By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2026-04-22

The Iran-backed Houthi group's domestic practices and regional conflicts caused the education system's collapse in areas under their control.

The United States and the Iranian regime agreed to a temporary two-week truce on April 7, 2026, which remains notably fragile, analysts say.

The current situation follows the failure of the 2023 Houthi truce, broken by their destabilizing attacks on Red Sea maritime navigation.

Yemen's worsening crisis is characterized by endless conflict that has severely damaged various sectors, with education suffering the most.

"The collapse of education is inextricably linked to the persistence of the armed conflict," Fahmi al-Zubairi, Director General of the Human Rights Office in Sanaa told Al-Fassel.

"Millions of children have dropped out of school, driven by the seizure and politicization of the Ministry of Education, a decade of systematic teacher salary theft, infrastructure destruction and soaring poverty rates," he added.

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 3.2 million children in Yemen remain out of school, as overlapping crises disrupt the education system.

Al-Zubairi pointed to the systematic denial of salaries to approximately 193,000 teachers since 2016.

This crisis has severely deteriorated education quality and forced professionals to abandon teaching.

The Red Sea escalation has disrupted supply chains, driving up critical food and fuel prices and intensifying the nation's humanitarian crisis.

Moreover, the militarization of vital regions like Bab al-Mandeb has devastated the fishing sector -- a livelihood for 500,000 Yemenis -- creating a severe crisis in coastal communities.