In March, five attacks on schools in Yemen left almost 30,600 children without access to education, approximately double of the number of attacks registered at the end of 2020. Save the Children reported  that during March 2021, schools in Ta’izz were hit in four shelling attacks, while another attack took place in the capital of Sana’a, where a school was reportedly hit by an airstrike.

The last Civilian Impact Monitoring Project report states that during the first quarter of this year, twice the number of incidents that impacted directly on education infrastructure. According to “If Not In School”, more than 2,500 schools are permanently out of use or temporarily closed as a result of damages caused  by attacks . In some cases,  these schools were used for military purposes or as shelters for displaced people. Such attacks are able to compromise the life and the education of children in the area for years or even for the  rest of their lives. These attacks further  increased the number of children victims of war. While in the last six months the number  of child casualties has been decreasing nationwide, Ta’izz counts the highest number of child casualties reported in  the governorate during a quarter since the first half of 2019. Those children who are not directly affected  by  the attacks are subsequently denied access to education for safety reasons. Since the way to school has become dangerous as children risk being killed along the street, many parents choose to keep them at home. The lack of access to education has pushed children and families to dangerous alternatives, including early marriage, child labour and recruitment into the fighting.

Since the 2015 escalation of the conflict in the country, the total number of children being  out-of-school  has increased to over n two million. Already in 2018, UNICEF had appealed to the warring parties to put an end to these grave violations of children’s rights.

To learn  more, please visit:

https://www.savethechildren.net/news/yemen-tens-thousands-children-denied-access-education-after-single-month-attacks-schools 

https://civilianimpactmonitoring.org/onewebmedia/CIMP%20Quarterly%20Report_2021_Q1.pdf

https://www.developmentaid.org/#!/news-stream/post/91172/yemen-children-denied-education

https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/yemen-children-education-devastated-three-years conflict#:~:text=Nearly%202%20million%20children%20now%20out%20of%20school&text=%E2%80%9CAn%20entire%20generation%20of%20children,the%20quality%20education%20they%20need.%E2%80%9D

Author: Jasmina Saric