Houthis Privatize Public Schools for Financial Gain

A Yemeni boy carries a weapon as tribesmen loyal to the Houthis attend a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP)
A Yemeni boy carries a weapon as tribesmen loyal to the Houthis attend a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP)
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Houthis Privatize Public Schools for Financial Gain

A Yemeni boy carries a weapon as tribesmen loyal to the Houthis attend a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP)
A Yemeni boy carries a weapon as tribesmen loyal to the Houthis attend a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP)

Houthi militias have launched a campaign to privatize public schools in areas under their control. The move will affect hundreds of schools in Sanaa and other governorates held by the Iran-backed militia.

The move matches other Houthi efforts focused on raising funds and promoting their racist ideology

It also drew massive public rage from Yemenis who said that the privatization of public schools is a violation of the law and an attack against the right to free education.

In recent days, the Houthis also imposed a host of arbitrary restrictions against private schools in their territory. They also forced some schools named after member states of the Arab Coalition to rebrand.

Sources based in Sanaa revealed that among the privatized schools in the capital was the all-girl Balqis School. It was not only denationalized, but also made into an all-boy institution.

Pupils at Balqis School will now have to pay 65,000 Yemeni rials for each level between grade one and grade six. The registration fees for grades seven through nine stand at a staggering 85,000 Yemeni rials.

High school goers will need to pay 95,000 Yemeni rials to enroll.

Parents of pupils in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the privatization of free education is another crime to be added to a long list of violations committed by the Iran-backed group against the education sector.

They also stressed that the Houthi move is illegal.

“Houthis seek to exploit public schools after privatizing them for material enrichment at the expense of the suffering of students and families,” Sanaa-based teachers and academics told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Houthis ramped up their harsh crusade against Yemen’s educational and societal freedoms in August, including changing school curriculums to glorify Imam Al-Hadi Yahya, the father of the country’s Imamate which ruled north Yemen from 897 until 1962,” Inside Arabia reported on the Houthi violations against the education sector.



UN Chief Urges Yemen's Houthis to Release Aid Workers

(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
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UN Chief Urges Yemen's Houthis to Release Aid Workers

(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday demanded Yemen's Houthis to release dozens of aid workers, including UN staff, a year after their arrest.

The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of the war-torn country, detained 13 UN personnel and more than 50 employees of aid groups last June, AFP reported.

"I renew my call for their immediate and unconditional release," Guterres said in a statement issued by the office of his special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.

"The UN and its humanitarian partners should never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their mandates for the benefit of the people they serve," he added.

The Houthis at the time claimed an "American-Israeli spy cell" was operating under the cover of aid groups -- an accusation firmly rejected by the UN.

Guterres also lamented the "deplorable tragedy" of the death in detention of a World Food Program staffer in February.