1. AME Education Sector Profile
Yemen

2. Yemen Education Structure
Education System Structure and Enrollments 2005
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank EdStats
Notes: Sub-sections are not in proportion. All data, preprimay-12, include all programs, public and private, academic and vocational. Public tertiary education includes both public and private academic and vocational courses of study.
Data Notes: Enrollment Configuration 2005
Gross Number Yemen MoE 2006/07 NER 2005 GER 2005
Pre-primary 15, ,025 N/A 1%
Primary 3,051,866 4,270, % 86%
L. Secondary 847,956 N/A N/A 52%
U. Secondary 598, ,029 N/A 41%
TVET Secondary 9, ,599 N/A 2%
Total Secondary 1,455, % 46% 47%
Tertiary 209,386 N/A N/A 9%
Total 4,732,355
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank EdStats

3. Yemen Education Structure
Compulsory school age in Yemen is 6-14 years old.
Education Configuration and Enrollment Percentages
% Net Enrollments
% Gross Enrollments
Classification
Level/Grade
Ages
2005
Pre-primary
Pre-school
3-5
N/A 1%
Pre-university
Primary, grades 1-6
6-11
75%
87%
Lower Secondary, grades 7-9
12-14
37%**
51%
Upper Secondary, grades 10-12
15-17
40%
TVET Secondary 2%
Tertiary
2-3 Diploma
18-20
9%*
4 year degree
18-21
Advanced degree
18+
* Includes all of post-secondary. UIS estimate. ** Includes all secondary. UIS estimate.
Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Notes: Data is sometimes confusing because of the differing divisions and definitions of the education sector. Yemen breaks its system into basic education, grades 1-9 (ages 6-14) and secondary, grades (ages 15-17) and most often quotes data within these parameters. Others define the levels according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) of primary, grades 1-5 or 6 (ages 6-11/12) and secondary, grades 6 or 7-12 (ages 12/13-17) with sometimes a further division of secondary into lower (grades 6 or 7-9) and upper secondary (grades 9 or or12). Therefore, if data is given for ‘secondary’ education, one must be careful to understand which system is being used to define the level, grades 7-12 or grades To all extent possible, data given here are accurate according to which ever source they have come from although some confusion may have occurred.
Definitions:
Net enrollment: Ratio of children of official school age for a particular grade or education level, enrolled in a particular grade or level, expressed as a percentage of the population in that same age group.
Gross enrollment: Total enrolment (regardless of age), as a percentage of the population in the official age group corresponding to a particular level of education.
N/A: Not applicable
Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

4. Yemen Population Structure
Yemen has a young population: 75% are under the age of 30 and the median age is 16.8%.
The population is growing at a rate of 3.5% a year and is expected to double by 2020, continuing to pressure the education system and labor market.
Source: International Labor Organization
Analysis: The population is growing at a rate of 3.5% a year and is expected to double by The rate of growth will continue to stress the education system and labor market for many years to come. It is absolutely vital that the government build a strong efficient system now to meet the demands of the future.
*Population data is based on estimates and projections from Household Surveys, National Census Surveys, etc. used to define and describe active working populations for employment and labor market analysis.
Notes:
Population: 23,822,783 (July 2009 est.) (CIA World Factbook 2009)
Median Age:
total: 16.8 years
male: 16.7 years
female: 16.8 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate: % (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 4
Data Notes: Population Structure
0-14 yrs. 44.6%
15-29 yrs. 29.7%
30-64 yrs %
65+ yrs. 2.4%
Source: International Labor Organization

5. Yemen Relevant Policies: Basic Education Development Strategy (2003)
Education Policy
Relevant Policies:
Basic Education Development Strategy (2003)
2. National Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in Yemen 2005
EFA Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund,
3rd Award, $20 million,
Policies available at:
Source:
Data Notes:
1. Basic Education Development Strategy (BEDS 2003)
Objectives:
1) Access:
i) Increased Gross Enrollment Rate (GER).
ii) Reduced gender gap.
iii) Reduced illiteracy.
2) Quality:
iv) Measured learning achievements of Grade 1 to 9 against 2005 benchmarks.
3) Institutional Capacity:
v) Government-led implementation with a sector management framework and an organization structure with the requisite skills
2. National Secondary Education Strategy 2006
Improve HE system governance and regulation to optimize decision-making and development.
Increase diversity of institutions to meet diverse needs of the country.
Increase resourcing to enable a high quality system.
Increase levels of teaching, research and service to high quality to meet needs of Yemeni people.
3. EFA (Education for All) Fast Track Initiative
Component 1: Increase enrollment with focus on girls in under-served governorates.
Component 2: Improve quality of Basic Education: in-service teacher training, resources, and equipment; training, equipment, and vehicles for inspectorate and curriculum department.
Component 3: Increase capacity: train educational staff, technical assistance to governorate level, performance indicators and reporting system, office equipment.

6. Yemen Education Access: Pre-university
Primary enrollments grew 20% from
Secondary enrollments grew 2-6% from
Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Analysis: Lebanon has made great strides in increasing access to primary education. The government now needs to increase focus on the secondary levels in anticipation of the transition of primary students up to the secondary grades. Pre-primary enrollments are very low. More emphasis at this level might contribute to quality in primary education.
Data: Pre-university Net Enrollments
% Difference
Pre-primary 0.6% 1.0% 0.4%
Primary 52.0% 75.2% 20.2%
Lower Sec (1999) 50.0% 52.0% 2.0%
Upper sec (1999) 36.0% 41.0% 5.0%
Secondary 31.6% 37.4% 5.8%
Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

7. Education Access: Tertiary
Yemen
Education Access: Tertiary
Tertiary enrollments grew 18% from
In 2006/07, females made up about 37% of tertiary enrollments.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Analysis: Higher education has been growing steadily. GER is about 9% (UIS 2006 data)/13% (MoHESR 2005 data) which is low compared to the MENA average of about 23%. The Yemen government is increasing resources to grow access and quality in the sector to meet education and economic growth demands.
Higher education in Yemen consists of formal university education (4-6 years), technical training (2-3 years) and vocational training (2-3 years), in addition to the community colleges (3 years). In 2007, there were 8 public universities and 9 private universities. About 27% of secondary graduates get accepted to public universities. Private institutions try to meet the needs of the rest of them but only about 10% more students are enrolled in private universities and 8% in 2-3 year institutions (Yemen MoHESR). Therefore, it would seem that many students are denied a university education.
Universities have branch colleges throughout the country, often in rural areas which helps to widen opportunities for participation in higher education to those people unwilling or unable to travel. This is of particular benefit to females. Because the colleges are predominantly of education, they once supplied a much-needed stream
of teachers for local communities who might not otherwise have been able to attract them. However, the need for such a large number of teachers has now been greatly reduced. The quality of some of the remote branch colleges is thought to be not as high as their parent universities, in particular because of the difficulty to place qualified staff in more difficult areas of the country. Higher education data is limited and when available, confusing.
Data Notes: Tertiary Enrollments all degrees x Numbers of Students (000)
Advanced
2-3 yr 25 26
4 yr
Total
Data for 2-3 yr institutes unavailable after 2000.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

8. Education Access: Gender
Yemen
Education Access: Gender
Girls’ primary enrollment has increased more than 30% since 1990 (~ 2% a year).
At the secondary level, girls enroll at about half the rate of boys.
Source: World Development Indicators (WDI). World Bank EdStats
Analysis: Girls’ have increasingly accessed primary education since 1990 as a result of the government’s policy focus through the National Girls’ Education Strategy although they continue to make up only about 80% of total primary enrollments. Boys’ enrollments seem to have reached a plateau recently. With continued concerted focus on primary enrollments, the country is on track to reach UPE by 2015 (UNESCO (2008) EFA Global Monitoring Report ).
Data Notes: Pre-university Net Enrollments
Primary Boys 74.2% 70.0% 69.7% 83.3% 85.2% 85.1%
Girls 28.0% 41.1% 46.1% 59.0% 62.0% 64.9%
Secondary Boys 44.4% 45.6% %
Girls 18.0% 20.7% %
Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank EdStats

9. Education Quality: Teachers
Yemen
Education Quality: Teachers
Yemen had 194,443 teachers in 2008, 20% of whom were female.
In 2002/03 school year, 42% of teachers had a secondary education or less. The Ministry of Education notes however, that even those with a higher education may still lack professional qualifications due to the previous diverse paths of teacher preparation.
The government has been making concerted efforts to strictly regulate the teacher training service and has since given 72,000 teachers in-service training.
Source: Yemen Ministry of Education (2008) The Development of Education in the Republic of Yemen: National Report.
Analysis: The lack of females participating in the teaching force may have an adverse affect on attracting children, particularly girls, to the classroom due to a lack of appropriate models and gender sensitivity in schools. The diversity in teacher qualifications is adversely reflected in poor student achievement in the classroom. The government of Yemen has been making concerted efforts to regulate pre-service teacher training provision at university level while attempting to up-grade classroom teachers through a system of in-service training.
Source: Yemen Ministry of Education 2008

10. Education Quality: Completion
Yemen
Education Quality: Completion
The primary completion rate is increasing slowly mostly as a result of girls’ increased completion. Boys’ completion rate has declined slightly.
Source: World Bank EdStats
Analysis: Primary completion rates will continue to be an issue that the government must focus on in order for the education system to grow at all upper levels also. In-school factors such as poorly-qualified teachers, out-dated curricula, rigid teaching and learning processes, and limited student academic evaluation and assessment processes most likely result in poor completion rates.
Data notes: Primary Completion Rates
Boys 73.4% 76.7% 77.8% 73.9%
Girls 33.5% 37.7% 43.3% 46.2%
Total 53.9% 57.6% 60.9% 60.3%
Source: World Bank EdStats

11. Education Quality: Testing
Yemen
Education Quality: Testing
Almost 75% of grade 4 Yemeni students scored lower than the ‘low’ benchmark for the 2007 TIMSS.
Yemen ranked 36/36 in both math and science of participating countries.
Source: Trends in International Math and Science Study
Analysis: Yemeni students are not learning the appropriate grade-level knowledge in math and science that they should be. Now that school access has increased, the government must focus strongly on improving quality of educaiton.
Definition: TIMSS: Trends in International Math and Science Study, a test of math and science for 4th and 8th graders, is used to compare educational achievement on an international basis. The exam tests student knowledge of basic math and science concepts which should be standard curricula offerings for grade 4 and 8 learners.
Data Notes:
Below low (<400) Low (400) Intermediate (475) High (550) Advanced (625)
Science 70% 20% 9% 1% 0%
Math 79% 15% 5% 1% 0%
Ranking
Math Science Rank
Singapore 587 #1
Hong Kong 607 #1
Yemen #36
Source: Trends in International Math and Science Study 2007

12. Yemen Education Equity: Gender/ Geographic Disparities
Rural girls are severely disadvantaged at enrolling in secondary education (16.9%).
Urban enrollments at secondary level are almost double that of rural enrollments (55.7% and 29.8%).
Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006
Analysis: Rural children generally and girls specifically have lower enrollment rates in primary and more so at secondary. The current government policy is to focus on increasing girls’ enrollments from under-served areas.
Note: Because the data come from a limited sample used in the survey, the results should be taken as representative and trends suggestive of the general population rather than as proven fact.
Data Notes: Net Enrollments by Location and Gender 2006 (%)
Rural Urban
Primary Boys
Girls
Total
Secondary Boys
Girls
Total
Definitions:
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was designed to collect information on the situation of children and women in countries around the world. It was conducted previously in 1995 and The third round was done in in more than 50 countries.
Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006

13. Education Equity: Income Disparities
Yemen
Education Equity: Income Disparities
The children from the richest quintile are 4 times more likely to attend secondary education and 7 times more likely to attend university than children from the poorest quintile.
Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006
Analysis: The government’s current focus on increasing education access to children from under-served areas is absolutely appropriate given their low access to all levels of the system.
Note: Because the data come from a limited sample used in the survey, the results should be taken as representative and trends suggestive of the general population rather than as proven fact.
Data notes: Gross Enrollments by Wealth Quintile 2006 (%)
Poorest Q Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Richest Q
Primary
Secondary
University
Definitions:
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was designed to collect information on the situation of children and women in countries around the world. It was conducted previously in 1995 and The third round was done in in more than 50 countries, Yemen being one of them.
Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006

14. Education Efficiency: Expenditure
Yemen
Education Efficiency: Expenditure
Compared to other countries in the region and internationally, Yemen has high expenditures on education.
Source: World Bank EdStats, World Bank 2008, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education
Analysis:
Data notes:
Share of Public Spending % Share of GDP %
Egypt
Jordan
Yemen
Lebanon
Morocco
West Bank/Gaza
MENA
OECD 1 5
Definitions:
OECD: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
MENA: Middle East North Africa
Source: World Bank EdStats, World Bank 2008, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education

15. Education Efficiency: Expenditure
Yemen
Education Efficiency: Expenditure
From the National Report on education development in Yemen (2008), the Yemen Ministry of Education reports the following allocations of the national budget on education:
General education: grades 1-9.
TVET: Technical education and vocational training.
Higher education: all post-secondary education.
Total exceeds 100%. Amounts from 2006.
General Education
83.94%
TVET
5.19%
Higher Education
17.27%
Source: Yemen Ministry of Education (2008) The Development of Education in the Republic of Yemen: National Report.
Analysis: The focus of the government budget in education continues to be on basic education, grades 1-9 in an attempt to increase access to 100%. Efforts to improve quality focus largely on teacher professional development. The focus of the government in technical-vocational education is to increase the total numbers of students in the TVET stream at the upper secondary level (grades 10-12). The higher education budget supports infrastructure improvements/increases and faculty professional development. Increases in efficiency might come about with a more articulated budget with clearly-defined budget allocations and foci. Questions arise about the budget for TVET as the government does not seemingly pay much attention to this sub-sector otherwise (in 2005, only 9,000 students involved). Also, the amount of budget for higher education seems high. The government certainly could work more effectively with the private sector for better provision at this level.
Data notes:
Source: Yemen Ministry of Education

16. Education Efficiency: Repetition
Yemen
Education Efficiency: Repetition
Primary repetition rates declined 5.7% within 5 years.
Data for secondary repetition is limited.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Analysis: The government’s current policy focus on reducing repetition at the primary level is seeing results. Rates have declined 5.7% within five years.
Data Notes: Pre-university Repetition Rates %
Primary 10.6% 7.0% 4.60% 4.90%
Secondary 9.4% 9.4%
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

17. Education Efficiency: Repetition
Yemen
Education Efficiency: Repetition
Yemen is not yet as efficient in decreasing repetition rates as other regional countries with similar public education budgets; however has seen some success within the last five years.
Source: World Bank EdStats
Analysis:
Data Notes: Public Spending on Education and Primary Repetition Rates
Repetition % GDP
Egypt
Jordan 0.5 6
Kuwait
Lebanon
Yemen
MENA 7.8 4
OECD 5.6
Definitions:
MENA: Middle East and North Africa
OECD: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
Source: World Bank 2008, World Bank EdStats, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education

18. Education: Conclusion
Yemen
Education: Conclusion
Successes:
Access: Steady growth of primary and tertiary enrollment rates. Increasing female primary enrollment rates.
Quality: Increasing female primary completion rates.
Equity: Gender gap decreasing at primary level.
Efficiency: Declining primary repetition rates. Large education budget in regional comparison.
Challenges:
Access: Secondary enrollments growing slowly. Much lower female secondary and tertiary enrollment rates.
Quality: Poorly qualified teachers. Low female-male teacher ratios. Low primary completion rates. Low academic scores (grade 4) on international exams. Education data collection and reporting weak.
Equity: Geographic and wealth disparities in enrollments. Extremely low rural female enrollments.
Efficiency: Regionally high primary repetition rates. Budget not well-allocated.
From other resources:
Ministry of Education (2008) The Development of Education in the Republic of Yemen: National Report:
In view of high population growth and with low economic growth, the GoY suffers
from a capacity gap in terms of scarcity of resources. Inequitable use of these limited
resources with a major share of educational budget going to tertiary education and the
insufficient investment in teaching aids and supervision, in addition to corruption, undermine the
quality of the general education provided by the State, and handicaps the local municipalities and
formed Parent Teachers Associations from functioning effectively.
Challenges/Barriers from Yemen County Case Study for EFA-FTI 2007
As mentioned earlier, Yemen faces many challenges in achieving EFA. Some of which
are institutional and others are socio-economic and cultural.
Addressing the large gender and regional disparities (gender gap exceeding 20 points in
the gender development Index72) requires huge capabilities and well strategized plans,
which create a big responsibility on the GoY, in availing access to economic, educational,
health, social rights and political opportunities particularly for women and young people.
Youth are marginalized and don’t get enough attention neither by the government nor by
the development organizations international and local ones working in Yemen, and youth
un-employment is over 29%, while 10% of the employed are children, and 75% of the
65% illiterate females nation wide, are in rural areas.
When all is added to short schooling hours (4 hours/day), widely dispersed population,
bad infra-structure, very harsh terrain for commuting and communicating, and the low
ratio of female to male teachers ( in cities is 52 to 100, while the ratio for rural areas goes
down to an alarming 9 to 100), things are more difficult.