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.

Latest blogs and news

July 04, 2019

Education can help reduce the cycle of poverty and violence in emergency contexts

By the end of 2018, over 70 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, as well as human rights violations. Access to quality education is key to...

January 07, 2019

Going back to school in Yemen

In Yemen, the ongoing conflict and the devastating consequences of forced displacement, and damaged and occupied school buildings have disrupted the education of millions of children. GPE and UNICEF have...

October 05, 2018

Joint statement on the dire situation of teachers in Yemen

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 children...

Latest grant

In Yemen, the ongoing conflict and the devastating consequences of forced displacement, and damaged and occupied school buildings have disrupted the education of 2.4 million children. Since the beginning of the conflict, child marriage and recruitment have increased, depriving millions of children of opportunities to learn.

Credit: UNICEF

Increased population movements and the inability to find jobs have prevented parents to cover the basic needs of their children, including their education. Even when schools are open, and teachers available, parents are not able to send their children to school because they can’t afford buying basic learning materials.

Credit: Julien Harneis

In an effort to sensitize parents in marginalized and nomad communities of the importance of sending their children to school, UNICEF, with support from a GPE grant, launched a Back to School campaign last September – December in coordination with Communication for development (c4d) and Education program. The campaign targeted regions with low rates of school enrollment and retention. It also directly responded to the urgent needs of children affected by the conflict.

Credit: UNICEF

In several camps for internally displaced people (IDP), including the Al-Farsi in Aden, the Back to School campaign is raising awareness of the importance for children to have access to education through communication activities. These include puppet theaters, open drama and concerts, to name a few.

Credit: UNICEF

Here, Communication for Development (C4D) community volunteers hold an open-theater in a community where internally displaced people have moved. Burykha district, Aden.

Credit: UNICEF

In Shabwa, C4D volunteers are engaging with community leaders through interpersonal sessions to discuss the importance of education.

Credit: UNICEF

Imams are also helping to spread the message, telling parents: “Attainment of knowledge is a must for every Muslim. Let your children go back to school.”

Credit: UNICEF

C4D community volunteers have staged a puppet theater in Abyan.

Credit: UNICEF

During these activities, messages target parents to ensure they understand the importance of sending their children to school and the steps they need to take to enroll their children. Children also hear the benefits of getting an education and are given tips to use on their way to school or at school to stay safe.

Credit: UNICEF

Thanks to GPE and UNICEF’s efforts, in areas with high concentrations of displaced persons, more than 1,400 teachers have received incentives and participated in training to support 63,000 displaced and host community children.

Credit: UNICEF

Layla,10 years old, is already a strong advocate for education: “I am currently a 4th grade student and I will continue going to school until I become a teacher.”

Credit: UNICEF

Development objective: Develop quality basic education, improve enrollment and equity and strengthen institutional capacities

Allocation: US$72,600,000

Years: 2014-2020

Grant agent: UNICEF

Disbursements: US$43,180,390

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

Developing quality basic education through supporting school-based development, curriculum development, pre-school education, and improving teacher, school management, and inspector performance.
Improving enrollment and equity through improving school physical environment, encouraging equitable access, promoting access for out-of-school children, and supporting adult literacy.
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.

Grants

All amounts are in US dollars.

Grant type	Years	Allocations	Disbursements	Grant agent
Program implementation	2014-2020	72,600,000	43,180,390	UNICEF	Progress report
	2013-2014	9,996,319	9,999,879	UNICEF	Completion report
	2009-2013	19,989,071	19,989,071	World Bank	Completion report
	2006-2007	10,000,000	10,000,000	World Bank
	2004-2005	9,777,701	9,777,701	World Bank
	Total	122,363,091	92,947,041

Data last updated: April 03, 2020

GPE has also provided the Yemen Coalition for EFA (YCEA) with a grant from the Civil Society Education Fund, to support its engagement in education sector policy dialogue and citizens’ voice in education quality, equity, and financing and sector reform.

Education sector progress

The graphs below show overall progress in the education sector in Yemen, and GPE data shows the country progress on 16 indicators monitored in the GPE Results Framework.

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.

Focus areas

Our approach

Yemen