Yemen's Economic Squeeze Pushes Millions of Children Out of School
In Yemen, families are forced to choose between feeding their children and keeping them in classrooms as economic pressures mount.
In the outskirts of Taiz, an 11-year-old girl walks through arid farmland collecting discarded plastic bottles instead of attending class. Her situation reflects a growing trend across Yemen, where the cost of living has outpaced the ability of many families to sustain both basic survival and their children’s education.
According to Al Jazeera English, this shift is driven by a decade of conflict that has fractured the economy and displaced millions. For many households, the decision to remove children from school is not made lightly but is calculated as a necessary response to immediate hunger and financial instability.
Survival Overrides Educational Goals
The new academic year began in government-controlled areas in late August, yet millions remain absent from classrooms. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 3.2 million children are currently out of school in 2026, a significant rise from the 1.8 million recorded in 2015. This increase coincides with a period of severe economic contraction and rising food prices.
Parents describe the choice as a binary one: feed the family or pay for schooling. With wages stagnant and prices climbing, many fathers report that income from informal labor such as car washing or scrap collecting is insufficient to cover both meals and educational expenses. Consequently, children are pulled into the workforce to contribute to household income.
Children Adapt to Labor
For those removed from school, the daily routine changes to one of labor. Children like Hasnaa Jaber, who previously studied up to the third grade, now spend their days gathering recyclables. The earnings, though modest, are critical for the family’s survival. She and her brothers have asked their father to let them return to school, but he has promised they will do so once conditions improve, framing the absence as temporary.
Social dynamics among these children also shift. Hasnaa notes that she feels closer to peers who are also working than to classmates who remain in school, whom she perceives as looking down on their shared hardship. This separation reinforces a cycle where education is seen as a luxury rather than a right, deepening the divide between those with access to schooling and those without.
Humanitarian Needs Remain Critical
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that nearly 6.6 million Yemeni children require education assistance in 2026. This figure encompasses not only those entirely out of school but also those in under-resourced settings lacking basic infrastructure. The scale of the need highlights the systemic collapse of the education sector amid prolonged conflict.
As the academic year progresses, the focus remains on whether economic stabilizations will allow families to reconsider their priorities. For now, the immediate need for food continues to take precedence over long-term educational aspirations, leaving a generation at risk of being permanently disconnected from formal learning.
