Chart (9) also shows that the rate of keeping on attending classes until grade 8 was 53.9% due to the permanent class repetition and dropout. The first reached 9% while dropout reached 4% for both genders. Education efficiency indicator until the 8^th grade of basic education reached 60.2% for both genders: 60.8% for males and 59.2% for females. So the education efficiency indicator is slightly higher for males than it is for females.

the education efficiency indicator reached in the 9^th grade (end of the phase) 62.2% for both genders: 62.7% for males and 61.5% for females which proves education efficiency do not vary from one gender to another even though it is a bit higher for males.

If we check the average of education efficiency in the six grades of basic education (4-9) we notice it is 65.85% for both genders: 70% for males and only 63.6% for females.

To compare between two periods of time we will observe indicators (13) and (14) for the scholar year 90/91.

Referring to chart (9), we notice that the rate of reaching the fifth grade reached 85.3% for both genders: 90.5% for males and 72.1% for females. This low rate for both gender is due to the high repetition levels while dropout levels were negative since new students joined the grades after the unified state was set (the Republic of Yemen in May 22, 1990). As in regards to females, retention rate is low due to the high repetition and dorp out rates which reached 6.5% and 9.5% respectively. This indicates that dropouts are more frequent than repetition in the ranks of girls

As in regards to males, we observe that the repetition rate reached 7.2% while dropout was negative due to the same reason mentioned above for both genders.

The education efficiency coefficient until the fifth class reached 90.6% in 90/91: 98.5% for males and 69.1% for females.

Meanwhile the parity ratio between both genders reached 0.8 while it reached 0.7 for the retention rate.

This average reached for both genders 89.4%: 99% for males and 64.8% for females. This rates is superior for males. Despite these high averages especially among males, dropout rates are still important: 17.4% for males and even 22.3% for females. This shows that new students had registered, increasing thus the retention rates.

As in regards to education efficiency in primary phase (1-6), it reached 71.9% for both genders: 77.8% for males and only 54.5% for females which means that this indicator is superior for males.

The parity ratio between genders reached 0.7 for this phase (1-6).

This average reached for both genders 66.8%. This low rate is mainly due to the high dropout rates that reached for both genders 15.6%.

While the average of reaching the 8^th grade reached for males 75.5% it reached 44% for females. This low average for females was provoked by the high rates of dropping out that reached 31.1%.

These low averages of reaching the 8^th grade are due to the fact that education efficiency coefficient reached 60% for both genders together: 67.6% for males and only 36.4% for females.

As for the parity ratio between both genders for the year 90/91 for grades (1-8) of basic education, it reached 0.6, 0.5 pertaining to retention rates until grade 8 and 0.4 for education efficiency coefficient in basic education (until grade 8).

In general. we notice:

When analyzing and comparing the two mentioned indicators for basic education (1-9), we notice a regression as well in the level of reaching grade 8 even if the education efficiency coefficient remained the same between year 90/91 and 98/99 for both genders.

Regarding the level of achieving basic education we notice a regression for both genders between 90/91 and 97/98. At the same time, there is a slight decrease in the education efficiency indicator of basic education (grade 1-9) since 90/91 for both genders.

It is also possible to notice an improvement for females concerning education efficiency in the primary level (1-6) as it rose from 54.5% in 90/91 to 62.4% in 97/98.

Studying the retention indicator of primary phase (1-6) for females, we notice a regular yearly decrease: in fact it reached 61.8% in the 6^th grade for 97/98 while it was 72.1% in year 90/91.

Concerning the basic education phase (1-9), we notice that the average of achieving studies kept on decreasing for males and females for all grades of basic education but this decrease was important for females in the years 90/91 and 97/98. However, the average of reaching grade 8 improved in 97/98 from the level it had reached in 90/91: from 44% it rose to 49.7% for females.

The education efficiency indicator increased as well for females between 90/91 and 97/98 from 36.4% to 59.2%.

Between 90/91 and 97/98, the average of reaching grade 9 which is the end of the basic phase rose from 29.2% to 47.4% for females. Likewise the education efficiency indicator for females from class (1-9) rose between year 90/91 and 97/98 from 38.9% to 61.5%. As in regards to males, there was a regression between 90/91 and 97/98 in education efficiency as for retention but these rates remain higher for males than for females.

It is worth noting that the results of chart (9) pertaining to retention and education efficiency rates show regression in the quality of the education that students get in basic phase and underline the danger of the constant repetition and dropout phenomena. This requires an immediate intervention to face these problems and set a serious plan to develop programs, provide school books to students in basic education and develop and improve the rehabilitation and training of basic education teachers. It also calls for an increase in the importance given to girls education and a search of new convincing means to motivate girls in rural areas to stay in school until the end of basic in order to reduce the important average of grade repetition for females.

Chart (11-A) shows that the percentage of illiteracy in the mentioned age group (10-49) from the total number of people in 1997 reached around 50% whereas the total number of people according to 1994 census was 8 092 588.

The average of illiteracy in rural areas reached around 85% for both genders: around 29% of illiterate people in rural areas were males while 70% of them were females.

In urban areas, illiteracy rates reached 14% for both genders: 36% among them males and 65% females.

From the chart, we deduce the following:

This is a proof that a lot remains to be done and that we need to review the previous steps in order to set efficient literacy training programs.

The average of illiterates among people at the age of 10 and above varies from one District to another and between genders. The highest average of illiteracy among the whole population was recorded in the Districts of "Joob" and "Saadeh" where it reached almost 70%.

Following was the District of "Hajjeh" where illiteracy was about 69%. "Aden" was the District where the lowest rate of illiteracy was recorded as it only reached 28%. The other District have averages that vary between the two.

The rates of illiteracy varied between genders in the various districts of the Republic as highest rates where recorded for females in "Saadeh" with 91% while the lowest was recorded in the District of "Aden" with around 38%. The highest rate of illiteracy for males was recorded in the District of "Joof" with 58% while the lowest was recorded in the capital with of 19%.

The previous information shows that illiteracy is still a hard obstacle for improving the level of the population and the life style of individuals i.e. the development and the evolution of the whole society. It is obvious that illiteracy is unevenly distributed as it reached 76% for females and 37% for males in 1994 on a national scale.

As for urban areas, this rate decreases but it remains higher for females as it reached 48% while it is 23% for males.

In rural areas, this rate is higher and it reaches 85% for males and 42% for females. These rates indicate that males have better access to education than females; the reason might be traditions that hinder the education of girls due to the absence of schools for girls

No statistics were available for indicators 16, 17, 18 to know about the averages for (15-25) age group and about parity ratio for the same age group. This was due to many reasons:

Because of the mentioned obstacles, we were confined to set charts showing the rate of illiteracy in the Republic for males and females and the distribution of this rates between rural and urban areas for the years 1994,97, and 98 in order to make it possible to compare among 10 year-olds and above and observe the decrease in the level of illiteracy.

From chart (11-C) we deduce that illiteracy is still a major obstacle in the face of development plans and initiatives aiming at the quality pf life of people.

Despite the decrease of the rate of illiteracy on the national scale, as it reached around 56% for both rural and urban areas, 34% for urban areas and around 64% for rural areas, this rate remains high, especially for rural areas and for women in particular where it reached 34. 9%, 76% and 73% for 94, 97 and 98 respectively.

We notice as well that the average of illiteracy for female in urban areas is almost twice of what it is for males in these regions.

Based on the previous findings, it becomes evident that a fast action should be taken in order to find practical measures to reduce the spread of illiteracy throughout the population in all districts (districts) especially with the important population growth, the increase of the number of children not registered in schools and of those who dropout of basic education. All these criteria increase the problem of illiteracy. If measures are not found to solve it, it will have incidence on the life of the population and on that of future generations.

There is no doubt that the strategy and programs of education for all have been highly influenced by the political, social and economic situation and problems that started with the beginning of nineties.

Actually at the end of May 1990, the "Stale of unity" was installed in Yemen with the "Republic of Yemen". The union of two different political systems with all their social and cultural components created economical and administrative burdens for the new state. These problems increased with the second war of the golf that provoked the return of more than a million of emigrates from surrounding countries. The money they sent from abroad had been an economical support for their families and country.

Their compulsory return added more burdens to the national budget. Moreover, Yemen lost foreign support for the educational sector which was provided by the gulf countries before the war.

In addition, the decrease of oil prices had a negative impact on the economic situation of the country while some countries also asked Yemen to pay its debts and their service. Political action was taken to face these problems that could hinder the development of the country. Through reducing and monitoring expenses, the government reduced the financial gap.

Despite all these problems, the attention given to basic education was not reduced not only as an essential service but also as a human investment necessary for development.

Thus, efforts were exerted to find additional sources to finance education, with national resources, through loans and donations that were gathered to boost the strategy of education for all.

The educational authorities started studying the actual situation of education, defining orientations through meetings, discussions, workshops and reports that many local and international organizations for education helped to realize. It is through this evaluation that the ministry of education set strategies to develop education and programs where priority was for basic education. Thus, education became the first priority for the social and economic development plan for 1996-2000.

The general educational plan was practical and realistic and focused mainly on basic education.

Efforts together with the help of international organizations and donating countries and parties were fruitful. However, education for all still needs national, regional and international support to provide education for all the children in schooling age.

Through the evaluation of the objectives the plan of education for all since 1990, the following achievements appear:

The number of male and female teachers rose from 66 400 teachers to 150 290⁽¹⁾.

Basic education faces various problems which hindered the execution of programs on a defined time table. This reduced the internal educational efficiency which appears by the following:

The country exerts great efforts to support basic education within available economic capacities despite of the economic crisis which the Republic of Yemen witnessed in the beginning of this decade (mentioned in (8)) due to the second gulf war, the decrease of the world oil prices and the 1994 secessionist war in addition to the paying of international debts.

To reach the objective of education for all, the state allocated more resources from the budget to improve education. However, the social pressure exceeded all the public efforts in favor of education.

The social pressure over education is reflected by the increase of accepted students in the basic education between 90/91until 98/99 from 1 872 170 to 2 959 134 registered students.

Local communities and associations in addition to some businessmen contribute to the construction of some school buildings and offer incentives for teachers who teach in remote areas. Nevertheless, there are no statistics to measure the popular support or calculate its proportion compared to the public expenses. Despite the popular support, it is still inferior to the increase of new students.

Many points prove that the political authorities are committed to achieving education for all. The most important are the following:

These meetings are held before the beginning of the scholar year to review the execution of the decisions took in previous meetings, and the various matters pertaining to teaching and education alike major problems that were recorded in the previous scholar year and the ways adopted to solve them. These meetings help exchange experiences and take the right decisions to face problems to reach the objective of basic education for all.

The strength of the government, the local authorities and other parties involved in spreading basic education, is in the constant commitment of the state in giving priority to education on other services. This is reflected by the increase of the percentage of the yearly budget allocated to education and the endeavors of the state to maintain the support of the various local and international organizations and that of other countries for basic education as well as for the construction and maintenance of schools, the training of basic education teachers and female teachers in rural areas, and programs for encouraging the education of girls and reducing the gap between male and female students. Efforts are also provided to fight illiteracy and spread adult education.

There is no doubt that the last decade of this century witnessed an obvious development in science and in technology as well as in the various communication means thanks to electronics and satellites. Education is nowadays available through radio, television, satellite channels and computers to all the social classes.

There is also no doubt that education has become a life-long process. Thus, people learn at any age whenever there is a need or an opportunity to do so. Education can be formal or informal but equally good since it offers new educational experiences and uses new means of communication and computers to reach a greater number of "students".

Since the beginning of nineties, some basic and secondary public schools increased their educational and cultural curricular and extracurricular activities. They started using the school radio and other audio-visual means, as the administration became aware of the importance of audio-visual messages in the educational operation.

Private schools are characterized by the maximum use of these methods and material produced by the specialized learning centers.

It was also noticed that there has been a real interest in the production and broadcasting of educational programs by official media stations. Thus, the radio stations of "Sanaa" and "Eden" and other local stations started to broadcast programs designed by the ministry of education for students in basic and secondary levels or other programs alike conferences, cultural programs, languages course, history programs and trivia competitions, and health care, sports, and agricultural documentaries.

Moreover, the ministry of education started producing audio-visual programs aiming at improving the teachers’ capacities. These programs will be developed and improved when the special studio set for this purpose is ready.

In another step, the local television and radio stations started broadcasting advertisements which indirectly offer information about the product advertised. At the same time, efforts were exerted to modernize the information targeting the rural population to develop their capacities and qualifications and to improve their knowledge concerning agriculture, animals breeding and the preservation of water resources.

Although newspapers and magazines are the main sources of information for all peoples, their educational function is as limited as the public relying on them except maybe for school magazines and children magazines that are offered in interesting packages. However, those who benefit from them are still very few.

The last decade has witnessed a remarkable interest in libraries, museums and book expositions that enrich the culture and serve the purpose of education. However, the expensive prices decreased the number of the persons who can benefit from them and limited them to the people who visit public libraries which are only available in important capitals.

The mobile microphone used by some of the public organizations and health centers on certain occasions has an important educational role as it reflects the life conditions of the people and the social activity they need.

As in regards to social awareness campaigns, they recorded a brilliant success in the last decade and contributed in transmitting the educational messages through printed and audio-visual means and religious and social sermons from mosques.

Since the establishment of the republic of Yemen the government has made sure that its information politicy contain a great part for teaching material and fighting illiteracy.

The ministry of education is planning to design educational programs and broadcast them through the television channel especially set for this aim whose building is soon to be finished.

The media center broadcasts courses for basic and secondary education. These courses are prepared locally to enrich Yemeni knowledge.

Despite the importance of these programs, there is a lack of sponsors who support the production of educational programs. The media institutions themselves produce these programs that unfortunately remain below the desired level.

As for the organization and monitoring, the responsible of these programs usually follow the adopted information policies and often reconcile the educational requirements with the general information rules. Often, they are not professionals in education fields. The financing of these programs is provided by the budget of the Ministry of education and by the various media represented by the public institution for radio and television.

The educational programs are distinguished by the fact that they are set by professionals in education and planning.

The relation between professionals in both fields of education and communication is special as they both know how much their professions are complementary.

While these professional complete their duties, arbitrary statistics show that these programs are well appreciated by both students and teachers who ask for the improving of these programs both in the contents and methods.

All opinions encourage educational programs as they complete the scholar message.

Nevertheless, these programs do not produce the same reaction as health programs probably because of the high expansion of illiteracy and the reduced numbers of those who follow these programs. It might also be due to the wrong timing of their broadcasting.

To improve the level of these educational programs, more funds must be allocated from the budget to such a production of high cost. Actually, a small amount of the budget allocated to education would not do harm to the functioning of the Ministry but it would certainly have positive impact on the efficiency and the quality of educational programs that would balance the lack of information, the schools failed to provide.

Unfortunately, the time given for the programs is not sufficient for the scientific and educational contents expected to be broadcast and the timing is not suitable. Thus, the whole plan needs to be further planned and studied to reach its practical and scientific aims.