Riyadh – Yemen’s internationally-backed government headed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi exposed and is in the process of countering plans by coup militias to hijack the educational system and change the curriculum, in an attempt to indoctrinate pupils.
Iran-allied Houthis and armed loyalists backing Ali Abdullah Saleh, running a foreign agenda, attempt to incite sectarian rifts among Yemen’s youth.
It is vital that the putschists’ attempt to reinvent the national educational curriculum – pumping sectarian ideology into the curriculum – is confronted and stopped, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Arab stated.
For his part, Yemeni Minister of Education Dr. Abdullah Lamlams said that Houthis have destroyed at least 1,700 schools throughout the civil war they are fighting. All of which were devastated in under two years.
The Ministry of Education is exerting great efforts to develop a program ensuring the comprehensive rehabilitation of students, added Lamlas.
Aden Governor Maj. Gen. Aidaruss al-Zubaidi made remarks on the attention being given to developing an educational curriculum that would encourage creativity and providence for generations to come.
Over the past two years, Houthis and forces loyal to deposed Saleh have denied Yemeni children from education and jeopardized their lives by coercive recruiting.
Houthis have, also, denied over 2.5 million students the right to education by force, in addition to shelling, raiding schools and turning them into military bastions and weapon warehouses.
Furthermore, parents expressed fear of sectarianism incident by Houthis, especially after Yahaya al-Houthi recently declaring the establishment of a so-called ‘National Salvation Government.’
In a report reported by pro-government activists, statistics showed that Houthis and coup forces staged some 279 violations against academic institutions in Sana’a alone last year.
Houthis men had ordered the printing of over 11,000 pocket pamphlets on which were stipulations dictated by Hussain al-Houthi along with coup slogans.
The sheets were distributed at insurgency-controlled schools, sources reported.
More so, Houthi militias in Sana’a had imposed a tariff on all public school students. The fee was labeled for “Community contribution”, and goes against the officially declared free public education.
On Houthi-staged atrocities, the Saudi Interior Ministry reported a cross-border attack which killed a soldier based in a border post in southern Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi interior ministry security spokesman officially reported the “martyrdom” a police border patroller in the southern province of Dhahran south on Thursday. The spokesman confirmed that the soldier was killed by a projectile launched from a Houthi-held location in Yemen.
Earlier, a toddler was killed when a projectile launched by the militia from Yemen territories hit a residential area in Najran, southwestern Saudi Arabia.
The security spokesman explained that on Thursday evening, one of the border posts in Darhan’s Asir region fell under attack, killing the border guard Atallah Yassin Atallah al-Anzi.