With the eruption of the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, from which Yemen was not excluded, and as a result, the political forces and the governing components participating in running the affairs of power have been expanded so that education seemed to be a priority which prompted the Government of National Accord, which was formed in 2014, to declare 2015 a year of Education Promotion.
This government endeavor received wide public welcoming and support of national organizations and donors, which encouraged the government to develop visions to direct efforts towards comprehensive educational reform.
However, the outbreak of all-out war disrupted this trend, and instead went to cast a catastrophic shadow on the remaining of the educational system.
In Sana’a governorate alone, the coalition’s aerial bombardment caused the destruction of many of schools, especially in the districts of Bani Hushaish and Al-Haima Al-Kharjiya, in which the schools were completely demolished while in Sanhan district and in some parts of the capital secretariat, some schools were partially destroyed.
Moreover, tens of schools have become havens for thousands of displaced families who escaped from the conflicting areas, including the governorate of Sana’a, which has made the mere thought of educational improvement outside the concerns of all political, social and civil actors. In fact, the dominant conflicting forces have even used educational institutions within their hegemony for military purposes.
Before the war, educational institutions had enjoyed moderate oversight by the administrators in this sector and a kind of relative commitment of teachers and students was recorded besides the existence of a clear school curriculum which was untainted by any sectarian strife regardless of some corruption that posed an existential threat to the entire educational operation.
However, after 2015, the obstacles to the educational process were no longer limited to corruption only, but accusations against the authority in Sana’a, of other imbalances have been outstretched. Teacher "MH", an employee by the Ministry of Education, says: "there is no education anymore, there is a kind of activity that does not go beyond trying to eradicate illiteracy."
"What do you expect from the schooling situation under the management of the current Education Ministry, which does not have any qualifications to manage it? And even if teachers attend, it is merely a drop of duty, how do you want them to be disciplined without salaries?!" M.H sadly added.
The teacher has considered that the attendance of these unpaid teachers to schools is under “pressure to be dismissal from their jobs as many teachers have already been dismissed by the authority of Ansar Allah al-Houthi, so you may find some students still on chairs while some other students have turned into pictures of martyrs hanging on the walls of the school. No matter who attended or who is absent.” He explained.
Further, he pointed out that some of the student who have been recruited by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) are given educational certificates, even if they do not attend any classes.
As for cheating in exams, the teacher said that it has become "an inherent right of the student, and that the latter can complain to the authorities if he was not allowed to cheat."
Additionally, the teacher revealed that the Ministry of Education in Sana'a is currently preparing to develop a new testing methodology for the graduating high school students, so that the answers are combined in one sheet where the students have to mark on the correct answer regardless of the fact that this year students did not complete the academic courses as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic which led to the suspension of the schooling.
It is a step that he considers as an official facilitation by authorities for exam cheating, "the student does not write in the answer notebook, but rather shades the answer form, and the correction will be electronic which he believes unplanned approach that requires changing the education strategy for supervision, exams scoring and evaluation of the entire educational process." The teacher added that this method will encourage exam cheating in a way that is very harmful to the educational process.
Furthermore, the teacher complained about the blatant interference of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) in the educational process saying that: "They interfere in everything and improvise decisions without returning to the administrative controls and systems of the ministry or care about public interest."
In conclusion, regarding the needs of the education system, he said" There are a lot to be done. Education does not need a reform, but rather needs to be reconstructed from scratch in all fields, because all those in charge of education in Yemen - whether the Houthis or others - tend to convince the current generation that they are right." He concluded.
In the same context, the teacher Mohammed Qassem, 40 years old (a pseudonym), a teacher at the Al-Thalaya School, agreed with his colleague that “education is over; the teacher is frustrated, the student is hopeless, and the school director is desperate as well because they all suffer from the same miserable situation and we are all in the same basket.” According to him.
Qassem explained that part of the students’ behavior within this current collapsing system and disorder: “They enter and exit the class at their own convenience, and the representative of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) in the school considers himself as the overall commander. He manages everyone as he wants, including the teachers, the management staff, and the students; they are all at the mercy of the Houthis supervisor.”
In his statement, the teacher addresses an additional threat to the educational process: "If you speak, they threaten you of the preventive security force (an intelligence service established by the Houthis after the control of the capital), and they consider you a spy working with (the coalition)."
As for the students, teacher Qassem said: "those who join the battle fronts to fight with the armed forces and the popular committees, they pass their exams spontaneously (without any efforts or the need to attending exams), and no teacher dares object this illegal practice on the grounds that they are Mujahedeen while the rest of the students resort to paying bribes to supervisors during the exams and pass! Education is over."
Regarding the role of education offices, Qassem says: "Their role has ended, and their responsibility is currently limited to imposing a sum of one thousand riyals per month on parents for each student in high school, and five hundred riyals for the student enrolled in the elementary level."
Meanwhile, it was revealed that the authority of Ansar Allah (Houthis) has imposed sums of money on government schools, under the slogan of (community participation), on the ground of financially supporting the teachers, and who have not received their salaries for years! The obligation to pay this amount has increased the suffering of poor families, who see these sums overburdened.
Qassem confirmed that these collected amounts “go to the Houthi representative and the school director, while the teacher gets crumbs, and sometimes they are denied of payment,” according to the teacher. Therefore, only students who do not have a back to support them (mediation and nepotism) or who do not have money fail in the exams, and the rest pass without any measure of the level of educational attainment.
The textbook, too, is a chronic problem in the body of the educational process. “books are not available, and some schools courses have been modified such as in the National Education and Islamic Education subjects". said teacher Qassem, who summarizes the current situation in the schools of Amanat Al Asimah which are subjected to “many violations, starting with the usurped educational control, which does not have any authority, and the Houthis control everything over it.” He stated.
The interference in the educational process stretched to an unimaginable extent according to one of the teachers at the People’s School in the Bab Al-Yaman district of the capital’s secretariat who told Khuyut that “without warning, the school’s yard was sold to one of the big merchants in Bab Al-Yaman district in which large two-storey shops were built in the school yard."
Another person who was a student at this school reported that: "This was my school, they messed with it, now it's no longer a school but a shopping mall! Everything beautiful is over even our childhood memories, they are distorted."
Illiteracy at the heart of the country's capital
Belqis Girls School used to be one of the typical public schools in Amanat Al Asimah, but recently it has been privatized and converted into a (private) school for boys instead of girls.
The small schools' enrollment fees turned into large sums, as the registration fees for primary school students amounted at 65,000 riyals while the elementary level was 75,000 riyals whereas the secondary level fees reached to 85,000 riyals.
Therefore, male and female students in that area were deprived of their right to education stipulated by law. The poor - who are the majority of the population - do not find another alternative as their families cannot afford to pay those amounts, while the harm to girls was greater who were deprived of learning their school. Moreover, they were prevented from joining other public schools which are far away as an alternative to continue their education. As a result, many of them left education, and preferred to stay at home an issue that threatens to raise the level of illiteracy among girls at the heart of the country's capital.
In this context, the capital’s schools suffer from the lack of personal safety, whether for teachers or male and female students, due to their location proximity to areas that have been subjected to aerial bombardment by the coalition aircraft led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Returning to these educational facilities is always a nightmare when any air flight is heard, there is usually a stampede and chaos among the students, most of whom are children.
Raghad Al-Maliky (11 years old), is one of the fifth grade students at Fatima Al-Zahraa School in Al-Thawra District, who said that located near the camp (First Armored Division), has been one of the regular potential targets for airstrikes since the beginning of the conflict.
The school had been partially damaged in a previous bombing, so when Raghad happens to hear the sound of the jet engine of the military plane, she automatically starts screaming and crying, opening the door and trying to escape running down the corridors, holding her ears with both hands. Her teachers try to calm her with a hug until the terrifying sound goes away.
Political and Sectarian lectures
On the other hand, the Ansar Allah (Houthis) authority has been storming many schools, and taking students by force, without the knowledge of their families, to be join some cultural activities of a political and sectarian nature which represents another significant challenge which can be very dangerous to the kids, especially since they entering schools using armed vehicles or stationing in the courtyards with their military crews along with heavily armed commanders which is terrifying for children.
A student at Ibn Khaldoun School said that on “October 27, 2020, a military group came to our school in the early morning, at the beginning of the first class, and then moments later one of the teachers entered the class and chose a group of us, saying: You will go as a scout team.
The student continues: "Our number was ten selected from my class (eighth primary), and the teacher was selecting only the tall students. We went out and there were other students from the ninth and seventh grades."
According to the student’s statement, about 50 students gathered in the school yard, and then headed to the sports club, accompanied by a car with microphones that broadcasts fighting songs (Zawamil), and another military vehicle.
This student says: "I was not worried, but when they gave us headbands and asked us to wear them, I started to get scared. I thought they would take us to the battlefront, and when we arrived at the gym, they have given us lectures about jihad and supporting the fronts."
At the end of class, the students were brought back to their class on the backs of the military crews that had brought them to school. Husam talks about that saying "many of my friends, before the crews picked us up, were hiding, and others were escaping and going back to their homes as they thought they would be taken to fight."
This student at Ibn Khaldoon School returned to his family's home, and found his mother frightened and terrified, due to being late for home, after his younger brother told her that a military group had taken students to fight. The next day, Hossam's father went to school and told them that he would take his children out of school if this practice has happened again or they took his children out of school without his consent.
Salary Suspension and the deteriorating economic situation
The interruption of salaries for the employees of the educational sector represented the most exhausting blow to the educational segment, especially since this matter is coincided with a terrible economic deterioration, and the loss of the national currency value, and although some teachers receive their salaries at intervals, in areas under the control of the internationally recognized government, the teachers situation in areas under the control of Ansar Allah (Houthis), is very miserable due to the lack of support or supporters.
Among the stories that have reported to us, about an educational expert in educational research center, who was infected with the Covid-19 pandemic, but government hospitals and health centers refused to receive him, due to his inability to pay the value of his treatment, so he ended up dying, while looking for a health facility to host him.
There are never-ending catastrophic stories about male and female staff in the educational sector, who have suffered from mental illnesses, due to the deterioration of their living conditions so that you may find a university professor works in a bakery, and another sells sandwiches on the sidewalk.
Many of those used to be employed in education, have left their jobs and went to find other inferior jobs. Thus, instead of being paid their salaries to avoid poverty and destitution, their enforced absence from their schools has been greatly exploited by authorties, to replace them with unqualified teachers from outside the educational sector.
Abdullah Salem, "45 years old" (an alias name), a secondary school teacher, considers himself living in isolation under the control of Ansar Allah (Houthis), he says: "We thought they were statesmen, but unfortunately we discovered that they are corrupt and have really disappointed us."
Abdullah talks about the Houthis’ disability: “They did not pay our salaries. I was teaching in one of the high secondary, and when the salaries were cut off, I went looking for a job in private schools, but I found that they using the teachers horribly.”
In the private school, Abdullah was paid 25,000 riyals, for a shift from morning until noon, to be able to support his family, but he faced a dilemma in the public school he used to work: “They want me to teach without salary and by force, while the Houthi representative in my school threatened me with imprisonment if I did not do my job or I will be replaced by another one".
This teacher explains how the Huthi group does not respond to their questions: “When you ask them, how can we live? They respond to you: “this is not our business, manage your affairs" so how can I do manage my affairs while I solely depend on my salary?”
Therefore, when Abdullah left his school to look for a job, he was referred to the representative of Ansar Allah (Houthis) in the school, as he was cut off from work, and he was replaced by someone less qualified, with no credentials other than a high school diploma, although the subject he was entrusted with teaching is Science.
The sacked teacher goes on with his gloomy tale in searching for a job. He worked in a bakery selling bread, but the income he was receiving was not enough for meeting his family basic needs, so he had to leave that job. He was astonished when he received an offer from the supervisor of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) (in his neighborhood) which is to join one of the fighting fronts for a monthly salary, but he refused this offer.
The teacher then worked in a grocery (food store) for about three months, and once again the tiny income he received was a challenge, so he joined (a coffee shop) to work as a waiter who serves tea and sandwiches on the tables of customers, but there is no hope, with the deteriorating economic situation every day, and within the dramatic increase living costs and food staff, he realized that the wages that the owners of these businesses offer to him is not enough to satisfy his family's hunger.
In the end of his job searching journey, the teacher worked as a driver on a (14-passenger capacity) bus and this time he worked for more than a year. He told us that he works from six in the morning until eleven at night, yet the sufferings of this country do not end. With the recent oil derivatives crisis, the cost of a can of fuel (20 liters) reaches between 25,000 riyals ($41), and 13,000 riyals (21 dollars).
Now, in his new profession, the teacher complains about the royalties imposed on buses at their designated stops, so the money he collects every day, is vanishing between the value of fuel, oil for the bus and royalties, along with food, Qat, water and cigarettes, and the rest he pays at the end of the day is the rent to the bus owner. Additionally, he had pay an amount of 1,000 to 2,000 riyals to the previous teacher depending on the daily income.
He further complained that: "Living is very difficult and the prices are very high, and the income I get hardly prevents us from going out to beg, and living undercover in the room I rent with a bathroom and kitchen, in the Sa'awan area."
This teacher said that has four boys, two girls, and two boys, two of whom are studying, while the other two are at home, he says: “Next year I will enroll one of them, even if education - currently - is useless, but I still hope that the future will change. I personally have no motivation in their education as I have my own daily worries; I come back from work very tired, and nerve-wracked, because of the problems of the bus-trip delegates and the traffic men and the passengers and their damaged banknotes. My daily battel with this world starts as soon as I open my eyes in the morning;
Regarding his relationship with his family, Abdullah says that he has no family problems, as he is in peace with his wife, "and if some arguments occur sometimes, it is as a result of difficult living conditions, but we come back to agree quickly."
Regarding humanitarian aid, he says, "Nobody helps us, I used to receive some food staff from time to time, and recently some humanitarian organizations began to help teachers through the payment of small amount of money approximately every three months, yet even these amounts are subject to illegal deductions."
Abdullah concluded by saying: “Even the cash assistance is paid by those who have connections with the disbursement team so that it paid on mediation and favoritism basis. Life is very difficult for all people, and price hikes have increased at the rate of 300% since 2015 to present, in addition to other factors like siege and widespread diseases". He added that "if they release our salaries, and the Houthi decisions of replacing sacked teachers of their profession are canceled, I will return to my job."
