Minister describes serious toll of war on higher education

Since he assumed his duties as minister of higher education in Yemen’s internationally recognised government in December 2020, Khaled Al-Wasabi has faced many challenges posed by his country’s continuing civil war, writes Tarek Abd El-Galil for Al-Fanar Media.

Since 2015, the war has hit university facilities. “It also produced a terrific devaluation of the national currency, slashing the value of faculty salaries” and prompting many professors to emigrate, Al-Wasabi told Al-Fanar Media in an interview.

Speaking via Zoom, he said his ministry “has a zero budget”, referring to the lack of financial allocations since 2015 and its reliance on 20% of the 2014 budget. “With all these challenges, we consider what is happening an achievement, given that we are able to work in such difficult conditions,” he added. “The budget of the Ministry of Higher Education and Technical Education does not exceed one million dollars annually, a ministry that basically represents two ministries.”
Full report on the Al-Fanar Media site