Escalation of houthis’ attacks against education and its affiliates in yemen
The Houthi militias, Iran’s proxy in Yemen, seek to tighten their grip on private education and sectarianize, politicize, and racially manipulate its outcomes. They do so by disrupting government education, confiscating teachers’ salaries, and stealing international aid intended to incentivize teachers.
As part of these plans, the Houthi militias have imposed what they call a “cultural supervisor” on private schools in Sanaa Governorate, as a resident supervisor within the private school. This supervisor is responsible for hindering and redirecting the educational process in private schools.
According to an official document from the Education Office in Sanaa Governorate, revealed by the local website “Yemen News,” the virtual cultural supervisor will be responsible for approving various activities such as school radio broadcasts, curriculum-based competitions, and scientific activities.
The cultural supervisor is assigned tasks described as “activating religious occasions” and “activating the cultural day,” referring to sectarian and religious-oriented war-related events and connotations.
In response to these developments, Yemeni academic Ibrahim Al-Kabsi believes that the presence of the group in private schools is not a new phenomenon, stating: “However, the function of a resident cultural supervisor exposes the group’s intention to brainwash our children forcefully and at our expense.”
He pointed out that parents withdrew their children from government schools “after the Houthis destroyed education, militarized the curricula, politicized them, and made them sectarian.” He added, “They then turned to private education,” referring to the new trend of imposing a cultural supervisor on private schools.
As 2023 begins, the Houthi militias have launched a new phase of violations against the education sector and its affiliates, as part of their organized targeting of the sector in all areas under their control. They continued changing the names of schools, distorting the curricula, and punishing educators who are not loyal to them.
The abuses committed by the militias include acts of invasion, suppression, closure, arbitrary dismissals from public employment, changing school names, and recently introducing new sectarian amendments to the remaining educational curricula.
About two months ago, the Houthi group conducted extensive name changes for several schools in Ibb, with the latest being the renaming of two schools in Al Dhihar District. The first changed its name from Kamran School to the name of the militia’s founder, “Hussein Al-Houthi,” and the second changed its name from Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi to “Adi Al-Tamimi,” as part of their exploitation of the Palestinian issue.
