[16/September/2007]
By Yahay Arhab

SANA'A, (Saba)- Official statistics have recently revealed that the illiteracy rate in Yemen had dropped from 56 percent to 45.7 percent of children aged 10 years and waned among women to 62.1 percent and 29.8 percent among men.

On the International Literacy Day (ILD) that marks annually on 08 September and the inauguration of training program of combating illiteracy in Yemen, head of the Illiteracy Eradication and Adult Education Authority (IEAEA) Ahmed Abdullah Ahmad stated that the number of illiterates in the developing 22 million-population
country was up to five million, 33.3 percent of males and 66.7 percent of females.

In a celebration of ILD held in Sana'a on 09 September 2007, Prime Minister Ali Mujawar said that illiteracy is still the main cause of ignoring laws, which leads to irresponsible practices in society such as kidnapping phenomenon, warning highly about the impacts of illiteracy on society, investment and economy.

Its serious efforts to stamp out illiteracy started in 1990 when a national strategy for the eradication of illiteracy and adults education was decreed. An illiteracy eradication law was issued in 1998.

Despite the remarkable efforts have been putting to implement many literacy programs and improve the educational capacities of local teachers, the Yemeni educational attainment of the adult population is among the lowest in the world.

While Education Minister Abdul-Salam al-Jawfi affirmed that his ministry's current plan is to increase the number of students of this kind of education up to 150,000 in 2009, Ahmed pointed out the scarcity of funds is the main obstacle in the way of IEAEA to set up many literacy centers in rural areas of the country.

"In rural Yemen, there are more than 120,000 dispersion population settlements. Illiteracy rate in the rural areas reaches to 54.3 percent", said Ahmed.

In recent few years, the Yemeni government implemented many noticeable plans of the physical expansion in educational facilities. Nevertheless, the educational system still suffers from shortfalls of enrolment capacity and favors males and urban areas.

For example, the enrolment level in the schools of the southern province of Taiz is 75 percent, whereas it is only 37 percent in the northeastern remote province of al-Jawf.

According to UNICEF, access to education is still one of the biggest challenges facing children in Yemen, especially girls. Because of the scarcity of schools in the rural areas, children have to traverse a long distance. Nearly half of primary school age girls do not go to school.

In addition to tough economic factors, there are deep-rooted social and cultural attitudes and practices account for low access to education in Yemen. The Yemeni traditions impose some rural families to send only boys to school, while girls remain at home to help their mothers.

ILD was a result of a decision of the world's Education Ministers during their conference held in Iran on 8-19 September 1965.
Moreover, in its 14th conference held in the French capital Paris in November 1966, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the decision, asking all members to commemorate this event annually.

YA