Illiteracy rate in Yemen stays high

Yemeni Prime Minister, Abdul Qader Bajammal yesterday criticised the opposition parties failure to combat illiteracy which is very high.

In a ceremony marking International Literacy Day, Bajammal said: "Some political parties have interests in keeping people illiterate."

The political parties should put aside their differences, avoid controversial issues and start urging people to eradicate illiteracy, he said.

On his part, chairman of the Illiteracy Eradication Body (IEB), Ahmed Abdullah Ahmed said: "The process of illiteracy eradication is an issue that concerns everybody in society, government, parties, organisations and individuals alike."

Illiteracy in Yemen is still very high among women particular and people in the rural areas, in general. There are more than nine million Yemeni illiterates.

According to the latest statistics, 69.6 per cent of the population is illiterate, which is 18 million. More than 70 per cent are women.

Surprisingly, the total number of people enrolled in the IEB lists is 84,528, of whom 71,168 are females and the remaining 13, 360 are males.

All these are distributed in 401 classes all over the country which means most of the illiterate people are not attending literacy classes. On the other hand some 3,000 women are learning skills such as sewing, tailoring, tricot, embroidery, said the IEB bulletins.

Four million Yemeni students went back to school this week after the summer vacation. This number, however, does not represent all the Yemeni children who should go to school. A total of 45 per cent of the children do not go to school for many reasons.

There are about two million children workers, 3,500 juvenile delinquents, about one million disabled children, 28,000 street children, and 70,000 orphans, according to the national strategy for protecting children.