UNICEF has urged the warring parties in Yemen to avoid attacks on schools as it affirmed that the months-long bombardments by the Saudi-led coalition and street fighting forced 3.600 schools to shut down.
The pro-government forces with support from the Arab coalition have been fighting the Houthi militants who ousted the government since early this year.
In a recent statement, UNICEF said the conflict has disrupted education to around 1.8 million children across the country after students and their families were displaced.
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, while expressing deep concerns over child education in Yemen.
“Giving Yemen’s children an education is crucial for their own futures as well as those of their families and communities,” Julien Harneis, UNICEF Representative in Yemen said in a press statement issued in the capital, Sana’a.
“We are doing all we can to return children to school so that they don’t completely lose out on their education,” Mr. Harneis said. “We urge the parties to the conflict to respect the safety of schools so as to give children a chance to learn.”
UNICEF is asking for $11 million 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, the statement said.
In this context, it 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.
Moreover, UNICEF said it is providing teaching and learning resources, including notebooks, pencils and school bags to the students, given that the income of many families has been severely affected, while markets have been destroyed or closed making it difficult for students to acquire the materials they need.
And Yemen’s Ministry of Education is helping mobilize the necessary teachers, some of whom have themselves fled the violence, and if schools are damaged, or are being used by displaced people or armed groups, temporary learning spaces such as tents will be provided, it added.
“The next school year is scheduled to start on 5 September, but much will depend on the security situation,” the UN agency said. “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.”
The statement coincided with the resumption of study at Yemeni universities including those in the capital Sanaa amidst ongoing airstrikes and civil war.