• The Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located southwest of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia. In Yemen, the academic year begins in September and ends in June, and the official primary school entrance age is 6. The system is structured so that the primary school cycle lasts six years, the lower secondary lasts three years, and the upper secondary lasts three years. Yemen has a total of 5,816,000 pupils enrolled in primary and secondary education. About 3,900,000 (67%) of these pupils are enrolled in primary education[i].
• The percentage of out-of-school children in a country shows what proportion of children are not currently participating in the education system and who are, therefore, missing out on the benefits of school. In Yemen, 30% of primary school-aged children are out of school, and approximately 24% of boys of primary school age are out of school compared to 36% of girls of the same age. Nearly 70% of female youth of secondary school age are out of school compared to 38% of male children of the same age. For youth of secondary school age, the most significant disparity can be seen between the poorest and the wealthiest youth.[ii]
• Yemen is facing a severe education crisis, with the number of children experiencing disruptions to their learning potentially reaching close to  6 million, leading to tremendous long-term consequences for children.[iii]

By Hassan Abusim

Download the PDF.

46th_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Yemen_S

References

[i] Muthanna, A. (2015). Quality education improvement: Yemen and the problem of the ‘brain drain’. Policy Futures in Education, 141-148.

[ii]World Bank, f. E. (2018). Yemen National Education Profile 2018 Update.

[iii]  Musalami, A. A. (2013). The education catastrophe in Yemen is a political struggle between the Congress and Islah, mismanagement and poor infrastructure. Yemen: Al Massa Press.

Cover image by Sallam on Flickr.