The ‘Houthification’ of Yemeni Schools, Indoctrination of Students

Houthi parade shows child soldiers in Sanaa, AFP
Houthi parade shows child soldiers in Sanaa, AFP
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The ‘Houthification’ of Yemeni Schools, Indoctrination of Students

Houthi parade shows child soldiers in Sanaa, AFP
Houthi parade shows child soldiers in Sanaa, AFP

Khaled, a fresh Yemeni elementary student, sits heavy with hands crossed and refuses heading to school, where he says Houthis have instilled a “cry and death” culture, the very same which had his sister locked up in detention for refusing to chant ahead Houthi slogans during morning assembly.

“Every nonconformist student was asked to pay 100 Yemeni rials (around 20 cents),” Khaled’s mom told Asharq Al-Awsat while recalling that a first grader was sent to detention and received a beating for failing to pay the fine ordered. The young girl had only had 30 Yemeni rials on her she was saving up for breakfast.

Similarly, Houthi militias stormed a girls' school in Sanaa to force students to shout slogans. Girls who refused to chant were intimidated by the militants firing live rounds in the school yards and threatening the children with imprisonment, investigation, and kidnappings.

According to UNICEF, the war in Yemen has resulted in shutting down the doors of more than 3,584 schools. All education facilities were transformed into military barracks and weapon depots, leaving nearly 4.5 million Yemeni children deprived of education.

Heaps of warnings were sounded off by global, regional and local organizations about the deterioration of education in Yemen as Houthis continue to exercise Iran-inspired sectarian indoctrination in schools they run.

Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF spokesperson, has particularly warned of the dangers looming over the future of Yemeni children in the war-ridden country, saying that the education system is teetering on the brink of total collapse.

Sanaa school teacher, Siham Al Hrazi, said “Houthis have barred bazars and are enforcing religious extravaganzas and Khomeini-inspired slogans during morning assemblies.”

Students, lined up in schoolyards, are forced to watch videos showing torment, violence and bloodshed on big screens, Hrazi added while calling to shelter the innocence of Yemeni children from the Houthis’ sect-rife ideology.

Shockingly, Houthis have cancelled all sports and art classes and has reshaped curricula in a way designed to aid its agenda and create more cannon fodder to recruit and deploy to battlefronts. All schools in Houthi-run territory, short and simple, have been flooded with and coerced into adopting coup-styled education material.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) has described the Houthis’ takeover of the school education systems as a broad brainwashing scheme conducted on a large-scale with very serious long-term negative impact.

Houthis have gone beyond spreading the group’s ideological schoolbooks and practices to exploit unwitting children into recruitment. Ailed by war and a deteriorated economy, starved Yemeni children are often tempted by Houthi militants offering food aid at a time the country risks free-falling into devastating famine.

“After receiving a food basket, the student’s name and phone contact are registered on a list handled by Hotuhis,” a mother in Sanaa, who goes by Um Abdallah, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Soon after, according to Um Abdallah, contacts added to WhatsApp groups where sectarian broadcasts, slogans and messages are sent regularly to influence the readership in preparation for future recruitment.



UNDP Plans for $1.3Bln in Help for Syria

People wait their turn in a queue outside an ATM in Damascus on April 16, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People wait their turn in a queue outside an ATM in Damascus on April 16, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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UNDP Plans for $1.3Bln in Help for Syria

People wait their turn in a queue outside an ATM in Damascus on April 16, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People wait their turn in a queue outside an ATM in Damascus on April 16, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

The United Nations Development Program is hoping to deliver $1.3 billion over three years to support war-ravaged Syria, including by rebuilding infrastructure and backing digital start-ups, its assistant secretary-general told Reuters.
Abdallah Dardari told Reuters in Damascus that investing in Syria - hit hard by 14 years of conflict that ended when former leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted by a rebel offensive in December and fled the country - was seen as a "global public good."
"Our total plan for Syria over three years is $1.3 billion. This is not just a number, but a comprehensive strategy covering all support aspects," Dardari said. He said that help could include introducing artificial intelligence, setting up social protection programs and rebuilding infrastructure.
He said it would be crucial to mobilize funds from different sources including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as well as other countries in the region.
Since Assad was toppled last year after a nearly 14-year civil war, his successors have called on the international community to lift sanctions imposed against the country during his rule.
So far, most of those sanctions remain in place, with the United States and other Western countries saying the new authorities still need to demonstrate a commitment to peaceful and inclusive rule.
Syria has $563 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the IMF. But using the funds requires approval by IMF members holding 85% of the total votes, giving the United States, with 16.5% of the votes, an effective veto.
Syria's finance minister, central bank governor and foreign minister are planning on attending the spring meetings next week, Reuters reported earlier this month.
It would be the first visit to the meetings by a high-level Syrian government delegation in at least two decades, and the first high-level visit by Syria's new authorities to the US Assad's fall.
Washington has handed Syria a list of conditions which, if fulfilled, could lead to some sanctions relief, Reuters reported last month. Dardari said that sanctions remained "a considerable obstacle" to Syria's growth trajectory.
"Syria needs tens of billions of dollars in investments and in technical assistance and so on, and that cannot happen with such heavy sanctions imposed on the country," he said, calling for sanctions "to be lifted in a comprehensive manner." Dardari said UNDP had secured a sanctions exemption from the US Treasury to mobilize up to $50 million to repair the Deir Ali power plant south of Damascus.
Three sources familiar with the issue told Reuters the World Bank is exploring hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to improve Syria's electricity grid and support the public sector.
Syria's central bank governor Abdelkader Husrieh told Reuters that his country wanted to be compliant with global financial standards but that sanctions were still "blocking the economy from going forward".
"We want to be part of the international financial system and hope that the international community will help us to remove any obstacle to this integration," he said.