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Yemen

Yemen’s local education group moves sector planning forward amid the crisis

Despite a humanitarian crisis and an economy in tailspin, about 90% of Yemen's schools are open, with the government trying to continue the education of over 5 million children and youth, 73% of the student population. Against the odds,...
  • Partner since: 2003
  • Coordinating agency: UNESCO, Save the Children
  • Secretariat country lead: Tariq Khan
  • Board constituency: Eastern Europe, Middle East and Central Asia

Education in Yemen

Yemen considers education vital to eliminating poverty and is focused on ensuring that all children have access to quality education. The country’s development plans consistently prioritize human development and the education of the labor force.

While access to basic education has improved, Yemen still faces significant challenges, including girls’ enrollment, retention and completion rates, teacher quality and instructional materials, and emergency or conflict-afflicted areas.

The Medium-Term Results Framework 2013-2015 covered the period 2013-2015 and outlined 10 programs under 5 objectives. The country is in the process of developing a transitional sector plan through support from GPE and other development partners.

Blogs and news

On this joint statement, Education Cannot Wait, the Global Partnership for Education, UNESCO and UNICEF are calling for the resumption of salary payments for 145,000 Yemeni teachers, who teach...
GPE stands firmly with the international community in calling on all parties for an end to the continuing violence that is taking the lives of children and teachers in Yemen.
As shown through the examples of some Arab states like Sudan, Syria or Yemen, access to reliable data about education financing in conflict-affected situations is sorely lacking, making it harder to...
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Latest grant

A girl writes on the blackboard during an arithmetic lesson at a local primary school in the district of Bait Al Faqueeh, Yemen

CREDIT: UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi
Development objective: Develop quality basic education, improve enrollment and equity and strengthen institutional capacities
Allocation:US$72,600,000
Years:2013-2019
Grant agent:UNICEF
Disbursements:US$32,996,611

The current GPE grant of US$72.6 million focuses on the following:

  1. Developing quality basic education through supporting school-based development, curriculum development, pre-school education, and improving teacher, school management, and inspector performance.
  2. Improving enrollment and equity through improving school physical environment, encouraging equitable access, promoting access for out-of-school children, and supporting adult literacy.
  3. Strengthening institutional capacities through deploying and managing the Education Management and Information System (EMIS), training on quality management and school accreditation teams, and developing a new education strategy for 2016-2025.

Grant restructuring

Since January 2015, Yemen has been facing a high level of violence and insecurity due to armed conflict. In view of this, the GPE grant was restructured to support most urgent needs of the education sector.

The latest restructuring includes a 1-year extension (2018-19) and the adjustment of annual targets for new classrooms and new labs, resulting in the reallocation of US$12.2 million.

Additional funding has been provided to support training and salaries of an additional 699 female teachers. The number of program beneficiaries has been increased to reach at least 427,444 children.

A new US$2.5 million component has been added to support the most immediate needs. This funding, combined with US$9.7 million in emergency funding during the first restructuring, brings the total allocated for education in emergencies in Yemen to US$12.2 million. Finally, the restructuring will support the development of a transitional education plan.

The local education group in Yemen, led by UNESCO and Save the Children as coordinating agencies, is playing an important role during the crisis in providing inputs on how best to restructure and use the GPE grant, and in helping partners who suspended operations in the country to remain involved in the dialogue. As a result, more partners have stayed engaged in responding to Yemen’s education crisis and are better placed to continue their work.

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Grants

All amounts are in US dollars.

Grant type Years Allocations Disbursements Grant agent  
Program implementation 2014-2019 72,600,000 32,996,611 UNICEF Progress report
2013-2014 10,000,000 10,000,000 UNICEF Completion report
2009-2013 19,989,071 19,989,071 IBRD Completion report
2006-2007 10,000,000 10,000,000 IBRD
2004-2005 9,777,701 9,777,701 IBRD
  TOTAL 122,366,772 82,763,383    

Education sector progress

The graphs below show overall progress in the education sector in Yemen. For detailed results from GPE funding, please look for progress reports in the grants section.

Access

Primary completion rate (%)

Lower secondary completion rate

Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age

Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age

Pre-primary gross enrollment rate

Gender parity index for out-of-school rate – Primary and lower secondary

Public expenditure on education as share of GDP (%)

Public expenditure on education as a share of public expenditure (%)

Students/trained teacher ratio

Teachers trained (%)

Source: World Bank - Education Data
Data on education are compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics from official responses to surveys and from reports provided by education authorities in each country.

Last updated September 20, 2018