In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet and beloved Messenger, may Allah’s peace be upon him, his family, his companions, and those who follow his guidance.
Under the generous patronage of His Excellency Lieutenant General Sultan bin Ali Al-Aradah, Vice President of the Presidential Leadership Council and Governor of Marib Governorate, and in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the local authority in Marib Governorate, the National Education Conference was concluded, with the blessings of Allah, on May 5-6, 2025, at the 22 May Hall at the University of the Saba Region in Marib City. The conference, organized by the National Center for Strategic Studies and the Yemeni International Development Agency, was held under the theme: “National Education Conference: Reality and Challenges” and the slogan “Quality Education… The Future of Generations.” More than 120 participants took part, including researchers, academics, members of the central and local authorities from all Yemeni governorates, experts, speakers from various Arab and foreign countries, civil society organizations, the private sector, and the press and media.
The conference was launched in line with the goals of the National Center for Strategic Studies and the Yemeni International Development Agency to contribute to the development of Yemen, building human capacity, and improving opportunities for general and university education, through gathering officials, experts, researchers, and those interested in the field of education, to prepare studies and research, and coordinate and integrate efforts.
The conference aimed to explore academic and applied studies related to education, learn about modern strategies in teaching, assessment, and the challenges facing general and university education, showcase successful experiences and innovative ideas in education amidst wars and crises, stay updated with modern trends in technology and educational tools, exchange experiences, understand the current state of education and future aspirations, assess the education of students both inside and outside Yemen amidst the war, explore ways to support them, and enhance the efforts of stakeholders in the future of education, ensuring broad community participation from civil society organizations and the private sector.
During four sessions, 20 speakers from universities, central and local authorities, civil society organizations, and the private sector spoke. Over 120 participants attended and participated in discussions during Monday and Tuesday, May 5-6, 2025. The conference discussed the reality and challenges of general and university education, curriculum development, the role of the government and private sectors in education development, the risks facing the education process, and electronic learning methods and techniques.
Based on the research papers presented and the contributions made during the conference sessions, the conference concluded with the following recommendations:
- Continued holding conferences, seminars, and workshops with the participation of all stakeholders in education, including investors, authorities, parents, academics, and others, for continuous development of education.
- The conference recommends that the government prepares a comprehensive national education plan, which includes restructuring educational policies, aligning national legislation with international agreements on the protection of education, adopting unified national curricula that enhance human values and national identity, reconstructing infrastructure, building 3,000 damaged schools, providing safe educational facilities for students, ensuring regular payment of salaries, offering financial incentives to teachers to improve their performance, and expanding remote education programs to cover 10 million children by 2025.
- The conference recommends increasing the education budget to 15% of total government expenditure to ensure the continuity of educational programs and enhancing cooperation with international organizations to secure additional funding of $500 million over the next five years.
- Establish a central fund to support projects for the development of general and university education, aimed at increasing financial resources to support and fund education, with resources determined through a regulation to be studied and issued by the relevant authorities, and to benefit from the experiences of similar educational institutions in the Arab and international context in finding sources of education funding and enhancing cooperation.
- Adopt the principle of diversifying funding sources and self-financing in educational institutions, granting universities the necessary financial and administrative powers to invest their resources, and promoting the concept of the productive university, while activating principles of supervision and accountability to contribute to the proper utilization, development, and preservation of resources.
- Establish a virtual platform for general education under the Ministry of Education, providing all the material, human, financial, and legislative requirements, with direct supervision by the Ministry of Education, and activating electronic education management at the governorate level with qualified personnel appointed for this field.
- Review the legislation regarding electronic education in Yemen to allow investment in this field, as well as academic accreditation for certificates issued by electronic platforms or educational institutions relying on electronic education.
- Establish an independent national authority to protect education, responsible for monitoring and documenting violations and coordinating with international organizations to ensure the protection of educational institutions and their staff, and passing strict laws to criminalize the targeting of education.
- There must be a focus on the continuous qualification and training of teachers before and during their service.
- Develop a strategy to improve educational curricula and implement it by benefiting from the experiences of countries with strong global educational systems, based on the latest international rankings, and exchanging experiences by hosting experts who have effectively contributed to the development of education in their countries.
- Invite businessmen to invest in education, encourage community initiatives, and commercial institutions to invest in quality private schools with an attractive educational environment, and activate supportive policies for private and community education from the government.
- Develop communication and coordination between private schools, represented by the Private Education Forum, and all concerned authorities in local government and the Ministry of Education to work together to create quality private education that contributes to the development of the educational process.
- Establish research centers specialized in universities, higher institutes, and official bodies such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, and provide the necessary financial support and budgets, involving the private sector in funding and conducting field and research studies related to education.
- Strengthen research and cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, universities, research and intellectual institutions, and educational specialists.
- Develop the efforts of the Ministry of Education and higher education institutions to keep pace with the digital transformation in providing educational services and benefiting from local, Arab, and global experiences.
- Support for research and study centers’ efforts to analyze the reality of e-learning, the challenges it faces, and the proposal of projects and suggestions to implement digital education initiatives, keeping pace with the rapid developments in this field.
- Improving the economic conditions of teachers’ families and staff members, enhancing their psychological well-being by revitalizing school feeding projects that target both students and teachers, creating an attractive learning environment, activating school activities that foster students’ love for their schools, providing suitable educational resources, and empowering social workers to assist students in solving their educational problems and addressing family-related issues.
- Activating guidance and psychological support programs in schools, universities, and specialized institutes.
- Working to enhance values related to the development of educational leadership performance and educational services.
- Focusing on appropriate educational alternatives for the reality of education in Yemen, including educational channels, radio-based education, blended learning, mobile schools, online learning, home education, and e-learning applications.
- Opening an independent and transparent international investigation into the grave violations that education in Yemen is subjected to, holding those responsible criminally accountable before international courts, including education violations in periodic international reports on Yemen, and considering these violations a humanitarian priority in emergency response programs and reconstruction plans.
- The conference calls on the United Nations and the international community to apply effective pressure to achieve a permanent ceasefire and secure educational institutions from military targeting.
- Strengthening partnership and cooperation between donor organizations and the government, and enhancing cooperation with Yemen’s partners from friendly and brotherly countries to improve education in its various aspects.
- Promoting community partnerships in a realistic way, focusing on women’s empowerment in decision-making positions to strengthen their active role in society, and adopting educational programs and awareness centers that focus on the female sector.
- Establishing a department in the Education offices in governorates to manage educational and community crises during conflicts, crises, and peace.
- Equipping schools with modern technologies, training teachers and administrative staff to use them, and improving the effectiveness of measurement and evaluation in education in Yemen.
- Developing curricula to keep up with research and knowledge developments, and including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as part of the curricula.
Finally, the participants extend their thanks, appreciation, and gratitude to His Excellency, Lieutenant General Sultan bin Ali Al-Arada, Vice President of the Presidential Leadership Council and Governor of Marib Governorate, for honoring the conference with his esteemed sponsorship and his significant efforts during this critical phase our country is going through.
The participants highly appreciate the efforts of the National Center for Strategic Studies and the Yemen International Development Agency for organizing the conference activities, as well as all the committees that contributed effectively to achieving its objectives.
The participants express their sincere gratitude to the administration of the University of Seba Region for hosting the conference and supporting and contributing to its success.
We renew our deep gratitude and immense thanks to everyone who contributed, supported, and worked diligently to ensure the success of the conference.
We ask Almighty Allah for success and assistance.
Issued by the National Conference on Education: Reality and Challenges
Marib City, May 6, 2025
