Street children still a problem! [Archives:2003/665/Last Page]

Yasser Mohammed Al-Mayyasi
The report that is recently issued by the higher council for motherhood and childhood in Yemen has warned of street children phenomenon that notably and considerably is spreading and expanding in the recent years.
The report has estimated the number of street children in Sana'a only in 2002 at 28789 children.
The report that Ms Lamia Al-Eryni, a researcher at the higher council for childhood and motherhood, has carried out, confirmed that the families of the street children are characterized by having large number of children ranging from 7-9 and in some families the number is more than 10. It is probably attributed to the high rate in reproduction in Yemen. Besides the parents of these children have no work or at most have temporary jobs.
The researcher assured in her field study that the reasons behind considerable spreading of street children in the recent years are due to the social and economic situations.
The different economic problems that Yemen was exposed to through the last years have helped in spreading the phenomenon as Yemen is considered one of the undeveloped countries in which poverty percentage is %42, according to family budget survey in 1998 due to the increasing rate in population growth estimated at %3, 4 and decreasing of the individual income to less $300 yearly.
The researcher affirmed that the official data indicate that the children in the street who are out of educational system are 35.6% while the children who drop out represent %28.6.
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