Rehabilitating schools – restoring dignity and hope for the future
UNICEF and the German Government help revive Yemen`s education system
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The conflict raging in Yemen for almost 8 years has destroyed the social life and institutions, leaving millions in need for support while the education system suffered greatly as more than 2,500 schools damaged, used as shelter by internally displaced people or occupied by armed groups.
“Our school was destroyed, it was ruined!” – says Khaled, a 11th grader at Khaled Bin Al-Waleed secondary school in Taizz; “All the furniture was broken. And worse, the boards were so old that we could not recognize what the teacher was writing on the board!”
Another school student, Suhaib who is a nine grader at Nasser school, joins Khalid by saying that they “didn`t feel comfortable in our school.”
“We had to sit on the ground, because there were no chairs, and the furniture that we did have in the class was all broken”
Khalid and Suhaib are two of more than 8 million children, who are in for need emergency education assistance across Yemen – a significant increase from the 1.1 million reported pre-crisis in December 2014.
“Before the war, we had everything; books, teaching materials, and teachers were available all the time,” – says Hameed Senan, the principal of Khaled Bin Al-Waleed School. “Now many teachers are displaced, and the school was partially destroyed and had no doors or windows.”
Thanks to the funding from the German Government and financed through KfW, UNICEF has initiated a major school rehabilitation project in Yemen and is now helping thousands of children return to classes, restoring schools in Taizz and other cities.
Khalid Bin Al-Waleed and Nasser schools in Taiz were two schools that benefited from this support.
“The school is now safe and comfortable both for students and teachers,” – says Shehab Abdo, a Mathematics teacher from Nasser School in Taizz; - “The difference between the school`s condition before restoration and now is huge! Every student has a chair, and the classes are not overcrowded. The restoration gave us things that we didn`t even have before the conflict, such as new books, teaching aids, and much more.”
Since the conflict broke out in 2015, the teaching process mainly relied on volunteers, people who realized the importance of education and keeping children behind the school desks instead of leaving them on their own in a war-torn country. Some of those people were not professional teachers and had no teaching experience.
“Before the war being a teacher was a secure job, now it is a daily struggle,” – says Amatalsalam Noman, a Geography Major who now teaches Islamic subject for the 4th grade in Nasser School;- “I used to work in a private school and now came to teach here as a volunteer after many teachers had to flee the city because of the conflict.”
With funding from the German Government financed through KfW, and other donors, UNICEF can now reach more schools, helping administrations restore the buildings and provide children with books and other study materials.
“Thanks to the rehabilitation of the school, we now have the desire to teach again, and we can see that the students really want to study,”
The rehabilitation has a positive impact on teachers and children as they both feel safe and can enjoy studying in a proper learning environment. The school students have hopes dreams and aspirations.
“When I grow up, I want to be a doctor. It has been my and my father’s dream since I was a kid,” – says Suhaib from Nasser School.
“I love Mathematics and want to become an architect,”
