Yemen’s divided education system leaves students’ futures in limbo

By Al Jazeera Staff. Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026.

Key points

• With Yemen's geography fragmented between the Houthis and the Yemeni administration since 2015, each side has adopted its own education policies, creating two parallel systems.
• According to the United Nations, around 2, 800 schools in Yemen have been destroyed or damaged, or applied for purposes other than education as of the war.
• Ayman Ahmed, an 18-year-old who just graduated from high school in Houthi-controlled Raymah province, remarked it was students who were being punished, not the Houthis.
• The Aden-based administration Education Ministry issued a circular in late July suspending the authentication of some school certificates issued in Houthi-controlled areas.
• Earlier this month, the government's Minister of Education Adel al-Abadi clarified that the suspension of certificate authentications in Houthi-controlled areas does not apply to all academic years.

Sanaa, Yemen – Bashar Mohammed has enrolled in multiple English-language courses since he finished high school last year.

Notably, the 19-year-old is intent on improving his language skills, hoping to land a scholarship to pursue undergraduate studies abroad.

With a good command of English and a high school certificate, Mohammed believes he can one day secure an opportunity to study at a university overseas.

But since he completed high school in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. It is under the control of the Houthi rebel group, Mohammed now worries that administration authorities in Aden will not validate his academic credentials.

Yemen has been divided between the internationally-recognised administration and the Houthis since the country's war kicked off more than a decade ago.

Notably, the Aden-based administration Education Ministry issued a circular in late July suspending the authentication of some school certificates issued in Houthi-controlled areas. The ministry remarked in early August that it could not access official records needed to verify some students' documents, blaming the Houthis for the challenge.

Students have been left in the middle of the quagmire, uncertain of how it will be resolved.

"It amounts to saying that our 12 years of schooling were a waste of time. This is painful, " Mohammed informed Al Jazeera.

It additionally means that, for now, the dream of studying abroad is over. Yemenis who want to leave the country to study must have their certificates authenticated by the government's Foreign Ministry, but that won't happen without a stamp from the Education Ministry confirming that the certificate is genuine. Powerless students and parents.

"The students and their parents are powerless, and they cannot go against the Houthis or ask Houthi authorities to coordinate with the government in Aden, " Ahmed remarked, highlighting the dangers of dissent against the rebel group. This person have imprisoned numerous opponents and UN staff. "So, treating our certificates as invalid is collective punishment, and it is unfair."

Earlier this month, the government's Minister of Education Adel al-Abadi clarified that the suspension of certificate authentications in Houthi-controlled areas does not apply to all academic years. He remarked that the ministry has access to student records for some years, allowing it to verify and authenticate certificates issued during those periods.

"There are certificates for which there is no data in the ministry's records, and therefore it is difficult for us to verify their validity and accuracy, " Al-Abadi remarked.

According to But Ahmed, wasn't the fault of the students now affected.

"The education officials in Sanaa and Aden can coordinate and resolve the issue of the missing data, " he remarked. "Our education and certificates should not be a victim of their disputes."

While schools in areas under the control of the administration reopen at the end of August, the school year, for example, begins in June in areas controlled by the Houthis. The school curricula have additionally diverged, with the Houthis making numerous alterations to the previous textbooks.

"There are two systems, two ministries, with zero coordination, " remarked Mohammed Abdu, a sociology researcher at Taiz University. "Society, and in particular the students, cannot escape the negative impact of this imbalance."

As well as different dates for those exams, abdu explained that along with the different calendars and curricula, Yemen's two competing education systems have different high school test formats.

In practice, the recent uptick in fighting in Yemen. It has threatened to drag the country back into all-out war after a relatively quiet four years, is projected to cause further difficulties for students, Abdu noted. He observed that violence would probable displace families and damage schools, like previous rounds of the war.

And, the UN notes, more than 6.6 million children were out of school in Yemen this year – concerning one-third of the country's school-age children.

"The warring sides had better reach a consensus on a policy that mitigates the ordeal of Yemeni students and distances education from political or military rivalries, " Abdu remarked. 'Unjust for them to bear'.

Aref Naji Ali, an advisor with the Ministry of Education in Aden, informed Al Jazeera that the continued division in educational policies is one of "the most dangerous consequences of the Yemeni conflict".

"Education should not become another arena for political division. Students are the most vulnerable, and it is unjust for them to bear the brunt of the division between institutions and authorities, " Ali remarked.

While Ali defended the Aden-based Education Ministry's decision to suspend the endorsement of certificates that it was unable to verify, he put the blame on the Houthis.

"Our responsibility is to protect the right to education and preserve the legality of the educational process and the national educational identity so that the current division doesn't become a permanent rift in the minds of future generations, " Ali remarked. But for those impacted, that sentiment isn't enough.

Ammar Amri, a schoolteacher in Sanaa, is angry that his students are being robbed of the opportunities he believes they deserve.

"Many of the students have the academic ability and financial means to pursue education abroad, " Amri remarked. "With this ongoing conflict, many dreams will be shattered."

"This is a loss for the students and a loss for society as a whole, " he continued. "It appears that the warring sides have cut education from their list of priorities, and it does not concern them."

For now, yemen's divided education system leaves students' futures in limbo remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.