Yemen private schools develop education and support economy

By Faisal Abdullah
Source: Yemen Observer
According to data from the Ministry of Education, private schools employ 22,500 workers annually, 16,500 of whom are teachers and 6,000 are workers in related services and student transportation. There are 130,000 private school students.
Education experts said private education institutions are contributing to the country's economic recovery through the hiring of teachers and staff in addition to fees and taxes they pay to the state.
The private education sector in Yemen is new as it came into existence during the 1990s, but the number of private schools has continued to increase during the past decade.
Mohammed Hadi Tawaf, under-secretary of the Ministry of Education, told Al-Shorfa that despite being new, the sector contributes significantly to the gross national product. He said private education for children contributed over six billion riyals to the GDP in 2010.
According to the Ministry of Education, total employee wages and compensation for the entire private education sector including youth and adult education facilities and technical training in one year exceeded $6,250,000,000 riyals ($29.3 million). The sector comprises 2,049 establishments of various disciplines: 1,416 provide adult and alternate education (including computer schools, language schools, and technical schools), 508 provide basic education, 79 schools offer higher education, and 46 schools offer general secondary, vocational, and technical education.
"Its social and economic contributions notwithstanding, private education is still in its infancy," Tawaf said.
"Investors in education did not construct prototypical school buildings. They opted instead to use existing buildings or apartments that do not serve the education process well," he said, noting that investors are demanding that the Ministry of Education furnish them with ready-made prototypical buildings in return for paying annual rent.
"If we had newly equipped buildings, the ministry would operate them. Then why would there be any need for private investment in education?" Tawaf added.
With regard to the quality of education, Tawaf said private elementary schools performed better than public ones and offered services such as swimming pools, music, language, and computer classes that are not available in public schools.
He also pointed to the smaller number of students per class in private school classrooms, which does not exceed 25 students, creating a learning environment superior to public schools, where the number of students per classroom could exceed 100.
Faisal Ghallab, director of First model private schools told Al-Shorfa that 430 of Yemen's 713 private schools are in Sana’a.
Ghallab said private schools offer both students and their guardians many benefits that include recreational activities to reduce stress and help students to benefit from their studies.
He added that the services provided by the First schools in Sanaa include a special pool for children, a standard library, equipped laboratories, German and English classes, and computers as standard subjects starting in first elementary.
According to the Ministry of Education report, private education institutions paid 199 million riyals in direct taxes($934,000), 60 million riyals ($280,000) in license fees, 64 million ($300,000) in sales taxes, and 70 million ($327,000) in zakat obligations.
Dr. Taha al-Fusiel, a professor of economics at Sana’a University, told Al-Shorfa that as a business investment, private education institutions are still in the growing stages. However, their contribution to the gross national product and the labour market demonstrate their importance to the national economy.
He said, "But they also attract experienced educators away from public schools, which negatively affects the quality of public education."
Al- Fusiel said private schools revitalized transportation and provided work for various bus drivers and revived economic activity in the neighborhoods where the schools are located.
"Investors in private education need to develop private schools so they resemble schools in neighboring countries, especially regarding the building of prototypical schools instead of using furnished apartments," he said.
The new school year starts Saturday (September 17th) in Yemen, and officials have pledged to make every effort to ensure the success of the education process in light of increasing economic pressures on parents.
Tawaf, said schools are prepared for the six million students who are enrolled nationally.
"We are optimistic about the success of the new school year, and signs indicate this year will be better than the second half of the last academic year," he said.
Tawaf was referring to the strike by some teachers who also took part in political demonstrations against the government.
"The ministry will be firm in dealing with whoever impairs the education process, and salaries will be paid only to those who work. There will be no leniency with those who abstain from teaching as happened last year," he said.
Last year, The Teacher’s Union, the Union of Education Professionals and the Technical and Vocational Education Union have called on all teachers and education staff for strike until all their demands are met including political demanded.
"The ministry refuses to allow schools to be involved in political and partisan machinations and is only interested in a successful school year," he said.
Tawaf said that the constitution and the Political Parties Act prohibited political activity at schools and mosques. He said that the strike's aims were political rather than economic, especially since the government has implemented many of its promises.
Tawaf also said that the ministry dismissed absent teachers and hired volunteers as a replacement. He said that many of the striking teachers returned to their classrooms after they received the salaries they were owed.
Ministry officials also warned private schools, which announced a suspension of classes, that their licenses would be cancelled if they continued to strike. In the last year and for solving this problem, the Ministry of Education relied on volunteer teachers to complete the public school curriculum as students have been left stranded during a teacher’s strike now in its second month.
So, the Council of Ministers warned during a meeting Tuesday (September 13th) about using the education process as a tool in political negotiations. Officials called on all political activists to spare the education process from partisan conflicts. They emphasized the need for the military to leave all educational institutions so the students can study without distractions.
The council instructed the ministry of education and provincial governors to take the necessary legal action against absent members of the teaching and administrative staff and submit a weekly status report to the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the resolutions.
Ahmed al-Hababi, director of the Kuwait School in Sana’a said that according to the civil service law if a teacher is absent for 20 consecutive days the teacher would be dismissed.
"last year, the problem is the presence of students without teachers which hampers the educational process. Volunteers have contributed, at least partially, towards resolving the lack of teaching staff," he continued saying this new year of education teachers are eager to be in their classrooms, noting that some teachers' salaries were cut following last year's events. School officials are taking the necessary steps to ensure the school year is a success.
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Dr. Adel al-Shujaa, head of the Future Movement and an education professor at the University of Sana’a, said the tense political environment is having an effect on the new school year.
"Those who are claiming or seeking to establish a modern civil state are seeking primarily to fight education," he said. "Are they forces of modernity or backwardness?"
Al-Shujaa said that the public and the government are determined to get matters under control. Officials are working to ensure the education process functions smoothly and have adopted measures in all schools to support those aims, he said.