Deepening Economic Crisis and War Force Millions of Yemeni Children Out of School and Into Labor

While classes have resumed for a new academic year across government-held territories in Yemen, millions of school-aged children remain absent from classrooms, trapped instead in daily manual labor. Facing severe economic deprivation brought on by more than a decade of armed conflict, impoverished families across the nation are increasingly forced to prioritize immediate sustenance over basic education.

On the outskirts of Taiz, 11-year-old Hasnaa Jaber spends her mornings walking through open farmland rather than sitting behind a school desk. As neighborhood children take their mid-morning recreation breaks, Hasnaa searches through discarded waste, gathering empty plastic bottles to help generate essential income for her displaced household.

Hasnaa, who harbors aspirations of one day becoming a schoolteacher, was forced to end her formal education after completing the third grade. Alongside her two older brothers, she left school to assist her father in securing the basic resources needed to keep the family fed.

Her plight represents a mounting nationwide trend. According to estimates from the United Nations Children’s Fund, approximately 3.2 million children are currently out of school across Yemen. This figure marks a steep rise from the 1.8 million children who were deprived of education in 2015, the initial year of the country's protracted conflict.

The start of the current academic term on August 30 underscored the widening divide between families who can afford education and those facing extreme destitution. Hasnaa and her relatives reside in an informal displacement camp near Taiz, having fled the violence near their original hometown eight years ago.

Her father, 35-year-old Jaber Ali, works washing cars to support the household. Having received no schooling during his own youth, he had long hoped his children would have the educational opportunities he lacked. However, worsening financial strains over the past two years have rendered that ambition increasingly difficult to maintain.

By collecting and selling plastic bottles to scrap dealers, Hasnaa earns roughly 1,500 Yemeni rials—equivalent to about one US dollar—each day. Though modest, the income is vital for a family struggling against escalating living costs and a shortage of stable employment opportunities.

The financial barrier to education extends beyond tuition. Jaber explained that sending his children to school requires funds for textbooks, notebooks, stationery, and daily transportation or food allowances—costs his meager car-washing earnings simply cannot absorb.

Faced with mounting expenses, Jaber noted that he was confronted with an agonizing decision: allow his children to continue their schooling while risking starvation, or withdraw them so they could contribute to household earnings. Under current conditions, he stated, securing basic nutrition had to take precedence over learning.

Of Jaber’s five children, only the youngest currently attends classes, solely because she is not yet old enough to wash vehicles or collect discarded plastic. To keep his older children’s morale from collapsing, Jaber continues to reassure them that their withdrawal from the classroom is merely temporary, promising that they will resume their studies once financial circumstances improve.

The disruption has also taken a social toll on out-of-school youths. Hasnaa noted that she feels alienated from peers who still attend classes, sharing that enrolled students often look down on working children. Consequently, she finds stronger camaraderie among other children who share her daily struggles outside the school system.

The educational emergency extends far beyond those who have already dropped out. The Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports that nearly 6.6 million Yemeni children require educational assistance in 2026. This comprehensive figure includes enrolled students whose schooling is severely undermined by conflict, extreme poverty, and failing public infrastructure.

Ammar al-Sharjabi, an educational specialist with experience advising education ministries in both Sanaa and Aden, warned that the widespread departure of students from the school system carries disastrous consequences for the country’s future. He stressed that early dropouts deprive youths of essential rights, trap them in hazardous labor, and severely reduce their chances of obtaining stable employment as adults.

Al-Sharjabi further observed that high, sustained dropout rates will inevitably drive up national rates of illiteracy, long-term unemployment, and community poverty, weakening Yemen's broader social and economic development for years to come.

Government educational officials acknowledge the severity of the crisis but emphasize the structural limits of classroom-based interventions. An anonymous official from the Ministry of Education in Aden noted that while authorities coordinate with international relief organizations to assist marginalized students, the primary driver of the dropout crisis is severe economic decay compounded by renewed escalations in the conflict, creating hurdles that educational authorities cannot resolve on their own.