After their schools were closed, 7,000 Yemeni students in Egypt are deprived of education

Nearly 7,000 students from the Yemeni community in Egypt are at risk of being deprived of education, after the Egyptian authorities closed Yemeni schools on its territory, amid many difficulties and obstacles that prevent them from being able to enroll in Egyptian schools.

Last month, the Egyptian authorities closed 15 Yemeni schools and schools belonging to other Arab communities, on the pretext that they did not have licenses. Yemeni sources told “Yemeni Youth Net” at the time that the Egyptian authorities requested the signing of a cooperation protocol between the ministries of education in the two countries, allowing the legalization of the presence of Yemeni schools.

On November 18, the Yemeni Ambassador to Cairo, Khaled Bahah, met with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt for the International Cultural Relations Sector, Ambassador Yasser Shaaban, and discussed with him a number of common issues between the two sides, most notably the file of Yemeni schools in Egypt, according to the Yemeni News Agency "Saba".

During the meeting, Bahah reviewed with the Egyptian official the efforts made by the embassy to regulate the status of schools in accordance with the laws and regulations of the host country, stressing the embassy’s complete keenness to provide appropriate educational services to the community’s members that do not conflict with the social and cultural values of the Arab Republic of Egypt, which has been the primary sponsor of the educational renaissance in Yemen since the 1960s.

Ambassador Bahah pointed out that closing schools at this time of the academic year has caused more than six thousand students to remain at home and threatens to remove them from the educational system, while they face difficulty in enrolling in Egyptian schools, which now require obtaining a temporary residence permit before registration, contrary to the usual procedures that were in place during the past years, which enable the student to obtain a residence permit based on the educational registration certificate.

For his part, the Egyptian Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed the interest of the Ministry's leadership in the Yemeni schools file and creating appropriate solutions to ensure the continuation of the educational process for the children of the Yemeni community.

Proposal to resolve the crisis

Recently, there has been talk about forming a committee by the Egyptian Ministry of Education to visit schools and set conditions for them in exchange for reopening them to complete the school year, and then regulating them in accordance with the conditions of the host country.

An informed Yemeni source confirmed that the Yemeni embassy and cultural attaché had put forward a proposal to the Egyptian side to open schools to students to complete the current academic year and then close them and correct their conditions according to the conditions of the host country.

The source told "Yemeni Youth Net" that "the problem is complicated, and the students are currently studying remotely, and the Yemeni embassy has made several communications to the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs in Egypt, to the Giza Governorate, to the Cairo Governorate, and to the heads of the districts, in addition to delegations from the embassy, the community, and the cultural attaché, who met with the Egyptian side, but so far there is nothing new."

He pointed out that a delegation from the Yemeni embassy visited the Egyptian Ministry of Education with the aim of meeting with Minister Mohammed Abdul Latif, but was unable to do so. They met with one of his advisors, who simply told the delegation, "These schools cannot continue, and the decision regarding education is final."

The source stressed that resolving the crisis and reopening Yemeni schools will only happen through a sovereign decision by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and this will only happen if the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, intervenes and communicates with his Egyptian counterpart.

Difficulty of enrolling in Egyptian schools

While the Yemeni schools crisis has not been resolved, there are complex procedures that prevent Yemeni students from enrolling in Egyptian schools, especially since the start of the school year has been nearly two months, in addition to other obstacles.

Among these obstacles - according to the source - is that Egyptian schools have set non-tourist residency conditions. Tourist residency is granted to every person who arrives in Egypt, or most people obtain it. But they require non-tourist residency. Temporary residency or indefinite residency in order to register the student.

He explained that some private education administrations understood the situation of the Yemenis and responded to them, but some refused. Also, government schools used to accept Yemeni students in the past, but now they no longer accept them, and thus the problem has become complex.

Tightening procedures

During the past years, there were no residencies imposed on children and students, or any financial fines, considering that they were exempt. Yemeni sources residing in Egypt told "Yemeni Youth Net" that "the Egyptian authorities currently impose on the student approximately 7,000 pounds per year.

He added: "That means if you have four or five children who have been living there for four or five years, the fine could reach 80 or 90 thousand pounds, and this is very difficult to pay."

Another Yemeni source pointed out that "the Egyptian government is upset by the presence of large numbers of Yemenis, Syrians, Sudanese, and other communities, and in its view these numbers have caused pressure on the economy and pressure on the country..."

The Egyptian Ministry of Education initially said that these schools, being affiliated with the community, had no financial or other obligations. Later, it noticed that the number of schools was large...,” indicating that there was a financial motive behind the decision to close schools and tighten procedures and conditions.

The source said: “For example, if each student pays 20 thousand pounds, and the number of students is 7 thousand, this means that it comes out to be around 150 million pounds, very large sums, and these people do not pay taxes or fees to the Egyptian state, or anything. They are all facilities affiliated with the embassy, and therefore there is no oversight over them, neither financially nor administratively, nor in terms of educational curricula. They are all under the supervision of the embassy.”

The Egyptian Minister of Education, Mohamed Abdel Latif, said in a television interview at the beginning of the new school year that the number of schools affiliated with embassies is only three, adding that anyone present on Egyptian soil must study the Egyptian curriculum and there is no room for the presence of any other entities.