Political analyst: Houthis seek to erase the national and religious identity of Yemenis

“The Houthi militias continue to tinker with previous curricula adopted by competent scholars of different religious and intellectual persuasions, with curriculum changes aimed at fragmenting the social fabric and obliterating national identity.”

The Threat of Terrorism

Over the past years, the Yemeni government has repeatedly criticized the Houthis’ continuous attempts to change the educational curricula in schools by introducing concepts alien to Yemeni society. More than 3 million students in schools under the group’s control are facing the danger of distortion and extremist thought due to the continuous change of the curricula, the employment of schools for military purposes, the changing and falsifying of history, the politicization of the historical story, the interpretation of the Qur’anic verses and the Prophet’s sayings to make others infidels, and the imitation of religious sanctity to the Houthi dynasty.

Wasting money

Human rights and educational sources in Sanaa have accused the Houthi group’s leaders of continuing to waste money to make the summer camps, which currently target thousands of children, a success. The group has allocated funds to open 9,000 open and closed summer camps, print the “lieutenant” of the group’s founder and the speeches of its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and organize events and visits to spread its sectarian ideas among young people and youth.

Distortion and terrorism

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Nahari, a Yemeni political analyst, says that the goal of the group behind printing the textbook more than once a year is to introduce new sectarian amendments to it. The Houthi group had previously made several amendments to the curriculum at the beginning of this year, some of which included the inclusion of lessons, pictures, and instructions to obliterate the national and religious identity of Yemenis, and the creation of new generations that are stripped of their identity and faith, and embrace sectarian and religious thought.

 The Yemeni political analyst added that the Houthi militias have made extensive changes to the curriculum, targeting their changes specifically at the curricula of elementary and middle school students. This change has particularly affected the subjects of the Holy Quran and Islamic education, as they have tried to give them a religious character. He pointed out that the Houthi committees have changed the curriculum of the Holy Quran for second and fourth-grade primary school students, including interpretations of several chapters based on the teachings of Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi. It also included lessons that incite killing, violence, hatred, and discord, and promote a culture of death, glorifying what is known as the Ahl al-Bayt, al-Hasan, and al-Hussein