A Houthi leader wants to limit the education of children to the Quran only

Senior rebel leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi on Thursday called on the internationally-recognized government that runs areas under his group’s control to stop educating children and replace it with reading only the Quran.

Since the start of the conflict between rebels and the government in 2014, the religiously conservative Houthis, who belong to the Zaidi minority, have taken control of large areas in northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sana’a.

Although Yemeni society is generally conservative, it has traditionally allowed room for individual freedoms. But all that changed with the rise of the Houthis, who impose tight social and religious rules in areas they control.

“From the 1st to the 4th grade, I call on the government to issue a decision to only read the Holy Quran starting the 23/22 school year at a rate of five verses per day”, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Revolutionary Committee, one of the most prominent political arms of the Houthi group, tweeted.

He also called for “the cancelation of all other decisions in these classes”.

The Houthi leader said in another tweet that the child’s continuation for six hours every day in the classroom is imprisoned, adding that what he reads in these classes does not benefit his educational career compared to the efforts he exerts in it.

“The student graduated while memorizing the Quran during the four years, expanding the student’s perception and developing his talents.. The Quran gives the learner this advantage”.

This issue is just a proposal and will not be implemented from tomorrow. If the government sees that the proposal is in the interest of public opinion, it will be implemented, and if it is harmful, it will leave it.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 377,000 people, either directly or indirectly, according to the UN, either through shelling and fighting or through spillover effects such as hunger, disease and lack of drinking water.

According to the UN, more than 2,500 schools in the country have been destroyed, converted for military purposes or used as shelters for displaced people.

“Since the escalation of the conflict in Yemen nearly seven years ago, the UN has verified that more than 10,200 children have been killed or injured”, Amnesty said last month.

A UN expert report submitted to the Security Council and published in January spoke of a massive recruitment of children. He said he had a list of 1,406 children aged 10-17 who were recruited by the Houthis and died on the battlefield in 2020.

In 2017, the rebel government’s minister of youth and sports proposed suspending classes for a year and sending students and teachers to the front lines to resolve the battle with government forces.