Yemen

AME EDUCATION

SECTOR PROFILE

Education Structure

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank EdStats

Yemen

Education System Structure and Enrollments 2005

Education Structure

• Compulsory school age in Yemen is 6-14 years old.

Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Yemen

Education Configuration and Enrollment Percentages % Net

Enrollments% Gross

Enrollments

Classification Level/Grade Ages 2005 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 15-17 2%

Tertiary2-3 Diploma 18-20  

9%*4 year degree 18-21 N/A

Advanced degree 18+  

* Includes all of post-secondary. UIS estimate. ** Includes all secondary. UIS estimate.

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.

Yemen

Source: International Labor Organization

Relevant Policies:

1. Basic Education Development Strategy (2003)

2. National Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in Yemen 2005

3. EFA Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund,3rd Award, $20 million, 2008-09. www.educationfasttrack.org

Policies available at:

http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/format_liste1_en.php?Chp2=Yemen

Education Policy

Yemen

Education Access: Pre-university

• Primary enrollments grew 20% from 1990-2005.• Secondary enrollments grew 2-6% from 1999-2005.

Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Yemen

Education Access: Tertiary

Yemen

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

• Tertiary enrollments grew 18% from 1999-2005.• In 2006/07, females made up about 37% of tertiary enrollments.

Education Access: Gender

Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank EdStats

• 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.

Yemen

Education Quality: Teachers

Yemen

• 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

Education Quality: Completion

Source: World Bank EdStats

• The primary completion rate is increasing slowly mostly as a result of girls’ increased completion. Boys’ completion rate has declined slightly.

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 2007

Yemen

Education Equity: Gender/ Geographic Disparities

Yemen

Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006

• 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%).

Education Equity: Income Disparities

Yemen

Source: Yemen Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006

• 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.

Education Efficiency: Expenditure

Yemen

Source: World Bank EdStats, World Bank 2008, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education

• Compared to other countries in the region and internationally, Yemen has high expenditures on education.

Education Efficiency: Expenditure

Source: Yemen Ministry of Education

• 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.

Yemen

General Education 83.94%

TVET 5.19%

Higher Education 17.27%

Education Efficiency: Repetition

• Primary repetition rates declined 5.7% within 5 years.• Data for secondary repetition is limited.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Yemen

Education Efficiency: Repetition

Source: World Bank 2008, World Bank EdStats, Yemen Ministry of Higher Education

• 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.

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.

Yemen