In a tent covered with tattered fabric in the courtyard of a public school in Lahj, near Aden, Yemeni teacher Suad Saleh teaches Arabic grammar to more than 100 students crammed into the suffocating space — most of them without uniforms or textbooks.
اضافة اعلان
Despite the harsh conditions, these students in the southern city, controlled by Yemen’s internationally recognized government, are considered fortunate compared to about 4.5 million children — a quarter of school-age youth — who have been deprived of education by more than a decade of war, according to UNICEF.
Yemen, with a population of around 40 million, faces numerous challenges in its education sector: a shortage of teachers who went on a nine-month strike in September 2024 over unpaid and low salaries; the destruction of nearly 3,000 schools, either completely or partially (UNICEF 2022); and a severe lack of textbooks.
Saleh, 30, works as a volunteer teacher at Al-Ribat Al-Gharbi School, like most of her colleagues, after regular teachers left in search of jobs that provide a steady income.
“We work for a very small salary — 50,000 Yemeni riyals, about 30 dollars. What can that do for us in these conditions?” she said.
More than 1,300 students, most of them displaced from outside Aden, attend the school, which consists of a small dilapidated building and eight caravans used as classrooms around a dusty yard.
“Each class has more than 105 or 110 students,” Saleh added. “In such overcrowded rooms, most of them can neither read nor write. It takes me 10 minutes just to quiet them down.”
In a nearby metal caravan, over 80 children sat on the floor — some barefoot — sharing donated bags and books provided by charities. Parents pay 2,000 Yemeni riyals (about $1.25) per month to cover the volunteer teachers’ stipends.
The war, ongoing since 2015, has killed thousands and plunged Yemen — the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula — into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The nation remains divided between territories controlled by the Houthi movement and others governed by the internationally recognized government.
Although a truce established in April 2022 officially expired six months later, it has largely held since.
Most students, many of them visibly malnourished, rely on UN-provided biscuits distributed each morning to curb their hunger.
Assistant principal Mohammed Al-Mardahi lamented the lack of basic infrastructure:
“The main problems are the absence of proper classrooms, almost no electricity, and no running water,” he said, adding that there is also a “shortage of trained teachers.”
Many Yemeni schools depend on female volunteer teachers, whose pay comes from students’ parents, as the government struggles to fund regular teachers’ salaries of about 100,000 Yemeni riyals ($60), unpaid for at least three months.
“Some of the volunteer teachers lack experience and training,” Al-Mardahi added. “They need proper qualification programs.”
Education as a Driver of Development
At the end of October, the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) celebrated the graduation of 150 women trained to teach in rural areas across four Yemeni provinces.
During the ceremony, SDRPY’s Aden office director Ahmed Al-Madkhali stated that Saudi Arabia views education as a key driver of Yemen’s societal development.
According to Omar Karim, a Saudi policy expert at the University of Birmingham, this reflects a shift in Saudi Arabia’s approach to aid for its war-torn and impoverished southern neighbor.
“Traditionally, aid was directed to tribal leaders or government officials for political leverage or military purposes,” he explained. “Now, there is a clear focus on improving Yemen’s human development indicators.”
“Focusing on education is certainly vital — it can enhance Yemen’s human development index, boost the economy, and steer young people away from joining the Houthis,” he added.
Since 2018, Saudi Arabia has provided roughly $12 billion in financial support to Yemen’s central bank and in dozens of projects across transportation, agriculture, and health sectors.
(AFP)
