New Hope

Yemen's education system has been overshadowed by the conflict and its subsequent crises, which have resulted in a lack of teacher salaries and students' denial of schooling. The conflict has also forced thousands of teachers to leave their schools and students to work in other occupations to support themselves and their families. 

Our story today is narrated to us by a volunteer teacher at the Abu al-Qassim School in the district of Hays in Al-Hudaydah governorate. Her name is Afrah Amin, She volunteered as a teacher at the school to teach the third grade, primary level students. It is worth mentioning that she was educating children without getting paid in return. In addition to her experience in the field of education, Afrah worked with awareness programs in her area. In addition, ,her main job remains as a volunteer teacher at Abu al-Qasim School in Hays district of Al-Hudaydah governorate.

Afrah was facing a problem while doing her role as a teacher at Abu al-Qasim School in Hays District. When we met her and asked her about the problem that they were facing, she said, "Studying in the school was pretty difficult because of the tough environment of the school, which made students and their teachers suffer a lot; there was a lack of educational materials and tools; also, the place was not suitable for educating the children because of the crowding, which made it difficult for students to accommodate lessons given by their teachers; where we had to create more space for students by giving lessons outside the small classrooms; In addition to the problem of the school bathrooms, they weren't valid for use, and there was no water in the tanks that supplied the bathrooms, as most students were not attending school due to the absence of usable bathrooms. She continued talking with her face filled with sadness, saying, "I and other teaching staff have been teaching without getting paid in return"

#NMO, with the support of #ECW and in partnership with the #NRC, stepped in to assist Afrah and her colleagues in their situation in “Access to Education for displaced and host community children” project .

NMO has worked to build new classrooms to accommodate more students and relieve student crowding, as well as to provide the school with all educational supplies such as chairs, blackboards, school furniture, and recreational activities. Furthermore, students were given a number of school bags, while teachers were given their own bags as well as financial incentives for their volunteer work at the school. Through its intervention at the Abu al-Qasim School, NMO has worked to repair and supply water to all school bathrooms. Afrah and the entire educational staff of the Abu Al-Qasim school expressed their gratitude to NMO & NRC for their intervention in the school, which resulted in the return of a large number of students who had previously been absent and allowed the school to accommodate more students from the same area.