Surrounded by war, Yemen’s students suffer
As children pay the price of war in Yemen, there is an urgent need to quickly rebuild destroyed schools and find alternative safe havens for refugees.
SANAA, Yemen — The war in Yemen is taking a huge psychological and material toll on young students as their schools are being intentionally targeted, officials say.
Education officials there estimate the war has destroyed more than 1,300 schools, required hundreds of others to be converted into shelters and created a black market for, of all things, school supplies.
“The UN stood helpless as schools are targeted by all parties to the Yemeni conflict,” Paolo Lembo, UN resident coordinator in Yemen, said in October. “We cannot compel any of the parties to refrain from targeting schools, as imposing such a condition upon them by force is extremely difficult.”
The war has taken a terrible toll in Yemen as Houthi rebels loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and backed by Iran battle troops loyal to UN-recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Hadi troops are backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab troops.
