Over 5.4 million basic and secondary school students nationwide are supposed to join their schools last Saturday marking the start of the new academic year 2008-2009.

However, this was not the case as the start of the new academic year was timed with the advent of Ramadan where many students prefer to stay home and sleep.

In rural areas, students will start regular attendance after harvest season comes to an end. Mohammed, who preferred to mention his first name, revealed that his parents do not allow him to go to school only when harvest season ends as they want him to help them with the different works in their farm.

According to the Minister of Education Abdul Salam Al-Jawfi over 600,000 students of both sexes will join the first grade in their schools across the nation.

Al-Jawfi further stressed that his ministry has properly prepared for the new academic year through providing books, teachers and other school appliances. 

He continued that it has been the first time in which operational budgets are allocated to schools, hinting they have also adopted 'school bag' within 'school nutrition program' that targets over 150,000 students of both sexes nationwide, especially in rural and remote areas.

As for what parents consider to be an inapt start of the new academic year, Al-Jawfi pointed out that such timing was not randomly set, but it was carefully studied.

He hinted that an academic year should not be less than 184 days excluding Fridays, national and religious holidays, maintaining that Yemen's educational system will be incompatible with the international standards if the actual study period was less than 184 days. 

In related news, Education Ministry announced the results of the final examinations for secondary school certificate (12th grade), in its both literary and scientific sections.