By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-04-12

ADEN -- Yemeni children's education and health are being affected irrevocably by the war there, which entered its 10th year on March 26, humanitarian organizations warn.

The suffering is further compounded by the Iran-backed Houthis' attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea, worsening an already dire economic, social and political situation in Yemen.

Two in five Yemeni children -- or 4.5 million -- are out of school, with displaced children twice as likely to drop out as their peers, according to a March 25 report by Save the Children.

One-third of Yemeni families reported at least one child dropping out of school over the past two years, it said, despite a lull in fighting that has held since the expiry of a six-month truce brokered by the United Nations (UN) in April 2022.

"Nine years into this forgotten conflict, we are confronting an education emergency like never before," said Mohamed Mannaa, Save the Children interim country director in Yemen.

"Our latest findings must be a wake-up call, and we must act now to protect these children and their future."

Decline in public education

"Public school education has significantly declined, and parents now understand that this is due to a shortage of teachers who haven't received their salaries" in years, Najib al-Ruhani, a former public school assistant principal, told Al-Fassel.

"It is also due to the failure to print textbooks and the lack of the simplest teaching aids at schools," he added.

School activities, meanwhile, have been used increasingly to serve the Houthis and their backer, Iran, forcing many parents to keep their children at home, said al-Ruhani, who was sacked by the Houthis from the school where he used to work.

Public school fees -- which the Houthis call "community contributions" -- have increased, further forcing many students to drop out of school.

One of the parents interviewed for Save the Children's report said he was compelled to withdraw two of his four daughters from school because of the high cost.

"School expenses for each child can reach more than 25% of my salary. My [monthly] salary is 76,300 YER (approximately $46), and that is not even enough to cover the food we need."

Health situation 'tragic'

An estimated 17.8 million Yemenis require health assistance, half of whom are children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said March 25.

"The health situation in general is tragic, especially for children," a pediatrician from Al-Sabeen Maternity and Child Hospital in Sanaa told Al-Fassel on the condition of anonymity.

Yemenis now go to the doctor's or the hospital only "when absolutely necessary," he said.

"Sanaa is experiencing a frightening spread of cholera, while polio, which Yemen was declared free of in 2007, has returned," he noted.

"This leaves us in the face of a disaster and tragedy that will sweep everyone if the relevant international organizations don't intervene to help the health sector," he added.

More than half of the health sector has been destroyed "because of the Houthis' war against Yemen and its people and because of the stoppage of medical assistance or its delay due to the Red Sea attacks," he said.

A stifling crisis

"The Houthis' attacks in the Red Sea and Iran's continuous military support to them have aggravated the already tragic conditions, especially in the health and education sectors," political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher told Al-Fassel.

Houthi leaders "are implementing Iran's agenda without any regard to the humanitarian crisis that Yemenis have been facing over the past 10 years," he said.

They continue to abuse the Yemeni people "by imposing taxes and fees, and by preventing merchants from helping the poor," he added.

The Houthis have also caused a crisis in education by appointing Houthi-affiliated supervisors to public school leadership positions, he said.

These leaders "are exploiting education to create an illiterate generation," al-Taher said.

Meanwhile, most of the UN organizations that support the health sector in Yemen have stopped their operations because of Houthi obstacles.

Al-Taher warned of the spread of epidemics and diseases due to the deterioration of the health sector, which is under Houthi control.

"The Yemeni people are on the verge of a health catastrophe," he said.