2023-09-02 16:53:59
Yemen’s children… a huge cost to return to overcrowded, poor-quality schools
The new school year has begun in Yemen, and the majority of families are not ready to enroll their children in schools, as the difficult living conditions and the collapse of the local currency (the riyal) prevent them from fulfilling fee obligations and purchasing school supplies, in addition to providing meals and transportation fares, while local initiatives and international bodies seek to Helping students return to school.
While the Minister of Education in the Yemeni government, Tariq Al-Akbari, inaugurated from Aden the new school year for basic and secondary education (2023-2024) according to the ministerial calendar, he praised the ministry’s cadres and their efforts in the difficult exceptional circumstances the country is going through, stressing its sensitivity to the suffering of teachers and its quest for their rights. and its understanding of the living conditions faced by Yemeni families.
The total number of children applying to study this year is estimated at regarding 2.5 million male and female students in basic and secondary education in all Yemeni governorates.
A school principal in the city of Taiz (southwest) notes that the majority of families do not enroll their children in schools until nearly a month has passed since the start of the school year because they are unable to provide the requirements for the school year from the beginning, while a number of other students go to work during the summer vacation from For the requirements of his studies, he is forced to continue working even with the start of the academic year.
The director, who asked not to be named, accuses the commercial sector of exploiting the start of the school year every year to double the burdens on families, as the prices of school supplies rise abnormally, as do the prices of children’s clothes, school uniforms, and even foodstuffs from which mothers prepare meals for their children, in the absence of oversight. responsible actors.
Public schools suffer from a shortage of capabilities and educational staff and overcrowding of students (The World Bank)
In his speech to Asharq Al-Awsat, the director adds that the students’ late enrollment in schools causes them to be unable to absorb the academic courses, and to fall behind their peers who joined the study on the first day. .
The principal regrets that there are students who drop out because their families are unable to complete their education and are forced to keep them at home, or to use them to double the family’s income by helping the head of the family in self-employment, or working for daily wages.
He notes that many teachers, in turn, fail to attend schools at the start of the school year because they are forced to use the summer vacation in daily wage work.
The impact of malnutrition
The number of school-age children in Yemen exceeds 10.6 million, according to statistics, including data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which says that Yemen is facing an acute educational crisis, as the war has led to frequent interruptions in the progress of the educational process throughout country, and led to the fragmentation of the education system, which profoundly affected learning, cognitive and emotional development, and children’s health.
UNICEF estimated that 2.4 million children are out of school, while more than 8 million need school aid, in addition to suffering from food shortages that cause a decline in their academic achievement.
About 7 months ago, the United Nations Motherhood and Childhood Organization (UNICEF) estimated that two out of every 3 children aged 10 years and under in Yemen cannot read and understand a simple text, calling for helping Yemeni children learn the basics of reading and mathematics.
The transportation costs of transporting students between their homes and schools are rising due to the recurring fuel crises on the one hand, and the blocking of roads and the erection of checkpoints and checkpoints in the streets and roads on the other hand.
Yemeni children help their families with household chores and earn a living (Red Cross)
The price of the booklet, consisting of 80 sheets, reached at least 700 riyals, which is approximately 9 riyals per sheet, while the price of a pen is not less than 300 riyals. As for school bags, their prices increase with the start of each academic year by a large percentage, and the price of the least quality and durable type has reached 4 thousand riyals, according to the data of advertisements for school supplies stores in the cities of Taiz and Aden (the price of the dollar in the liberated areas reached 1490 riyals).
Local initiatives and international support
Parents of students stand in a difficult position between options, either sending their children to overcrowded public schools in which the quality of education decreases due to overcrowding and the absence of teachers, either due to illness, displacement, other work, or negligence, or enrolling them in private schools, in which the cost of tuition rises year following year.
Nabil Thabet wonders if he can pay the school fees for his two children, which amount to 350,000 riyals, from his salary, which amounts to 80,000 riyals only, (the dollar is regarding 1,400 riyals in the liberated Yemeni areas), expressing his concern that he will have to borrow when the school year is close for that, to come The next academic year, he might not pay his debts, as his salary barely met his living obligations.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I decided to take the risk of enrolling the two children in a private school to invest in their future. In public schools, I do not guarantee them the quality of education, but in fact I did not plan what I would do in order to pay the fees.”
In this context, the World Food Program announced, in late July, that it will continue to provide fortified snacks to school students in Yemen, which contain essential nutrients and vitamins, to students across the country, which helps bridge nutritional gaps.
The World Food Program says that it supports, among its assistance in Yemen, the school feeding program (United Nations).
The announcement of the United Nations program came despite the suspension of its interventions in the field of preventing malnutrition in Yemen due to the severe funding shortage, which it said would affect more than two million people suffering from malnutrition, especially children and women.
In the city of Taiz, a group of young volunteers began implementing an initiative to support the return of children to school, in cooperation with a number of merchants and businessmen to reduce the burden on needy families and encourage children to study by providing school supplies at affordable prices for their families.
For its part, UNICEF supported the “Free Studio” activity to motivate students to return to school, in several schools, in the governorates of Sana’a, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, Taiz, Hajjah, Marib and Al Mahwit, in cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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