UNICEF yesterday urged all conflicting parties in Yemen to protect schools as the country’s education system deteriorates as a result of the war.
Julien Harneis, UNICEF’s Yemen representative, said that ever since the Saudi intervention in Yemen over a year and a half ago, education for Yemeni children has been put on hold due to the devastating consequences on civilian infrastructure.
Currently, more than Yemen two million children are out of school. In the past year, more than 350,000 school children have been unable to resume their education.
“Children who are out of school are at risk of recruitment to fight,” Harneis asserted.
Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Shia Houthi fighters allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes.
