more days in school last academic year and 140,000 fewer pupils persistently absent. Alongside this, fines continue to have a vital place in our system, so everyone is held accountable for ensuring children are in school.”

Do you believe in school holiday fines? Have your say here.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

We’re talking to educators with decades of experience and seeing why nobody is reading books any more. Is it fair to blame everything on technology? Are parents being present enough with their children, and what does that mean for our collective future?

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Beth Gaskill – Founder of Big City Readers

Keisha Siriboe – Literacy advocate

Margaret Kunji – Former educator

The young cast member steals the show according to fans

One of the cast members of a new hit Netflix series is a former social media star making her professional screen debut on the show.

Six-part comedy series Free Bert is one of the most watched shows on the platform since it released. According to the synopsis provided by the streamer, Bert Kreischer, shirtless comedian, party legend, perpetual wildcard, finds himself in uncharted territory when his daughters are accepted to an elite Beverly Hills private school. When his unbridled antics turn his family into outcasts, he decides to “put on a shirt” and stifle his true nature to better fit in.

While it doesn’t have enough critic reviews to warrant a Rotten Tomatoes score, fans have sung its praises online. Many sharing their thoughts have singled out the performances from the younger members of the cast.

One person posted: “It’s very funny, very watchable and very good. The cast is outstanding, especially the girls playing his daughters.”

But who is Ava Ryan who plays the eldest daughter? And how old is she? Here’s everything you need to know.

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website.

How old is Free Bert star Ava Ryan?

Ava Ryan is one of the breakout stars of Free Bert. She plays one of the on-screen daughters of Bert Kreischer.

The character is very much based on the comedian’s real life eldest child Georgia. Ava makes her professional screen debut with the role.

While Bert’s real children are now aged 19 and 21 respectfully, the series portrays them as High School age. According to the website Famous Birthdays, Ava Ryan was born February 21, 2010 and is 15 years old.

She is a social media star who has appeared in posts and videos alongside her mother since she was a baby. Her mum shared clips of Ava on Instagram, Vine, Facebook and YouTube. One of their most popular posts was a video of Ava saying “I smell like beef” which gained millions of views.

Now a teenager with her own account, Ava boasts more than 1 million followers on her own Instagram account. Her on-screen mother played by comedian Arden Myrin recently shared a tribute to Ava on social media.

She said: “Have you watched Free Bert yet on Netflix? I love these girls so much. Lilou Lang and Ava Ryan both had their first professional acting jobs on this show and they hit it out of the park. And more importantly, they are as funny and kind and warm as they are talented. It was a joy getting to work with them. Ava and Lilou feel like my family even though they are just my TV family.”

Free Bert is streaming on Netflix.