The new school year is approaching to pose a heavy burden on Yemenis who are suffering under the miseries of the war, which has entered its sixth year, in light of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and its multiple living consequences, the interruption of salaries and the suspension of most of the businesses.
The war in Yemen has greatly affected the education sector, in its various stages, as it led to thousands of students to drop out of schools which have been direct target of armed confrontations. It seems that the current year will be the worst in the history of education in the country, given the magnitude of the losses incurred by the sector.
Throughout the years of war, the education sector in Yemen was severely damaged, given its already weak infrastructure, as nearly 200,000 teachers are facing great difficulties after their salaries were suspended since October 2016.
Further, this school year comes in light of a further deterioration of living conditions, as a result of the continuous collapse of the national currency against dollar, as the value of the US dollar exceeded 840 Yemeni riyals in the recognized government areas, and 600 riyals in the areas controlled by Ansar Allah (Houthis).
A bitter reality for Yemenis with the return of school for the new season 2020/2021, which affects many families who have been incapable to enroll their children in government schools; school requirements has become problematic issue for most Yemeni families to pay for their children's education needs in light of the economic collapse the country is witnessing.
Saleh al-Rashidi (42 years old), a daily wage laborer in Ibb governorate, central Yemen, complains his struggling of enrolling his four children in school this year, given the deterioration of the living situation and his inability to pay for his family's expenses.
Al-Rashidi told "Khuyut", that the public school asked him for four thousand riyals per student as registration fees, in addition to the payment of one thousand riyals, to be paid to the school administration on monthly basis to be paid as salaries for teachers, while the children need daily expenses which constitute a huge financial burdens on him, "I have no work and source of income,” noting that he is unable to provide the basic household needs.
Teachers without salaries
Like parents, teachers also suffer from a poor living situation due to the suspension of their salaries for nearly five years. Because of the war, teachers were the most affected segment of the public sector due to the suspension of salaries.
Abdo Al-Baadani (53 years old), one of the teachers at Al-Sha'ab School in Ibb governorate, talks to “Khuyut” about his recent sorrowful experience saying that the school administration, where he worked in the last academic year, offered every teacher a salary of 30,000 riyals per month, equivalent to (40 dollars) which the school administration collects them from students irregularly.
Al-Badani, who supports a family of five children and lives in an apartment with a rent of 35,000 riyals, recounts his living situation, explaining that his salary, which he received by the school administration, hardly covers a small part of his family’s basic expenses, pointing out that he and his family spent most of days of the month without food.
To cover the high living expenses, this teacher is currently working as a motorcycle driver during the summer holiday to support his family, waiting for the start of the new school year 2020-2021, which will be more bitter than previous years, for the same reasons carried over from a year to year, including suspension of the salaries of civil servants, including teachers and workers in the educational sector since September 2016. Moreover, this year we are suffering the consequences of the outbreak of the Corona virus and the interruption of relief aid as a result of the UN agencies reducing their aid to Yemen for several months.
Despite the poor living conditions of most of Yemenis, teachers are the most affected segment of the public sector, after salaries stopped nearly five years ago, which obligated the majority of teachers to abandon education and go looking for other handy work to prevent starvation of his family.
Millions of Students Drop out of Schools
After the interruption of the salaries of thousands of Yemeni public employees and losing job opportunities due to the ongoing conflict, schooling and the provision of learning requirements such as school fees, student uniforms, books and others have become a huge burden on jobless parents that deprived their children to continue their education causing high dropout rates from schools that Yemen has been suffering from since the beginning of the ceaseless conflict.
Nada Al-Arashani, a 13-year-old student, also complains about her family's living condition and tells "Khuyut" that their families give priority to providing the basic living needs as they cannot afford to buy school requirements.
The prices of schooling materials such as stationery items and other various educational needs are witnessing unceasing surges reaching levels that exceed the capabilities of many citizens, in addition to registration fees, which also constitute a heavy burden on various Yemeni families in light of the current hardship conditions.
Consequently, the children of Yemen, whose number is estimated at 6 million, were the most affected groups in society, after the ongoing war deprived them of their most essential rights to education. Moreover, the consequences of the economic deterioration and the collapse of the national currency and its effects on the aggravation of the suffering of Yemenis made it very difficult for school children get the chance to attend school.
According to the statistics of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), about 6 million children in Yemen are currently out of school, due to the war and the global pandemic of Corona.
Further, the organization warned - in a video clip broadcast on the account of its office in Yemen on “Twitter” - of the dangers of children dropping out of education due to the delay in their return to their schools as a result of Covid19 pandemic. The report said that before the Covid19 pandemic reached in Yemen, there were more than two million children out of school. However, as a direct impact of COVID-19, 5.8 million children have stopped learning as a result of school closures across the country. According to the organization, the longer children are absent from school, the greater the risks they face, and the less likely they are to return to schools.
Since the beginning of the outbreak of the Corona virus in the world about nine months ago, 872 million students (that is, half of the world's students) from 51 countries have been unable to return to their classes, according to the World Health Organization.
At the beginning of this month, the United Nations celebrated, for the first time, the International Day for the Protection of Education from Attacks. This World Day highlights the plight of more than 75 million children between the ages of 3 and 18 in 35 crisis-affected countries, as well as their urgent need for education support.
According to the report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the war that has been going on in Yemen for five years has produced an entire generation that knows life only to the bitter drums of war, accustomed to the sounds of gunfire and explosions.
Curriculum problem and school destruction
The Ministry of Education, in the internationally recognized government, announced the start of the new school year for high school students to be on September 6, while the school year for basic education students will start on October 4 next.
The ministry attributed the postponement decision to the continuing outbreak of the Corona virus and the lack of prevention items so far, in addition to issues related to the pay-raise of teachers, and the failure to provide textbooks for schools. Teachers in areas under the control of the Aden government demand the payment of a cost-of-living allowance commensurate with the high cost of the living conditions which has increased at least 100%, regularization of their employment conditions and granting them their due job increases. On the other hand, the Sana'a government has not announced the date of the start of classes in the schools in the areas it controls in the north of the country.
The Syndicate of Employees of the General Foundation for School Book Printing, in a statement issued by it, has accused the internationally recognized government of destroying the School Book Printing Foundation and sacking more than 500 employees, after a protest sit-in called for it in front of the Foundation’s branch in Mualla, Aden, attended by dozens of employees to demand the rescue of the Foundation from impending collapse.
According to the statement seen by Khuyut, the late financial dues to the Foundation's employees were not disbursed as well as the costs of book printing for the previous period, in addition to the failure of the Council of Ministers to approve the tender for supplying raw materials to the Foundation, which led to the disruption of the textbook printing process for the current academic year.
In the same context, the Executive Director of the General Foundation for School Book Printing, Mohammed Omar Basleem, in Aden, said that the current school year in the governorates under the control of the internationally recognized government will be disastrous due to the lack of school curricula.
Basleem added in a statement to "Khuyut" that the government did not approve the tender for the supply of raw materials so that the General Found would be able print the textbooks and provide curricula, especially for the primary stage, noting that the textbooks currently in the market are printed in private printing houses, while the Education Offices are unable to prevent that because of the dire necessity for books.
He pointed that the Foundation handed over to the Ministry of Education textbooks quantity that worth two billion riyals, provided that the Foundation operational cost are paid to able to continue printing the textbook in timely manner. However, the government has not fulfilled its financial obligations towards the Foundation, stressing that the institution suffers from a cash liquidity crisis due to the government’s lack of commitment to pay its financial obligations in return for the printed textbooks delivered by the Foundation.
In early September 2020, the Ministry of Education in the capital Sanaa, announced in a report that approximately 400,000 children are added annually to the lists of illiterates in Yemen due to the continuation of the war.
Yemenis fear a repetition of last year’s scenario, as the schooling had stopped last March and final exams were cancelled while students were granted the same exam marks of the first semester in areas under the control of the internationally recognized government, while exams were allowed in areas of Ansar’s control. (Houthis).
Yemen is suffering from the most devastating humanitarian crisis in the world, with about 80% of the population (24.1 million people) in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
Furthermore, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, expected in a statement that at least 70% of schools will close this year or will hardly be able to operate when the new school year begins in the coming weeks.
At the beginning of this year, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in a report on the status of education, said that the number of schools that have stopped operating due to the conflict in Yemen has reached more than 2,500 schools, about two-thirds of the schools which represent 66% have been destroyed as result of direct attacks while 27% have been totally closed, 7% of them are used for military purposes or as shelters for the displaced. In addition, a report conducted by the independent Yemeni human rights organization “Mwatana” and the Cease-fire Center for Civilian Rights documented the demolition of more than 380 educational facilities due to the war in Yemen from March 2015, until December 2019.
Psychological disorders
Children, students, heads of families and teachers in Yemen are suffering from negative and psychological impacts as a result of the harsh living conditions and the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.
In this regard, Professor Mustafa Al-Absi, an expert in behavioral medicine and neurosciences at the American University of Minnesota, says that the Corona pandemic shook everyone and changed the lives and conditions of people from all sides in the world, especially in countries devastated by civil wars, including Yemen, pointing out that the Corona pandemic alone has changed the world's daily living system and plans massively.
Al-Absi pointed out to "Khuyut", that the pandemic has created a global health challenge, which has long-term consequences on the world health and the psychological, social and economic situation in all countries, especially regions experiencing conflict such as Yemen.
Yemen suffers from prolonged conflict and difficult security instability in addition to the Corona pandemic and the deterioration of people’s living conditions, and these factors, according to Professor Al-Absi’s statement, contributed to children drop out of schools besides their parents’ inability to enroll them in school. All these factors have led to high increases of psychological and nervous disorders cases especially among unpaid teachers for years, which directly linked to the increase of anxiety, depression and stress.
According to the expert in behavioral medicine, children are among the most affected group by such conditions, especially those who have been subjected to psychological trauma and severe fears due to the war, marginalization, poverty, and the deterioration of the general economic and basic service.
