The education system in areas under Houthi control faces a new wave of criticism with the academic year that the group started in summer; the group is accused of limiting the distribution of school supplies and cash aid to its followers and the families of its dead and missing on the frontlines, and forcing private schools to provide tuition waivers for the same categories.

This comes amid ongoing debate over the high school results announced by the group's authorities, with educational circles questioning the high success rates and fearing the impact of such policies on educational equity and the future of education in Yemen.

These developments occur as millions of Yemeni families live in deteriorating economic conditions, making the provision of minimum school requirements—fees, bags, books, and uniforms—a burden beyond the capacity of many families, amid continued decline in purchasing power and widening poverty due to the war and economic crisis.

School supplies allocated by the Houthis for the benefit of their members' children (Facebook)

According to educational sources, the so-called 'Zakat Authority' affiliated with the Houthis distributed school bags and cash aid through supervisors loyal to the group, under a mechanism that sources said prioritized the families of fighters and group followers, while excluding thousands of poor families unable to provide school supplies for their children.

This distribution method sparked widespread discontent among parents and educational activists, who believe that educational aid should be based on humanitarian need criteria, not political considerations or organizational affiliations.

Inequality

Ibrahim, a parent in the occupied Yemeni capital Sanaa, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his three children did not receive any school support despite being registered on lists of those in need, while he witnessed the distribution of bags and school uniforms to families affiliated with the group.

He added that his family suffers from difficult living conditions, yet their needs were not taken into account, considering that if charitable initiatives had supervised the distribution of that aid themselves, some of it would have reached his children.

Other parents in rural Sanaa expressed similar complaints, confirming that the cost of preparing children for the school year exceeded their financial capacity, at a time when aid was limited to specific groups, deepening their sense of inequality.

In parallel, relief sources said that Houthi bodies in charge of humanitarian work and the Zakat Authority have recently confiscated quantities of school bags, notebooks, pens, uniforms, and cash amounts designated by charitable initiatives to support poor students at the start of the school year.

Accusations against the Houthi group of forcing schools to recruit students (Houthi media)

The group also imposed, according to educational sources, on private schools to exempt the children of its followers, the families of its dead, and the families of its prisoners on the frontlines from tuition fees for this year, without providing any compensation to those schools.

The principal of a private school in the outskirts of Sanaa, who preferred not to be named, confirmed that her administration was forced to implement those directives for fear of punitive measures, noting that the exemptions did not include other students from the poorest families, despite their dire need for support.

Educators believe that burdening private schools with additional financial costs without compensation threatens their financial stability and weakens their ability to continue providing educational services amid difficult economic conditions.

High school results raise questions

Simultaneously with the controversy over aid distribution, the high school results announced by the Houthi authorities sparked widespread discussion in educational circles, after recording high success rates and averages exceeding 99% for a number of students, despite the decline witnessed by the education sector during the war years.

The Ministry of Education in the unrecognized Houthi coup government announced that the success rate reached 88.12% out of more than 210,000 male and female students who took the exams, a figure that specialists consider questionable given the reality of schools suffering from teacher shortages, salary interruptions, weak capabilities, and a decline in the quality of the educational process.

The Houthis turned cheating into a habit practiced naturally (X)

Educators believe that the conditions experienced by the education sector make it difficult to explain this significant increase in success rates without providing data clarifying the correction and evaluation mechanisms, which would enhance confidence in the results and dispel the doubts that accompanied them.

A number of teachers also expressed surprise at the high averages, confirming that the level of academic achievement they observed during the school year does not match the announced results, especially given the frequent student absences and weak regularity of the educational process.

Accusations of cheating

Yemeni educational sources suggest that the high success rates in Houthi-controlled areas do not reflect an improvement in the level of education, but are linked—according to their account—to the spread of collective cheating cases in some exam centers, along with the circulation of model answers before and during exams, which they consider a main reason for the high results.

Educational activists also accused the group of dropping about 25,000 male students from high school this year, considering that this is part of policies aimed at pressuring students and luring them to join its ranks in exchange for obtaining success opportunities—accusations on which the group's authorities have not commented.

Students in Sanaa taking high school exams (AFP)

A number of teachers recount that they observed violations inside some exam centers, including weak supervision and allowing assistance to some students during the exams, which they see as undermining the credibility of the examination process and affecting the fairness of evaluation.

In one case, a student from Sanaa said he was surprised to get a score of 72%, despite being absent from school most of the school year due to having to work to support his family, confirming that he only attended the final exam period, which led him to question the mechanism for calculating results.

On the other hand, a number of top students expressed dissatisfaction with the announced results, demanding more transparency in the correction procedures and grade announcements, to ensure the preservation of students' rights and enhance confidence in the high school certificate.

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