preface

Education is the primary concern of the political authorities in the Republic of Yemen. This is clearly shown by the efforts displayed by the authorities to spread education to all the districts of the Republic and make public education free in order to ensure equal opportunities to all the children in schooling age.

The Ministry of education has invested all its energy and capacities to provide buildings, books and teachers for all the schools. It has also established a regular evaluation of all the pillars of the educational operation and constantly reviewed the curricula with the objective of modernizing them. It has carried out maintenance and restoration works on old school buildings as well.

The report that we submit to you includes an evaluation for the year 2000 of the "education for all" objective. It comprises the strategies, plans and educational policies which have been used to improve education in Yemen and the principles and means of eradicating illiteracy and spread adult education. It also tackles the educational activities since 1990, the cooperation with the various partners especially the United Nations and the donating countries as well as the investment in basic education since 1990.

As for the second part, it includes an analysis of the charts aiming at evaluating the progress achieved in reaching education for all in the early stages of childhood and in basic education, evaluating the investment and efficiency of the education, and retention rates until the fifth, sixth and eighth grade of basic education. It also tackles the efficiency of the strategy and programs of "education for all" and the various obstacles it faces. Despite the numerous economic and political problems which the country has encountered since the establishment of the unity state in 1990, the progress achieved for the last 10 years concerning education has been remarkable. It underlines, yet again, that education is considered as one of the most important services the authorities endeavors to provide as they believe it is the cornerstone of a complete personality. Through this report, the researcher or anyone who deals with educational issues in general, will notice that, despite the quantitative progress achieved, education still faces major problems accumulated throughout the years and which the ministry is trying to solve today. In fact, the authorities are trying to overcome these challenges in order to improve the educational level, develop the curricula and provide the necessary means and equipment for education. This is accomplished through programs and plans aiming at identifying the problems and providing the possible substitutes according to the available resources and to a well-defined scale of priorities.

We hope that this report will serve the education cause and help the concerned parties draw appropriate strategies aiming at improving the quality of education. We also hope that we will be able, in cooperation with our partners, to achieve the objective of education for all and eradicate together the obstacles standing in our way.

Allow me at last to thank the technical commission and the back-up technical commission which has helped providing the statistics for this report.

I would also like to thank the president of the national team of education for all and the national coordinator of the program who analyzed the figures and presented the report in its final draft.

We mostly thank our god for guiding our steps…

A.D. Mohammed al shaiby

Minister of education

The republic of Yemen is located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula between the 12^th and 20^th north parallels and the 41^st and 54^th East longitude lines. It occupies an area of 555.000 sq. km. notwithstanding the Empty Quarter (Alrabeh Al Khali). It borders the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the north, Oman on the east, the Arabian sea and the Gulf of Eden on the south and the Red sea on the west.

In the southwestern part of Yemen is located the narrow of Bab Al Mandab divided in two by the Yemeni island of Mayoun which controls its entries. The Socotra island, the biggest Yemeni island, is located 510km away from the Yemeni coast and has an area of 3650 sq. km. There are more than 112 Yemeni islands in the Red sea.

In 1998, Yemen counted around 17.071.000 people divided upon 19 districts in addition to the capital. Despite the differences in density between one district and the other, the general density of the republic is 31 per sq. km.

Yemen is divided into 5 natural areas:

The mountains, the highlands, the coastal strip, the Empty Quarter or the Alrobeh Al Khali and the islands.

Education is a public right preserved under the law by the state which is in charge of establishing schools and educational and cultural institutions. Basic education is compulsory and the State shall endeavor to eradicate illiteracy and promote vocational and technical education. It shall also provide care for youth, protect them from delinquency, provide them with the adequate religious, mental and physical education and create an appropriate environment to develop their talents in the different fields.

0. Besides being a long-term human development investment, education is a human legitimate right preserved and provided by the State to all its citizens.
1. Education shall be gratis in all its levels and the State shall implement this principle gradually according to a plan defined by the government.
2. The State shall endeavor to preserve social justice and guarantee equal opportunities for education for all. It shall take into account the social and economic situation that may sometimes impede families from providing their children with their right to education.
3. The State shall also provide health care in schools during the various educational stages.

On May 22 1990, Yemen was able to unify is two parts and establish the Republic of Yemen. It has faced, since, major problems which have affected its national economy and hampered its capacity to achieve social and economic development. The most important crisis was the second gulf war and the return or expulsion of more than 1 million Yemeni immigrants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a lot of others from Kuwait. Of no lesser importance was the drop of oil prices form 15 $ to less than 9 $ and the scission war in 1994 for which Yemen paid a high price.

All these issues created economic problem in the country which was deprived of immigrants’ dollars transfers. Prices also rose, while social conditions degraded due to the increase of the public deficit which reached 17% of GDP in 1994 and the increase in inflation rates from 30% in 1990 to 71% in 1994.

After legitimacy won over the enemies of unity in July 1994, the Republic of Yemen started to gather its energy and embarked on a development journey aiming at achieving progress and prosperity for all the citizens of Yemen. Thus, in March 1995, it started the implementation of economic reform in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

INTRODUCTION:

The state has given education a major importance by providing it with the adequate support and by constantly increasing the budget allocated to the ministry of education and teaching. In fact, article 53 of the constitution clearly previews that the right to education is guaranteed for all the children in schooling age. To implement this article, the political authorities have worked hard to provide all the regions of the Republic with the appropriate educational services. A quick overview will show the increase in school buildings according to the following chart:

not including the scientific institutions buildings

**Reference: the educational survey for 98/99

This report has been prepared in accordance with our country’s commitment to the world declaration of Gometein in March 1990 on education for all and on the basis of the 18 indexes and of the six principles figuring in the guidelines of the UNESCO.

In its first part, the report tackles the objectives defined the Ministry of Education and Teaching to develop pre-school and basic education through the 1990-1995 plan as well as through the first five-year plan for development (1996-2000), to improve the quality of education, to reduce adult illiteracy, to increase the percentage of females in basic education, to widen the scope of education to include needed skills for youth and adults, and finally to increase the acquisition of knowledge and skills to improve the quality of life through the mobilization of all the educational channels.

The first section also includes the guidelines of the strategy and plan of action related to "education for all" as well as the main areas of cooperation with the various partners be it states or international organizations and the investment in the "education for all" program.

The second section of the report is analytical and includes a presentation of the objectives attained in education for all. The analysis is based on charts and statistics pertaining to the educational sector and uses the main indicators of analysis. It is also based on global data pertaining to males and females and to the various regions. The starting year shall be 1990, the mid-decade 1995, and then the final year 1998/1999. The statistics are taken from the yearly book of educational statistics, the yearly book of statistics published by the central agency for statistics and the educational census for the year 1998/99.

The third and final section of the report includes a future vision that tackles the possible and necessary changes to achieve the objectives of education for all in the light of the educational policies of the ministry and the development plans as well as of the results of the evaluation of the 1990- 1998/99 period.

The objectives of "education for all" were clearly defined in the standing orders of the ministry of education and teaching for the year 1993 as well as in the presidential decision 28 and in the educational strategy. The main objectives are as follows:

1. The ministry aims at providing educational services for all the age groups mentioned in the pertinent laws. It also endeavors to eradicate illiteracy and design and implement plans and programs to achieve the missions which were invested in it according to the constitution, the public policy and the global plan for economic and social development. These missions are the following:

0. To plan and manage curricular and extracurricular activities in preschool, basic education and secondary or similar levels.
1. To establish and implement global educational plans of action for the eradication of illiteracy and endeavor to set up a system of non-stop learning for adults
2. To establish curricula, which takes into consideration the various social transformations and consider them the basis of education in the educational institutions.

- Prepare and provide educational institutions with books, references and teaching syllabus.

Provide the educational means and techniques.

3. Design the acceptance policy in public schools according to the social and economic development plans.
4. Design the policies and curricula of public schools according to higher education needs
5. Develop the public educational institutions according to the needs and social changes
6. Design the necessary framework needed to establish a strong relationship between schools, families and social institutions to ensure the educational process is efficient and integrated.

1. To develop and widen the infrastructure of educational institutions and improve their capacities to absorb and respond to the needs of compulsory basic education for all. Moreover, to achieve gender balance in all the stages of education by providing better chances for girls to have access to education in rural and urban areas.
2. To maximize the use of school buildings and the extra curricula areas that are annexed to them.
3. To modernize basic education by improving the following elements of the operational operation:

1. the school administration
2. the educational curricula and means
3. the educational guidance
4. non-stop training of teachers to improve their educational and teaching skills
5. provide the educational and administrative institutions with the technical and administrative well trained staff.

1. To design an efficient mechanism to provide books and put them at the disposal of all teachers and students on the first day of the year in all the schools of all the districts of the Republic. To modernize and enhance the production capacities of the printing presses in charge of printing school books.
2. To develop the infrastructure of preschools which are an essential stage preceding formal education and modernize it both on a quality and quantity basis. To organize and control the role of associations in this stage of learning.
3. To develop the department of literacy training and adult education and provide it with the material and human resources to eradicate illiteracy and create a relationship between adult education and vocational training to provide well-trained labor both in rural and urban areas.

a- To develop preschool education by increasing the preschool buildings in all the areas through public or private institutions’ efforts.

b- To increase the efforts displayed by the government and the people to modernize educational and scientific instruments and means in preschools as a crucial stage preceding formal basic education and preparing children under the age of basic education to be more capable of learning various scientific skills and handcrafts in later stages.

c- To provide all the reasons and factors that contribute to the success of

preschools of which:

* Establish architectural plans that are suitable for preschool institutions.

* Provide preschools with adequate equipment.

* Train preschool teachers.

* Develop the administrative board of preschools

3. Control the activities in preschools

To enhance the capacities of basic education schools to absorb the increasing demand of basic education to reach compulsory basic education for all.

To gradually reach the ideal number of students per class, so that the density does not exceed 40 students per class and does not go below 30.

To adopt all the possible means which are of nature to develop girls education both in rural and urban areas

.To provide all the educational means which can lead to the success of the learning and educational operation in all basic education schools.

To develop and unify the curricula in all public and private schools and ensure an efficient control by the ministry on all the stages of education.

The importance of improving educational services grows stronger with the appearance of new technological developments. This implies the necessity to modernize public education and define its priorities since it is a prerequisite in human resources development, the cornerstone of all social and economic developments.

It is also of major importance to develop technical skills and qualifications which respond to the needs of the market and to the requirements of development in the future.

Public education faces major obstacles which impede its progress. In fact, public education is in dire need of financial resources to provide and equip school buildings with books, labs, libraries, buses and other educational requirements. This results in an increase in night schools and a deterioration of school buildings not to mention extreme fatigue in the ranks of students.

Public education faces yet another problem which is the need to modernize the current curricula to reach a stage where theory meets the scientific requirements. Despite these obstacles, in addition to the expansion of the country on a geographical level and the distribution of citizens on remote residential areas, the educational public sector has witnessed major progress during the last few years.

In fact the number of students in basic education level rose from 2.076.138 in 1990 to 3.092.335 in 1995. Moreover, the number of teachers in basic education rose from 67.773 in 1990 to 138.324 in all fields of teaching in 1995. The density per classroom reached 34 students in 1995 while the ratio teacher per student reached one teacher for every 22 students in basic education for the same year.

The strategy of developing the educational sector aims at urging the state to provide basic education for all its citizen and promote and improve education in higher levels.

More accurately, the strategy has the following objectives:

1. To provide equal opportunities for all children, in schooling age, boys and girls to enroll in school and encourage all students between 15 and 17 years old to enroll in technical and vocational schools as well as to widen the scope of education to reach all deprived areas.
2. To encourage the education of girls mainly in rural areas which constitute the largest platform of the Yemeni society.
3. To increase the number of students enrolled in the first year of basic education by 30% from 456.848 to 594.003 students by the year 2000.
4. To improve the training and retraining of teachers of all levels and pursue this training throughout their professional life.
5. To develop the centers for literacy training and adult education and display more efforts to train and enhance the capabilities of those who work in these centers through a national global campaign.
6. To provide care for the disabled.
7. To provide support for orphanages schools.

Pursue the establishment, and improve the performance of educational institutions .

Improve the performance of school administration.

Fix the rate of students in basic and secondary classes.

Encourage the private sector to contribute in educational activity.

To pursue in developing the curricula to higher classes.

Complete the school map which lays down the basis and standards for establishing new schools.

Develop the exams and evaluation systems and reduce the obstacles leading to failure and drop outs.

Provide basic schools, high schools and technical schools with the modern means of learning such as books and other audiovisual methods as well as ensuring them adequate hygiene services.

Develop the department of educational counseling guidance in the ministry and districts, provide a large number of inspectors and education experts and choose and train the appropriate educational staff in schools.

Carry out a global educational census to gather the right educational data and information network with the aim of identifying the needs and requirements of the educational sector.

Develop the capabilities of the statistics department in the ministry of education and teaching.

The five-year plan aims at expanding education for all programs.

1. To build 20.618 additional classrooms for basic education levels.
2. To provide the new classrooms with the adequate equipment.

The project aims at increasing the absorption capacity of educational institutions in basic education to meet the requirements of the plan to increase the number of students in the five years to come.

The project aims at completing 30 projects to develop health care in schools and build literary training centers and orphanages in all the districts of the republic. The cost estimates of the project are 4 billions rials.

The plan aims at achieving 43 preschool projects in all the districts of the state to provide care for children. The cost estimates of the projects are 611 billion rials.

1. Pre school education (kindergarten):

The plan aim at increasing the number of children (boys and girls), between the age of 3 and 5 in kindergartens from 19.606 in 1995 to 42.179 by the year 2000.

2. Basic education:

1. to increase the percentage of 6 year-old children in the first level of basic education from 35% in 1995 according to distribution of the population for the year 1994 to 24% by the year 2000 in accordance with the policy of compulsory education.
2. to increase the percentage of girls who have reached schooling age (6 years) in the first level of basic education from 24% in 1995 to 62% by the year 2000 in order to gradually achieve equality between boys and girls
3. Increase the percentage of boys attending basic education classes from 46% in 1995 to 87% by the year 2000.
4. Increase the percentage of children from the age groups (6-14 years) attending basic education classes from 55% in 1995 to 80% by the year 2000 according to the census of 1994.

Illiteracy is one of the major problems impeding development in the republic of Yemen since it is closely related to several other problems of economic, social and educational nature. Illiteracy is a main aspect of social underdevelopment that hinders progress.

The 70s are considered the point where the efforts to eradicate illiteracy started. In fact, law no30 of 1970 previewed the eradication of illiteracy and the spreading of adult education in northern districts. (A trial program to eradicate illiteracy in Yemen in cooperation with the Arab commission for literacy training and adult education).

In 974: Law no22 was issued and its 7^th chapter was consecrated for literacy training and adult education.

This law defined the objectives of eradication of illiteracy and adult education as well as the acceptance age, the financial resources and the roles of the various parties.

In 1976: Law no136 was issued and previewed the restructuring of the ministry of education and teaching and the establishing of a higher commission for non-formal education and literacy training. In fact since that year, literacy training programs have been included in education plans which in turn were in close relationship with development plans.

In 1981: The presidential decree no87 previewed the launching of a national campaign for the eradication of illiteracy for the age groups ranging from 10 to 45.

As for the experience of literacy training and adult education in the southern and eastern districts, figures indicate that on the eve of the independence i.e. on November 30, 1967 almost 90% of the Yemeni people were illiterate, in 1973 this same rate dropped to 46,2% meaning 736224 people.

Thus, in 1973, law 32 was issued to eradicate illiteracy and spread adult education. It previewed the launching of a five year national campaign for that purpose which was to start in 1975.

In 1979 an appraisal of the plan indicated clear loopholes in the implementation of the law. This prompted the government to issue law no9 in 1980 which underlined the importance of launching a global integrated campaign to achieve this goal.

This law was reinforced by law no8 of 1981 which amended law no9 and defined the target age groups (12 – 40 for males and 12 – 35 for females).

The national campaign to fight illiteracy passed through 2 main phases the first is the preparation phase from January 1983 to July 1984 and the second is the execution phase which lasted from July 1984 to the end of December 1984.

Concerning adult education in the southern and eastern districts, a trial project was launched to develop the agricultural sector in an attempt to fight alphabetical and cultural illiteracy in Delta Abin. This project gathers a variety of programs to fight alphabetical illiteracy, spread vocational education and culture of the Republic , and build self sufficient and communities besides women multifunctional training, mechanical training and training to drive trucks and other agriculture devices.

Despite these great efforts and these pioneer steps and achievements, illiteracy is still a major concern for the people and government of Yemen. Thus the presidential decree no28 was issued in 1992 pertaining to the standing orders of the ministry of education and teaching which establishes a committee for the eradication of illiteracy as a main committee in the ministry of education and teaching. The primary reason for that step is to give more importance to literacy training especially that the figures indicated an increase in the numbers of illiterate people. In fact according to the census of 1975 in the northern districts, and that of 1973 in the southern and eastern districts, the number of illiterate people was 3.300.741. the census of 1994 indicated, though, that this same number reached 5.381.150 in the age group 10 and above.

This is due to a variety of reasons.

The natural population growth which reached 3.7% according to the1994 census.

The formal education sector cannot absorb all boys and girls who are in schooling age (6 – 9). Thus the number of boys and girls who were not able to enroll in school are added to the illiterate figures.

The boys and girls who were able to be absorbed from the age group ( 6 – 14 ) reached 57.4% according to the census of 91/92.

Some illiterate immigrants returned to the country.

The public efforts and the efforts of the national women committee and other women’s associations cannot level with the size of the problem.

There is no national association that is in charge of training experts in that field.

Illiteracy and adult education have become the main concern of all the committees and officials on a political and executive level.

This was clearly shown in the government agenda which was adopted in the parliament in May 1997 and which reasserted that the obligation of the government towards the Yemeni citizen, the asset for which all efforts are exerted, is to preserve him from illiteracy, sickness and underdevelopment It also asserted that the time had come when this hardwires task must commence and that the time had come for a global revolution in the concepts and theories of education on all levels and in all its fields starting from literacy training, to basic, public, technical and adult education

In 1997, decision No.718 of the minister of education and teaching established the higher commission who is in charge of setting up a national strategy for eradicating illiteracy and spreading adult education in Yemen. The commission started its mission and put guidelines which are as follows:

1- To design a long term strategy in close relationship with development plans.

To study the regional and international experiences in order to benefit from them.

To build the strategy according to the principles of the Arab strategy for the eradication of illiteracy.

To consider the number of illiterate people not the indicators as the starting point of an illiteracy policy.

Literacy training and adult education strategy is one of the main development strategies. In order for this kind of education to fulfill its role, the objectives of adult education must be closely related to the development plans.

It must be founded on the social needs and aspirations. It also needs to acknowledge the prevailing tendencies in the society and benefit from all the available institutions, commissions and opportunities.

The concept of literacy training has seriously evolved throughout the years from alphabetical illiteracy to basic education, social development vocational literacy training, total eradication of illiteracy and finally to the fast literacy training.

All these developments were made possible thanks to the change in the educational vision pertaining to adult education.

In 1958, in order to unify the educational statistics, the Unesco’s general conference defined illiteracy as:

" The incapacity to understandably read or write a simple brief about one’s daily life."

In 1978, the Unesco’s general conference completed this definition by adopting an amended recommendation where it defined vocational illiteracy as " the incapacity to exercise all activities requiring reading or writing and necessary to the good function of one’s community and society, as well as the incapacity to pursue reading, writing and calculating activities to develop one’s personality and society. "

The law against illiteracy in the republic of Yemen defined the illiterate as being

The national strategy to fight illiteracy and spread adult education in the Republic of Yemen is founded on the principles of the Arab strategy to fight illiteracy which are as follows:

To adopt the cultural concept of illiteracy on a social, economic and political level and consider that the only way to improve one’s personal and professional life is to acquire basic skills and qualifications.

To launch an integrated campaign against illiteracy including efforts to promote basic educational and global social and economic development.

To urge the government to take decisions on the highest level to mobilize and organize all efforts of public and private institutions.

To design appropriate plans to eradicate illiteracy by spreading basic education and put an end to failure and drop out phenomena by promoting and improving basic education.

To channel private initiatives and use their multiple assets.

To integrate public education with literacy training and adult education through opening various channels between them.

To adopt a scientific method for evaluation and assessment.

To benefit from all the Arab committees and institutions working in this fields.

To benefit from the experience of Arab Islamic and international organizations specialized in this field and endeavor to attract technical and financial support to promote and implement the programs and plans set up in the national strategy.

The national strategy aims at eradicating the illiteracy of 4.867.545 men and women between the age of 10 to 45 in all the Yemeni districts.

It aims at fighting future illiteracy which is set to appear during the implementation of the strategy due to drop outs in basic education classes and literacy training courses.

To eradicate illiteracy and free the Yemeni citizen of the heavy burden of alphabetical and cultural illiteracy by providing him with the appropriate education which endows him with skills, qualifications and knowledge. To train him to perform daily necessary tasks and offer him the appropriate general education pertaining to matters that are of importance both to him and to his society in order to reach an

educational and training level which allows him:

a- To have basic command of reading, writing and calculation skills allowing him to pursue his education or training.

To have a deep knowledge of Islamic believes and cultural information which preserve him from going back to illiteracy.

To acquire basic qualifications which are a must in the various areas of his daily life in order to enable him to solve his daily problems,

improve his productivity and pursue his education.

To improve the quality of his life and thus achieve the goals of global development.e- to establish a system for adult education by designing various

educational activities and programs which enable him to:

The strategy shall be implemented on a 24-year basics from 96/97 to 2020/2021 according to the following phases.

Phase one is dedicated to preparation, training and trials. It spreads on 3 years and aims at achieving the following goals:

- To set up a mobilization media campaign.

- To elaborate a program to improve and modernize basic and women’s

education centers.

-To design a system to define the standards of evaluation and assessment.

- To set the budget for the implementation of the strategy with all the technical and administrative requirements.

The trial phase spreads on one year and previews the following goals:

* To ensure that the steps set up during the preparation and training phase have been well executed.

*To Rectify and correct any lacks in execution and set up plans to avoid further mistakes in the future.

Phase two spreads on 5 years and aims at achieving the following goals:

- To carry out research and studies pertaining to the various activities and programs.

• To prepare and execute a plan for improving adult education curricula and books.

- To design a plan to improve and widen the programs pertaining to the

Republic culture.

Phase 3: 2005/2006 to 2014/2015:

Phase 3 spreads on 10 years and aims at achieving the following goals:

- To widen the implementation of yearly plans related to education in follow-up levels.

- To widen the implementation of vocational and women’s training programs.

- To strengthen adult education with its institutions and programs and found it on the basis of life-long learning.

Phase4: 2015/2016 to 2019/2020:

Phase 4 spreads on 5 years and aims at achieving the following goals:

• To eradicate all the illiteracy pockets left in remote areas.

- To modernize the centers of basic and women’s education and diversify the training programs.

- To lay the foundations of a solid system for adult education.

To implement this strategy, a number of documents has been prepared and adopted as the foundation of nationals plans and programs for eradicating illiteracy and spreading adult education. These documents are:

- The document of adult education and eradication of illiteracy.

- The curricula document.

- The media document.

- The women’s document.

- The planning and financing document of the plans and programs of the national strategy.

1-6: The population plan of action (August 1991):

The population plan of action underlined the importance of improving life quality in ten years time from 1990 to 2000 through the following steps:

- To achieve a major increase in enrollment rates for primary classes, the aim being to have 85% of all children between the age of 6 to 12 enrolled in primary classes by the year 2000. The main focus is on girls in rural areas. However importance is also given to programs for fighting illiteracy in order to lower illiteracy rates to less than 50% for women and 30% for men by the year 2000.

The population plan of action of 1996 to 2000, issued by the national populations council in July 1997 and adopted by the government previewed the following strategic goals for basic education:

• To ensure that boys and girls finish basic education by the year 2015.
• To provide equal chances for all children in schooling age to enroll in basic education so that the enrollment rates of children between the ages of 6 to 15 increase from 56% in 1994 to 90% by the year 2006. The enrollment rates for girls are set to increase from 37.5% in 94 to 81% by the year 2006 whereas the same rates for boys are to increase from 70% in 1994 to 98% by the year 2006.

1-7 the strategy of girls education (May 1998):

1- The strategy of girls education aims at providing all girls with the opportunity to enroll in basic education classes so that the enrollment rates of girls between the age of 6 to 15 rises from 43% in 97/98 to 86.1% by the year 2010 according to the following phases:

a- Phase one from 1998 to 2000:

In phase one the enrollment rates are set to increase by 2.7% from 43%

to 45.7%.

b- Phase two from 2001 to 2005:

In phase two the enrollment rates are set to increase by 14.3% from 45.7% to 60%.

c- Phase three from 2006 to 2010:

In phase three, the enrollment rates are set to increase by 26.1% from 60% to 86.1%.

The strategy aims also at reducing the drop outs of girls from basic education to guarantee that the quantitative objectives of the strategy concerning the drop out rates are met.

It also aims at improving the quality of girls education by improving the quality of the various educational programs and activities.

To suit the scientific and practical needs of girls and render girls education a social and economic asset for the individual, the family and the society in general.

The strategy also defined the policies and measures to achieve these goals.

2- The strategy or action plan for education for all:

Previously, we defined the strategies of education for all and the action plans set up by these strategies concerning basic education, literacy training and girls drop outs and we also defined the policies and measures that guarantee the best results.

In fact, it is the government who adopts these strategies by a ministerial decree and monitors their execution through its follow up commissions.

The ministry of planning and development also monitors the execution process and submits yearly reports to the ministry of education and teaching.

These reports are prepared by the various departments in the ministry such as the department of planning and statistics, the projects department, the follow up department, the general department of basic education, the commission on fighting illiteracy and adult education, and the technical bureau of the ministry.

It is worthy to mention that the follow up reports have to review the objectives of the action plans and programs concerning execution phases, increasing or reducing the time schedule of each phase, and financing the phases according to the analysis of the execution of previous phases.

3- Decision making and management:

Decisions pertaining to the policies of basic education for all fall within the competence of the government represented by the ministry of education and teaching, who implements the cabinet agenda concerning the educational sector, approved by the parliament.

Decisions are taken by the minister of education and his ministerial decisions are binding for all the educational organs in charge of the execution and follow up.

The mechanism of education for all is represented by the council of the ministry which is an advisory commission of the minister headed by the minister himself and gathering the vice minister, all the undersecretaries of the ministries, the directors general, the head of the specialized commissions and the director of the center of educational research and development. The technical bureau of the ministry headed by an undersecretary is in charge of monitoring the execution of the decisions taken by the council.

4- The main activities of education for all since 1990:

A panoply of legislations has been adopted since 1990 and has helped stabilizing the educational work and improving the learning operation towards achieving the goals of education for all. Among the most important strategies and action plans we state the following:

• The presidential decree in 1992 previewing to the general law an education and teaching.

- The presidential decree in 1993 pertaining to the standing orders of

the ministry of education and teaching.

• Law no.37 of 1998 pertaining to teachers and educational professions.

- The decree issued by the prime minister in 1999, pertaining to the

execution bill of the law on teachers and educational professions.

- The first five-year plan for development (1996 – 2000).

• The school bill.

- The decree issued by the prime minister in 99 pertaining to the rural

tariffs for those mentioned in the teachers law.

• The strategy of literacy training adult education.

- The population plan of action for the educational sector.

• The strategy of girls education.

- The joint strategy of the world bank and the ministry of education.

• The educational survey of 97/98, 98/99.
• The project of the school map.
• The various yearly consultative meetings concerning education for all headed by the minister of education and the vice minister and gathering all the undersecretaries of the various departments, general directors of the ministry and the various specialized organs alike the center of educational research and development, the school book foundation, and the foundation of school equipment.

The meetings also gather the secretary general of the national Unesco committee and the directors of the education bureaus in the various districts. They are dedicated to discussing all the problems and questions related to basic education and exchanging experiences among the directors of education bureaus in the various districts concerning the ways to overcome the obstacles and other issues related to the maintenance of school building, equipment and books.

Other meetings are also held between representatives of the ministry of education and the parliamentary commission on education, to discuss the educational issues which require a decision or a law.

Regular meetings are also held with the consultant council, with the ministry of planning to discuss yearly development plans, with the ministry of finance to discuss the budget for education and finally with the ministry of civil service to discuss the needs of the ministry in the light of new nominations.

5- Cooperation in education for all:

5-1 – The partners:

The ministry of education is in charge of providing basic education services. It builds schools and provides them with the necessary equipment and requirements.

It is modestly supported by the social fund for development and various community contributions. This support is mainly channeled to maintain and repair school buildings in all the Yemeni districts.

Small contributions are also made by national capitals to build schools. There are also many areas for cooperation with friend states in the framework of joint cooperation agreements and with Arab and international funds as well as with regional and international organizations alike the United Nations.

5-2 Financing basic education:

The ministry of finance is in charge of financing educational projects according to the sums appropriated by the general budget of the government and by the economic and global development plan to the educational sector and activities.

The past few years, the private sector has started to penetrate the educational sector and established many private schools in various areas stressing on all levels education i.e. basic and secondary. However, its role is still relatively limited both on a quantity and quality level.

5-3 Cooperation with the United Nations organizations:

The educational sector, and basic education in particular is highly supported by the United Nations various organizations and agencies through regional and local programs. The ministry of education has also received the support of regional organizations and funds as well as that of the world bank.

Among joint projects with the United Nations, we mention the following:

1- the World food program:

The school food project no. 2613.

The goal of the project is to increase the enrollment rates of girls in rural and urban areas, to lower the drop outs rates in the targeted areas and to encourage children coming from poor families to enroll in basic education classes. Food aid reaches 85625 girls in 339 schools in 17 districts and the project stretches from 1992–1998.

The world Bank:

a- Loan 9 (2222):

Aims at establishing a research center to develop curricula and improve the teaching capacities of the secondary teaching commission. It also aims at setting up a center for continuous training and at providing local centers with the adequate equipment. The project stretches from 1993 to 1998.

b- Loan 10 (2412):

Aims at increasing the participation of girls in rural areas, improving the quality of basic education, building classrooms and dorm for trainees and teachers and at encouraging the training of female teachers The financing of this project is granted by the world bank and by a Dutch aid. It stretches from 1993 to 1999.

c- Loan 11:

Aims at building 390 classrooms in main cities, establishing two faculties in Sanaa and Eden, improving the teachers performance, developing the curricula, improving school administrations and developing the counseling inside schools.

The project stretches from 1995 to 2001.

d- The Urgency Loan:

It aims at building and equipping 6 schools in the capital and in Al-Hadidah, building 420 classrooms in 65 sites, completing the training center in the district of Taaz, providing equipment and training teachers. The project stretches from 1990 to 1996.

3- The United Nations Fund for Children (Unicef):

a- The program for improving basic education:

Aims at publishing school books, training staff, increasing the budget channeled for literacy training of women and organizing two round tables on education of girls and two TV symposiums on women.

The project stretches from 1994 to 1998.

b- Improving the support of school books:

From 1995 to 1998.

c- Basic education project:

Aims at training teachers in basic education before and during their work and developing the curricula for basic education.

The project stretches from 1994 to 1998.

d- Non formal education of girls project :

Aims at collecting data, choosing and training teachers and developing appropriate curricula.

4- The United Nations education, sciences and culture organization

(Unesco):

- The civil education project:

The project aimed at integrating the concepts of civil education and family life in formal and non-formal education from 1995 – 1997.

The Unesco was also part in many other projects including:

• Encouraging women to enroll in the training programs for women in rural areas.

- Monitoring the program for literacy training and adult education,

- Setting up curricula and training national personnel in fighting

illiteracy.

The project which stretches from 1995 to 2001 aims at improving environmental and health education in the districts of Abin and Eb.

The project aims at restoring and building annexes for existing school as well as building and equipping new schools.

The project stretches from 1995 to 2001.

The project aims at buying spare parts for the printing press of school books in Eden, and stationery for the printing presses of school books in Sanaa and Eden. It also aims at training the staff of the two printing presses.

According the new administrative distribution, the Republic of Yemen gathers 20 districts and the investment in basic education in divided upon centralized and decentralized projects. The ministry has delegated the power to monitor local projects to the districts themselves through the educational bureaus of each district.

Other projects are monitored and followed by the central authority. The ministry has been able to complete many projects in different districts. It has built additional classrooms and basic education schools and has provided the educational equipment, labs and other requirements. It has also restored old school buildings and succeeded in increasing the number of schools especially in rural areas with the aim of spreading basic education for all.

Though the educational system in Yemen has improved in the last couple of decades, a lot needs to be done still to improve the quality of education and increase the absorption capacity of classes especially concerning girls.

It can be said that during the 90s, Yemen was able to expand basic education phase (1-9) for the group age ranging from 6 to 14 years old and to meet the population growth of the same age group. What preceeded clearly shows that the efforts displayed since 1990 has lead to the improvement of basic education by providing it with new buildings and educational material. However, the quality of education is still low and dropouts are still frequent among girls in particular. This is due to a panoply of reasons the most important of which being the low educational level of basic education teachers whose third does not hold the baccalaureate diploma. Although the curricula are being improved, they do not cover either all the grades of basic education or all the classes.

Moreover, not all the teachers have been trained to use the new students or teachers books. The training only covered a limited number of teachers. In addition, there are till now no scientific norms of evaluating scientific knowledge and no scales to assess the tariff per student which varies from a district to another.

According to the constitution and to the various legislations pertaining to education, it is the state which provides the majority of the funds invested in basic education with the contribution of some donators alike regional and international organizations, friend countries and funds in particular during the last 4 years of this decade. The contribution of the private sector is still very limited. However, public investment cannot alone respond to the needs of basic education in terms of financial resources.

Moreover, the requirements of basic education and the increase of the teachers’ salaries due to the implementation of the teachers law will certainly lead to the increase of public spending on education.

It is important to note that the budget of basic education and high school education cannot be separated since many teachers teach both in basic schools and in high schools. Moreover, the budget of the ministry of education is distributed according to spending chapters and not according to school phases. This it is not possible to obtain data concerning each phases. This renders the calculation of the cost per student and per teacher in each phase very difficult if not impossible.

In fact the government launched in the end of 1994 the economic reform project which was supported by the UNDP and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and which previewed that public investment in education will be left at the 1995 levels. The part of education in public spending increased from 13.2% in 1996 to 18.6% of the public budget in 1998.

Despite the 52% increase in the funds allocated to education (basic and secondary) between 1994 and 1998, the part of basic and high school education decreased from 90% to 77% due an extraordinary expansion of technical and higher education. The government has, however, reasserted its commitment to basic education through a memorandum to support the educational sector, which was adopted in 1999.

The external support for basic education has also increased during the last four years and has become more organized. This has been made clear by the various projects underway since 1994. Some are still in completion while others will be completed by the year 2000. We have mentioned some of them in the section of this report pertaining to cooperation in education for all.

The main investments in basic education are channeled to build new classrooms, maintain and restore old school buildings, provide equipment and furniture and build female teacher dorms in rural areas.

The Federal Republic of Germany contributed with 12.000.000 Deutsche Mark in the K.F.W project between 1998 to 2000. It also contributed with 9 million Deutsche Mark in repair and restoration works on old schools buildings as well as in equipment and training teachers in health and environment education (the G.T.Z project for 1995 – 2000).

The Islamic bank for development contributed with 2.027.000 dollars in building and equipping schools. The project aimed at rehabilitating schools which suffered damages due to slides and at building small schools for basic education. It stretched from 1996 to 1998.

The United Nations Population Fund contributed with 370.615 $ in the project of integrating civil education in formal and non-formal education for 1995–1997. The second phase of the project begins in July 99 and ends in 2001 and the UNPF contributed with 214.012 $.

The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development contributed with 328.406 $ in the literacy training and adult education project for 1997–1999.

The Unesco contributed with 146.000 $ in the women’s training project in rural areas carried out by the literacy training committee. It also contributed with 30.000 $ in the global education project and in the 98 –

2000 project of integrating children with special needs in schools which is carried out by the teaching department.

The Dutch government and the Unicef also contributed with 2.293.610 $ (of which 1.634.610 from the Dutch government) in the training of rural female teachers in basic education as well as in developing girls schools, improving basic qualifications and increasing the enrollment percentages of girls at this stage.

As pertaining to the increase of the teachers’ salaries, the teachers law was issued in 1998 and has been implemented gradually on stages according to the execution bill of this law.

According to this law, the teacher’s salary is due to increase by 110% by January 2000. This law covers all teachers and educational staff of all levels related to the Ministry of education.