Yemen’s teachers’ union accuses Houthis of indoctrinating children || AW – The Arab Weekly

LONDON Yemens teachers union denounced what it described as Tehrans use of education to pursue a policy of cultural colonialism,in statements published by theDaily Telegraph.

According to the teachers union, Yemeni children are being indoctrinated with violent and anti-Semitic propaganda in areas controlled bythe Iran-aligned Houthis.

Yahya Al-Yinai, a spokesman for the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate, told theDaily Telegraphthat the militias had overhauled the teaching curriculum and installed their supporters as principals in just about 90 percent of the schools under their control.

Yinai also accused Iran of orchestrating the changes in a policy of cultural colonialism by trying to introduce the ideology of the Khomeinist revolution in Yemen through public education.

With military and economic assistance from Iran, the Houthis currently control roughly two-thirds of the Yemeni population, including the capital Sanaa.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se) recently released a report which said the Houthis textbooks sought to indoctrinate children to sacrifice their lives.

Marcus Sheff, the chief executive of Impact-se, told theDaily Telegraphthat the Houthis appeared to have no red lines in their education drive.

The closest we have seen to being this extreme is the Islamic State (ISIS) materials, he said.

Houthi textbooks include graphic images of dead children and glorified violence as the only solution for resolving conflicts, the Impact-se report said.

The graphic nature of the material really took us aback, Sheff said.

The United States is described as the Greater Satan and as the enemy of all Arabs and Muslims, the Impact-se report revealed.

The American flag is used in images as a symbol of oppression, colonialism or simply the enemy, researchers found.

Children are being taught a Houthi slogan including the words Death to America, Death to Israel as part of an exercise on learning Arabic, the report also revealed.

Meanwhile, the 1979 Iranian revolution was awarded much praise.

Around three million young Yemenis currently receive their education in Houthi-controlled parts of the country.

Impact-se argues that the militias have made education a core pillar of their campaign to increase their influence and that their teachings illustrate why they are resistant to peaceful conflict resolution, theDaily Telegraphreported.

In the material reviewed, peace is explicitly dismissed as a form of capitulation, and people who advocate for it are framed as fools, cowards and even traitors, said Arik Agassi, the organisations chief operating officer.

This helps explain why the Iran-aligned militias continue to fight, despite the best efforts of a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

Yemen has been convulsed by civil war since 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital of Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition, backed at the time by the US, entered the war months later to try to restore Hadi to power.

Despite a relentless air campaign and ground fighting, the war has deteriorated into a stalemate, killing about 130,000 people and spawning the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The administration of US President Joe Biden last month officially withdrew its backing for the coalition but said the US would continue to offer support to Saudi Arabia as it defends itself against Houthi attacks.

The Saudis have recently offered a ceasefire deal, but Houthis turned them down.

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Yemen's teachers' union accuses Houthis of indoctrinating children || AW - The Arab Weekly