Local Editor

The United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] said on Friday that the ongoing conflict in Yemen is having a devastating impact on the country’s education system - and on the chances of millions of children to access learning. 

The UNICEF said on Friday that, "Months of intensive bombardment and street fighting have forced more than 3,600 schools to close..."

"At least 248 schools have been directly damaged; 270 others are hosting Internally Displaced People [IDPs] and 68 are occupied by armed groups", it said. 

UNICEF further said that it is supporting catch-up classes for over 200,000 students- just some out of around 1.8 million children whose schooling has been interrupted for two months or more- to help ensure that children don’t completely miss out on their education.

Furthermore, UNICEF is asking for $11 million dollars to support the rehabilitation of damaged schools, provision of teaching and learning resources, training of teachers and community workers to provide psychosocial support, and to carry out a Back-to-School campaign.

UNICEF Representative in Yemen, Julien Harneis, expressed that, "We are doing all we can to return children to school so that they don’t completely lose out on their education.", adding that, "We urge the parties to the conflict to respect the safety of schools so as to give children a chance to learn".

In addition, the UNICEF agency said that, "The next school year is scheduled to start on 5 September, but much will depend on the security situation". 

"Students at schools that are able to resume teaching will be provided with catch up classes to cover more than two months’ of school time lost as a result of the conflict", it added. 

Jameelah Sailan, Head Teacher of Arwa Girls’ School in Sa’ada Governorate, said that, "I have seen children trying to write on the ground because they want to learn so much", saying also that, "Many parents tell us how worried they are about their children missing out on school. They just hope the war can end so that life returns to normal and their children can continue to go to school and have a bright future".