Yemen

Original Re.ViCa entry by Paul Bacsich. Major update to VISCED level by Nikos Zygouritsas of Lambrakis

For entities in Yemen see Category:Yemen

Partners situated in Yemen

None.

Yemen in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen)

Yemen (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhuuriyya al-Yamaniyya) is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Yemen's size is just under 530,000 km2, and its territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 kilometres (259 miles) to the south of Yemen, off the coast of Somalia.

Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people.

Its capital is Sana'a.

Between 2000 and 2006, 17.5% of the population lived on less than US$ 1.25 per day.

In 2006 Yemen began an economic reform programme designed to bolster non-oil sectors of the economy and foreign investment. As a result of the program, international donors pledged about $5 billion for development projects. In addition, Yemen has made some progress on reforms over the last year that will likely encourage foreign investment. Oil revenues increased in 2007.

Yemen is divided into twenty governorates (muhafazah) and one municipality. The governorates are subdivided into 333 districts (muderiah), which are subdivided into 2,210 sub-districts, and then into 38,284 villages (as of 2001)

Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula, and one of seven in the Arab World.

Yemen has one of the world's highest birth rates, similar to the rate in Somalia to the south - roughly twice as high as that of Saudi Arabia and nearly three times as high as those in the more modernized Gulf Arab states.

Yemenis are mainly of Arab origin.

When the former states of north and south Yemen were established, most resident minority groups departed.[23]

Arabic is the official language, although English is increasingly understood by citizens in major cities. In the Mahra area (the extreme east) and the island of Soqotra, several ancient south-Arabic Semitic languages are spoken.

Islam is the religion of almost all of the population in Yemen, with Sunni and Shia in roughly equal proportions.

Note that Yemen is not a member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Yemen education policy

There are several ministries that manage the education system at different levels. General education is under the purview of Ministry of Education(MoE). Vocational schools and community colleges are managed by the Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training (MoTEVT). The tertiary education is regulated by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR). There is also a small private sector that accounts for 2% of basic and secondary each and 15% of university enrollments for the year 2005.

The Government of Yemen has subsidized public schooling at all levels. Most of the expenditure increase in the education sector is allotted for post secondary education. This expenditure increase led to greater expansion of education services. From 250,000 students in the 1970, there are now about 4.3 million students in basic education. In addition, between 1996 and 2004, enrollment increased at secondary level from 324,000 to 595,000 students and at the university level from 104,000 to 201,000 students.

Recently, Government of Yemen launched an exercise to improve communication and coordinate policies among the three ministries so as to have a more integrated vision for education. The government has also worked in collaboration with the Governments of Netherlands, Germany and the UK, and also with multi-donor organizations, such as the World Bank, DFID and CIDA to make substantial improvements in the education system at all levels.

Schools in Yemen

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Yemen)

The Government of Yemen has made the development of education system its top priority. The share of the budget dedicated to education has remained high during the past decade, averaging between 14 to 20% [1] of the total government expenditure and as of 2000 it is 32.8 percent. The education expenditure is 9.6 percent of GDP for the year 2001. In the strategic vision for the next 25 years since 2000,the government has committed to bring significant changes in the education system, thereby reducing illiteracy to less than 10% by 2025. Although Yemen’s government provide for universal, compulsory, free education for children ages six through 15, the U.S. Department of State reports that compulsory attendance is not enforced. The country ranked 150 out of 177 in the 2006 Human Development Index and 121 out of 140 countries in the Gender Development Index(2006). It is also very likely that Yemen will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, despite increase in enrolment rates in the past few years. In 2005, 81 percent of Yemen’s school-age population was enrolled in primary school; enrollment of the female population was 74 percent. Then in 2005, about 46 percent of the school-age population was enrolled in secondary school, including only 30 percent of eligible females. The country is still struggling to provide the requisite infrastructure. School facilities and educational materials are of poor quality, classrooms are too few in number, and the teaching faculty is inadequate.

Basic Education

In Yemen the basic education comprises 9 years of basic compulsory education for children of ages between 6–14 years old. The government has developed the National Basic Education Development Strategy in 2003 that aimed at providing education to 95% of Yemeni children between the ages of 6–14 years and also to decrease the gap between males and females in urban and rural areas.

Basic Education Programs

Basic Education Expansion Program (BEEP)

Since 1997, the World Bank and Ministry of Education started studying the current educational situation in Yemen and set strategies to achieve expansion of basic education. After a long discussion, it was admitted as Basic Education Expansion Program (BEEP) by the World Bank and implemented with about 60 million US dollars This program specifically aimed at increasing rural girls’ enrollment in the first six years of basic education by improving of access, quality, and capacity building. BEEP was successful and the pilot project expanded to all 20 governorates.

Basic Education Development Project (BEDP)

In August 2000, the Basic Education Development Program (BEDP) which was a follow-up and expansion of the Basic Education Expansion Program (BEEP) was approved by the World Bank. It has been implemented with the cooperation of DFID and the Netherlands since June 2004. BEDP involves the construction and rehabilitation of schools (grades 1-9), including latrines, hygienic hand washing and drinking water facilities, boundary walls and laboratories, and the procurement of laboratory equipment (including chemical materials) for grades 1-9. BEDP aims at implementing the plans in all governorates while the operation of BEDS (Basic Education Development Strategy) has been concentrated in four particular governorates. The size of this joint project (BEDP) is US$120 million and core of the BEDS. In November 2006, EKN and DFID signed a Technical Assistance Trust Fund. This Fund has been disbursed to support BEDP operations such as preparation projects for girls’ secondary education and the preparation of vocational training project II initiated by the World Bank.

Basic Education Development Strategy (BEDS)

In 2002, the government developed a national Basic Education Development Strategy (BEDS) with the support of various development partners and stakeholders.[13]This project implemented in four districts of the governorate of Sana’a at first, and expanded to cover 50% of the districts of the governorates of Sana’a, Amran, Mahwet and Al-Dhalea in 2002. Later, it was expanded to all 61 districts of the four governorates.[14] BEDS had following objectives; raising the enrollment rates to 95% by 2015, improving the quality of teaching, upgrading curriculum, school administration reform, improving fund management, decentralizing management of educational services, expanding the availability of school space for girls, using underutilized classroom space, instituting double-shifts, constructing new schools based on school mapping, enhancing community participation. [15] The government held a series of consultative meetings and workshops with civil stakeholders to build ownership among citizens. Over 400 male and female citizens who were representative of the Women’s Committee, Teacher’s Union, and Parents’ and Students’ Councils from both the central and local levels participated in the meetings.[13] The monitoring of implementation of the BEDS was operated by an Inter-ministerial Steering Committee (ISC) and guided by a Technical Team (TT). Technical Team also had responsibility for regular co-ordination with donor community. The responsibility for the actual activities and implementation of the BEDS were carried by Ministry of Education where accounts for authorities and organization at decentralized level.

The implementation of the BEDS was greatly influenced by economic situations such as a decline in oil prices, damage to agriculture due to drought, and a decline in external support.When these main resources of national economy were harmed, Yemen’s economy did not possess the ability to continue implementation of the plan. In 2004, a Partnership Declaration for Implementation of the BEDS was signed between the Government of Yemen and the World Bank, UNICEF, WFP, ILO, UNESCO, the Governments of Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, EU. The objective of this Declaration is to harmonize strategies and effectively allocate all government and donor resources for basic education. Through this partnership, the implementation of the BEDS gained strong sponsors and has shown remarkable progress.

EFA-Fast Track Initiative (FTI)

After the G8 Summit in June 2002, Yemen was invited to participate in the Education For All: Fast Track Initiative (EFA: FTI). The FTI was launched in April 2002 as a global partnership between donor and developing countries to accelerate the Millennium Development Goals for education in 2015. Yemen faces rapid increase of population and needed additional funds to expand their educational strategy. The government drafted FTI proposal based on the Basic Education Development Strategy (BEDS) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Proposal with the cooperation of the World Bank. This proposal was reviewed in October 2002 in Brussels, and approved in donor meeting held in Paris in 2003. One year later, ten million US dollars were given to the Government as a Catalytic fund. FTI supported basic education mainly in the governorates of Al-Baidha, Dhamar, Hodeidah and Hajjah and part of this grant was allocated to the governorates of Al-Jouf, Shabowah and Lahej.The task forces were established to strength and facilitate the implementation between the government and donors. The Ministry of Education has promoted reform policies by following the FTI framework, and has been careful for monitoring, the quality, and efficiency of service delivery.Ministry of Education also engaged in the administrative reform, and reinforced relations with the local government. Senior technical officials of the Ministry of Education and the local government’s officials held several workshops about the allocation of FTI fund. A deputy ministers’ committee has been established in the central ministry and local education department for building a capacity in the area of educational administration and for policy making among the administrative staff.The involvement of the local government’s officials contributed to reflect their voices in making policy and brought them a serious incentive for the implementation of the plan.

The government increased public expenditure for basic education and allocated a share of 17.2% of the public expenditures in 2003, and 16.97% in 2004 which are about 4.5% of the GDP. Basic education schools increased from around 9930 schools in 2000 to 10293 schools in 2002 and 10684 in 2004. The number of classrooms also showed an increase from 97,462 classrooms in 2003 to 98329 in 2004. In particular, more than two thirds of the number of schools and classrooms including private schools were built in rural areas. The increase of gross enrollment rate is contributed to special consideration such as exemption of school fee or school feeding programs for the children from poor families. These programs supported 106,169 girls in 1272 schools. In 2004, a dry meals service was operated and 248,244 girls in the basic education level were included in this service. These projects contributed to improve enrolment rate in the basic education level (6–14 years) up to 72% for boys and 42% for girls in 1999[21]. In 2004, the enrollment rate increased to 87% for boys and 63% for girls. In Yemen, only about one-third (36%) of 10-14 year old working children attend school, compared to 58% of non-working children. This is even lower for girls. Girls’ retention at the basic education level is a major problem; out of every 100 girls who join basic education in Grade 1, only 25 % will complete Grade 9, thereby limiting the intake at secondary level.

Secondary Education

After the nine years of primary education, students receive Intermediate School Certificate and attend secondary school for three years. In addition to normal secondary schools in which to prepare for university, technical secondary schools, vocational training centers, a veterinary training school, a Health Manpower Training Institute, and several agricultural secondary schools are available. There are also Islamic schools, and private schools. In normal secondary schools, students take a common curriculum during their first year, after that, students are given choice either the scientific or literary track. At the end of third year, students take examinations, and an 'Al Thanawiya'(General Secondary Education Certificate) is given to students who pass the examination. In the school year 1999-2000 was 439,129 boys and 324,493 girls’ enrolled in secondary education.

The secondary school system is still in need of proper management. Only 21 % of the schools have more than 180 students (13% of rural and 47% of urban schools), which is the minimum number of students required to have a viable secondary school offering the two mandatory academic tracks. Also only 27% of the schools offered two parallel streams in grades 11 and 12. The provision of education by private sector is also not a viable option due to excessive regulatory barriers that limit private financing. Then the deployment of teachers is also inefficient. There are some schools with excess of some teachers of particular subjects, while there may be shortage of teachers of the same subjects in other schools. The education system also lacks formal professional teaching development program. In addition, the various ministries have no coordination in terms of teacher’s development. Each year about 15,000 students with teaching degrees graduate from universities. Out of those 6000-7000 teachers are hired mostly in basic education.

The gross enrolment rate for secondary education in Yemen is 45.6 percent in 2005.The regional average of Middle East and North African countries is 73.4 percent. Girls fare worse than boys particularly in rural areas. In 2006, the secondary school net attendance ratio NAR was 60.4% for male 55.7% for female, with a 17 percentage point difference between the urban and rural NARs for males and 25.9 percentage point difference for females. In July 2007 the Cabinet approved a National General Secondary Education Strategy(NGSES) that aimed to provide high quality secondary education for transition to tertiary education and the labor market in an equitable and cost effective manner. This strategy will work towards reducing both,gender and geographic inequity in the attainment of secondary education.

Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT)

There are courses provided for the TEVT at the post basic and post-secondary levels. The government is making efforts to expand TEVT at various levels; nonetheless it is still relatively small, accounting for only one in 200 students at all levels and one in eight tertiary level graduates. Also less than one percent of the TEVT students are women. The private sector is also very small and limited to offering certain types of training and skill development programs. The TEVT system is also rigid, as most of the post secondary TEVT students are not offered any courses even in community colleges or universities. Then the only hgiher education option available to these TEVT graduates is to continue with up to three years of post-secondary education. There is a need to expand a number of employment opportunities in the country with increased public, private collaboration. In addition, the TEVT should be provided based on the current demand of the labor market rather than being more supply-driven. The new ministry is trying to improve its management system to be more effective through the National Vocational and Technical Education Strategy.

Higher education

University education is of 4 years except for Engineering and Medicine which requires 5 to 6 years respectively. There are 7 public universities in Sana’a, Aden, Hodeida, Taiz, Ibb, Dhamar, and Hadramaut (Mukallah) and 5 private universities and religious universities. Also, there are two community colleges in Sana’a and Aden. The enrollment in public universities is about 174,000 in 2005/06 and about 12,000 are enrolled in private universities (2005/06). Thanawiya examinations’ results are very important for getting into university and the required score varies depending on each faculty. The percentage who pursues university education is less than 10 percent.

In 2001, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research was established to meet the demand for social development. Every year, about 300-400 students who seek high quality of education go abroad for education. USA, U.K. and other European countries and India are popular countries for higher education. The National Strategy of Higher Education in 2006 also aims to provide multiple paths in the field of education. The higher education in Yemen still has a long way to go, despite high investment in this level the staff-student ratios are not favorable, equipment and learning resources are very poor; high absenteeism among professors; no systematic process to review and update the curricula; shortage of laboratories and computers for engineering students. Also there is a need of a decentralized system for the utilization of funds

Universities in Yemen

There are public and private universities. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Yemen The page http://www.webometrics.info/university_by_country.asp?country=ye lists URLs but notes that several are not in the Yemen domain - confirming other reports that the National Research and Education Network developments are at an early stage.

Polytechnics in Yemen

Several institutions are listed under "Schools, Colleges, Academies, Universities & Polytechnics" at http://www.hejleh.com/countries/yemen.html - in particular:

• The American School - Typical American curriculum
• Aden University
• Al-Ahqaf University, Mukalla
• Al-Iman University, Sanaa
• Hadhramout University of Science & Technology
• Ibb University,
• Queen Arwa University + Sanaa
• Sanaa University,
• University of Science & Technology, Sanaa & Hodeidah
• Yemen Networking Academy (Learn about the networks devices by CISCO)

Information society

(sourced from http://www.comminit.com/en/node/148411)

The Ministry of Education is take measures to secure sustainability of all ICT resources in the HE sector. This will include establishing the Yemen Foundation of Information Technology in Higher Education (YFIT-HE) to manage and maintain all common ICT assets, information resources, and other ICT related services such as training and end-user support. The development of cadres of ICT management and support services staff will be facilitated by establishing training programmes and facilities. Skills in the day-to-day management of ICT resources will be developed and user support services in HE institutions will be provided. Finally, the Ministry will create conditions, enabling public HE institutions to establish their own ‘local’ ICT management capabilities that will be complementary to the national facility.

A project (NPT/YEM/018, January 2004 – April 2006) has been completed with Dutch and Tanzania partners to: Develop an ICT Policy for the Yemen higher education system and ICT Master Plans for 10 institutions of Higher Learning in cooperation with, and for the benefit of, the MoHESR and ten institutions of higher learning. (see http://www.nuffic.nl/pdf/cb/npt/yemen-npt-country-information.pdf)

Towards the information society

Telecommunications

(sourced from http://www.reportbuyer.com/telecoms/country_overviews_telecommunications/yemen_telecoms_mobile_broadband.html

The telecommmunicationsmarket has had little liberalisation, competition or private investment outside the mobile sector. All fixed-line and Internet services are provided by state-owned PTC and its subsidiaries.

Infrastructure improvement has been slow and fixed-line penetration remains at less than 5%. ADSL broadband services have been launched however and both dial-up and broadband Internet subscribers are growing steadily but from a very small base and Internet user penetration remains at only 5%. (Other reports note that ADSL is very expensive compared with the average wage.)

Yemen's low literacy rate, at about 50% of the population, is a major reason for low Internet penetration. Among adult women, literacy rates are only around 25%.

Low Internet penetration rates also reflect the small number of computers in the country. Most Internet users access the Internet at Internet cafes, of which there were nearly 1,000 in 2009.

Internet censorship is very strict.

Mobile telecoms are the big success story. Steady growth of 40-50% over the past two years has seen penetration rates rise to nearly 30%.

Virtual Initiatives

None.

Interesting Programmes

No Programmes as such. None are likely in the near future.

Re.ViCa Case-study

NOne.

Lessons learnt

Yemen is still at too early a stage of development for ICT and e-elearning to be widespread.

References

Wikipedia

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Yemen
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Yemen

Others

• The Country & People of Yemen, http://www.hejleh.com/countries/yemen.html - with much more "local colour" and relevance than other sites
• NPT COUNTRY INFORMATION - YEMEN, NUFFIC, http://www.nuffic.nl/pdf/cb/npt/yemen-npt-country-information.pdf
• Yemen ICT4D Sectoral Policy - Education, 2005, http://www.comminit.com/en/node/148411
• http://www.reportbuyer.com/telecoms/country_overviews_telecommunications/yemen_telecoms_mobile_broadband.html

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For OER policies and projects in Yemen see Yemen/OER

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