The News Minute | September 16, 2014 | 08:24 am IST

United Nations: As the new school year kicks off across the world, nearly 300,000 children returned on Monday back to UN-run schools in Gaza and Syria.

"In Gaza, conflict has profoundly affected the traditional learning environment and delayed the academic year for almost three weeks," Xinhua quoted Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), as saying in a statement.

"But after the traumatic 50 days of brutal conflict, of death, destruction and massive displacement, including to many of our schools, we are determined to give the children a sense of renewed hope and better prospects by opening the schools soon again," he said.

In Gaza, some 240,000 children got back to 252 UNRWA schools on Monday.

With IANS