Letters to the Editor [Archives:2002/25/Letters to the Editor]

USA and Yemen in Education
To all Yemeni people in Yemen, in the US, and all over the world I would like to tell all the facts and fiction about Yemen to remove any illusions or misunderstandings.
Yemen is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and at the same time one of the poorest countries in the world, particularly in human resources and education.
The last time I was in Yemen was around seven years ago. Ever since then, I have been living in the USA.
As a Yemeni, I can tell the huge difference between Yemen and the USA concerning education and awareness. There is certainly a huge difference in schools, teachers, police, government and almost everything else.
The main reason behind Yemens low quality of education is because of human resources, this includes teachers.
Due to their economic conditions, most teachers in Yemen could have students pass exams for money or for a few bundles of Qat. Many of the students consequently pass without being qualified.
Not to mention other ways of passing students such as the influence of those students fathers who may work as officials, or be prominent sheikhs, etc.
The infrastructure of Yemens school system is not that good. But what is more devastating are the teachers who are suppose to raise the new generation to build a modern Yemen.
In the USA teachers judge students based on their hard work and dedication and not on how much money they give or how prominent their fathers are. This is why the USA is much advanced than Yemen.
I am a 17-year old boy living in New York City. I go to school and work at the same time. I like working on computers a lot, I use my PC for 3 to 4 hours a day.
Sometimes during the weekends, I use my PC for at least 6 hours to work and obtain knowledge from the Internet. This serves me well for when I need to learn about something, including the news from Yemen care of the Yemen Times.
I hope one day to become a doctor, a lawyer or some other decent profession so I can make my people in Yemen proud.
I want to say good luck to all Yemeni students all over the world and want to remind them of the importance of keeping up the good work in school and not to let anyone take their dream away from them.
Helal M. OWAS
New York City, USA
[email protected]
Why is basic education neglected?
Unfortunately, basic education in Hodeidah is neglected. It is dying, day by day. I am sorry to say this, but it is the truth.
I still hope that education, especially in basic and secondary classes will be supported and improved. I have taught for a period of seven years during which I have noticed that each year education is worse than the year before.
I am very sad because I feel helpless and that I cannot do anything alone. One hand can never clap. Members of our society always throw responsibility on teachers. They never try to help us by tutoring their children in their homes about morals.
The Ministry of Education has established the teacher law only to increase the salary, and nothing else. Ever since the increase in salaries, conditions continue to deteriorate. I do not want to go into the details.
I believe that the deterioration in the level of basic education is not something to hide, and is clearly known to everyone living in Hodeidah and Yemen in general. Families must watch out for their children after graduating from secondary school.
Unfortunately, the young graduates nowadays resemble the worst examples of knowledge and education. They fail to secure jobs and even tend to go to entertainment clubs, etc., as their families neglect them. Those clubs usually spoil those young men and put their futures in risk.
We have arrived to an extremely dangerous level, in which some students cannot even write a useful word on an exam sheet.
I personally have two things to ask for. Firstly, I demand the Ministry of Education to start a major reform through a long-term plan that would first stop the deterioration, then start improving this vital sector.
Secondly, I demand Yemeni families to start in-house education by instructing their kids in ethics and morals and convince them of the importance of education and hard work. They also need to monitor their childrens actions during days and nights in this environment, which is full of poisons and attractions that could distract students from education and participate in destroying their own future.
Abdulwahhab Abdulqawi Al-Sofi
Hodeidah
[email protected]
Why do this to us?
Most of us who were born in East Africa face a lot of difficulties when trying to acquire the Yemeni national identification card (Bitaqa Shakhsiya). It took me almost two months to get mine. Going between the village where my Yemeni father was born and Sanaa, I brought all they required (based on necessary and unnecessary requests).
After all this effort, I got my ID and my passport from Sanaa Yemen in 1985.
Recently, when I went to the Yemeni Embassy in Riyadh to get a new passport, they asked me about the passport I used to enter Yemen from the first place, a non-Yemeni passport almost over 27 years old.
The Embassy insisted on this requirement of the Central Passport Department in Sanaa. Several questions were raised. Why was I the only one who was born elsewhere? Wasnt the passport I have now issued in Sanaa after providing all the required papers? Why do I need to be questioned about the legitimacy of my nationality every time I do any paper work? Why do I have to prove it every now and then?
I have been traveled to Yemen almost every year and I have been issued two more passports since that.
What is the crime weve done to go through all this hell every single time? Why do we need to go to our embassy to be questioned about our nationality?
Why in the earth do I need to prove that Im Yemeni after years have passed since I acquired all the necessary papers to prove my nationality and get the passport?
I just hope that our miseries would end with your help, by interviewing the officials responsible in the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address this sensitive issue.
Abu Hamoud Saleh
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
[email protected]

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