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.لقراءة المقال باللغة العربية، انقر هنا
Until March 2015, when conflict escalated, 1.3 millions d'abord, second and third graders were learning to read in Arabic throughout Yemen, even in the midst of conflict.
Avec le soutien des États-Unis. Agency for International Development and other international donors, the Ministry of Education was scaling up a new national education reform that included the early grade reading project. Creative Associates International has provided technical and implementation support on the ground since 2010.
With the escalation of Yemen’s conflict at the end of March, nearly all education activities have come to a grinding halt. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, estimated that 2 millions d'enfants were unable to attend school.
Malheureusement, the conflict has caused tremendous losses, including the lives of children. Some schools have been destroyed, while most universities and schools have closed out of concern for safety.
Education promotes stabilization
Education in times of conflict plays a vital role in rebuilding crisis-affected communities, creating a sense of stability and preparing residents for a peaceful future. Safe schools create a protective environment for learning and healing.
Higher national levels of education are correlated with lower risks of armed conflict. Quality and conflict-sensitive education can help stabilize societies and improve economic and social well-being.
A UN “Report of the Secretary General on peacebuilding in the aftermath of conflict” finds that “in conflict-affected situations, education is more than service delivery and is a means of socialization and identity development through the transmission of knowledge, compétences, values and attitudes across generations.”
Ainsi, while education can be a potential driver of conflict if co-opted (fueling grievances, stereotypes and xenophobia), it can also contribute to conflict transformation and peacebuilding when implemented in an inclusive and conflict-sensitive way.
Donors should not only continue and ramp up education support during the present crisis in Yemen but also prepare for post-conflict education development.
Robust & strategic education aid
The resumption of international aid for Yemen’s education development, especially in post-conflict Yemen, will need to be strategic and robust.
In the initial stages, school and Ministry of Education infrastructure will need rehabilitation from the damage and destruction of schools during the conflict. Displaced children and families may need access to host community schools, child-friendly spaces or other temporary learning centers.
Education can play a protective role. Research and practice shows that schools, learning environments and educators can help support children’s well-being and healthy development. Aid should enable education programs to be participatory, supportive, child- and youth-friendly, and free of humiliation and abuse.
Integrated, school-based support for vulnerable groups, such as children associated with fighting forces and armed groups, will be needed. Le soutien psychosocial des éducateurs réduit également le stress et l’anxiété liés aux conflits.
Les enfants non scolarisés auront besoin de programmes de « rattrapage » pour terminer leurs études ou rattraper le temps perdu.. Réhabilitation scolaire, avec un rôle important pour les parents et les membres de la communauté, contribuera à restaurer un sentiment d’espoir et de normalité et à créer des environnements d’apprentissage sécurisés. Maintenir le fonctionnement des écoles au Yémen peut également aider les communautés à comprendre les causes sous-jacentes du conflit et à renforcer les messages anti-violence..
Le Yémen se situe au bas du classement du monde arabe pour un certain nombre de mesures liées à l'éducation, selon la Brookings Institution Baromètre de l’apprentissage dans le monde arabe. Les gains d’apprentissage des étudiants au Yémen sont les plus faibles parmi tous les États arabes avec 91 pourcentage d’élèves du primaire n’atteignant pas les niveaux d’apprentissage de base. L'abandon scolaire parmi les élèves du primaire yéménites a diminué au cours des dernières années. 10 années, mais reste le plus élevé du monde arabe.
Les besoins éducatifs du Yémen avant le récent conflit étaient nombreux. Le ministère de l'Éducation, avec le soutien de donateurs internationaux, a eu des projets ambitieux, y compris l'augmentation du nombre de salles de classe et la réduction des doubles vacations; accroître le pourcentage et la qualité des enseignantes; augmenter les inscriptions d'étudiants, surtout pour les filles; et réformer la lecture et les mathématiques dès les premières années d'études jusqu'à la cinquième année.
Le ministère de l’Éducation aura besoin d’une aide solide et à long terme pour atteindre ses objectifs, which may include measures to redress issues arising from the conflict (c'est à dire. curriculum reform and decentralization).
In a post-conflict Yemen, with new personnel in place, the Ministry of Education will also require support with capacity building and strengthening its systems. Making these plans a reality will take robust, strategic and sustained efforts to maintain the progress made in reading and other areas, and re-establish the education system.
A model for education during and after conflict
The systemic, transparent and inclusive approach to reading reform under the Approche de lecture en début de année au Yémen has not only strengthened literacy and the national education system, but has also increased stability and security for students, families and communities. This program can serve as a model for carrying out quality education programming in the midst of conflict and for rebuilding Yemen post-conflict.
Yemen’s Ministry-led national reading reform has served as a critical unifying force prior to the recent conflict. Continued support for this and similar education reforms post conflict has the potential to move the country towards peace.
Grâce au programme, parents, community members and education officials have come together to work towards the common goals of improving literacy, preventing dropout and giving children the educational foundation they need for economic advancement.
The program has helped build stronger relationships between parents, teachers and children. Parents are spending more time with their children on reading at home and are interacting more closely with teachers to boost their children’s reading.
Sharing these common goals and working to realize them, even in the middle of conflict, has laid the ground for strong communities and schools that will be critical to post-conflict stabilization.
The program has also emphasized gender parity in the classroom among students and teachers—there are more female teachers than males in the lower primary grades. Research shows that when girls complete secondary school fertility rates decline, child marriage decreases, strong socioeconomic indicators rise and communities become more resistant to violence.
Aujourd'hui, Yemeni primary school children arguably have the best chance of any cohort in recent memory of staying in school, achieving academic success and completing high school— one of the best predictors for reducing the potential for conflict.
Ainsi, sustaining attention to and continuing the implementation of these education gains in Yemen, should guide our current and future education response.
The children cannot wait
Aujourd'hui, thousands of grade one students in Yemen only completed half a year of schooling due to conflict. What will happen to them?
Societies that are unable to continue education programs because of conflict are at a greater risk of getting trapped in vicious cycles where education is consistently interrupted by war. This in turn increases their risk of armed conflict in the future. Young people are missing out on valuable years of education.
We call upon all actors—USAID, the Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, the German Society of International Cooperation (GIZ), Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, the Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and European donors to join together now to support Yemen’s current education needs and prepare foundations for a robust post-conflict education system.
The UN Secretary General appointed former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the UN Special Envoy for Global Education to help galvanize support for Education First. The initiative gathers a broad spectrum of leaders and advocates focused on using the transformative power of education to build a better future for all—both during and after conflicts.
USAID’s Education Strategy Goal 3 seeks to increase equitable access to education in crisis and conflict for 15 millions d'apprenants. Many of these learners reside in Yemen today.
While the actors and the configuration of the post-conflict Yemeni state are not yet in place and may not be clear for a long time, increased stability in the near future will bring opportunities to keep the momentum of early grade reading reforms going, provide secure learning environments and begin the process of long-term support for inclusive, representative and quality education that will contribute to breaking the cycle of conflict in Yemen.
The children cannot wait.