The education crisis in the Republic of Yemen and the challenges of the twenty-first century

Abstract

During the past two decades, there have been tremendous regional and global developments in the fields of economics, society, technology, and culture. International experts have classified the changes that occurred in the world during that period into ten global revolutions: including the communications revolution, the knowledge revolution, the scientific revolution, the globalization revolution, the social revolution, and the economic revolution, which began The information and communications revolution is on its way. The rapid development of information and communications technology is increasingly affecting all aspects of our daily lives. From this standpoint, it has become necessary for public and private institutions in our country to adapt to the new technical data in a way that enables them to benefit from it fully, and to work to reduce the dangers that lie within it, as we are no longer a society of societies on a confined or isolated cultural island that exists on its own; However, the influence and being affected by it occurs, albeit to limited extents.
The educational crisis usually occurs as a result of the accumulation of a group of external influences surrounding the educational system, such as the decline in the educational level, the backwardness of the curricula, or the occurrence of a sudden defect that affects the main components of the educational system and constitutes a clear and clear threat to its quality, quality, and survival.

      The educational crisis in the Republic of Yemen, especially within educational institutions at various levels, such as basic, secondary, and higher education, is a chronic condition that has lacked modernization and development, lack of organization, and a defect in the sovereignty of traditional administration. Many acknowledge the inability of the administrative leaders of schools and universities to confront a specific situation using advanced technical methods of dealing. With educational and academic positions.
Some of the things that lead to the emergence of such an educational crisis are:
1. The lack of sufficient educational buildings and educational accessories of appropriate quality.
2. Poor preparation of teachers and professors during service.
3. Curricula and courses are overcrowded and left without development or improvement.
4. Violation of the principle of equal opportunities.
5. Student density, crowded classrooms and classrooms.
6. There is a defect in the educational process.
7. Absence of a clear educational philosophy.
8. Lack of social awareness of the importance of education and its role in progress keeping pace with the times.
9. Lack of self-evaluation and academic accreditation. (Al-Madhaji 2009, Imad Al-Din 1997).
Yemen, like other countries in the world, is affected by what is happening around it. Satellite channels and the revolution of communications and rapid transportation have transformed the international community into a single human entity living in an electronic village with close parts and benefits. The economic revolution led to a decrease in the proportion of the human workforce working in the agricultural and industrial sectors and an increase in its proportion in the services sector as a result of technological progress. Global economic events accelerated towards the formation of a free global economic system that led to the destruction of border and customs barriers between countries and the freedom of global trade, in what is known as globalization. ; All of these variables call for preparation, readiness, and preparation to deal with global influences in order to benefit from their potential and inventions, and to reduce their dangers and negative effects. This requires reconsidering our educational system and developing it in a way that preserves our authenticity, our fixed values, and our Arab and Islamic specificity, and at the same time allows us to benefit from the positive aspects of developments. globalization and keeping pace with it. In light of this, international experts in more than one field stressed the importance of giving high priority to education in government spending. Because investing in education does not only constitute an investment in the future of the country, but in the future of all humanity, especially since we are a young people whose age groups from 7 to 19 constitute approximately more than 50% of the population. There is also a large number of workforce in need of high technical training and qualifications to keep pace with neighboring countries and the civilized world and to meet their development requirements, which are also the requirements of our normal society, as we face many challenges. (Turki 2007/Nazim 2007).
A people of this nature constitutes in itself a great challenge that must be given priority in development thinking, and those in the labor market are in dire need of training and qualification. In addition, there are many challenges facing our society at the local levels in its economic, social and cultural circumstances, and globally, as follows:
First: At the local level:
A- Economic conditions, which are:
1. The expansion of public sector control and the relative weakness of the private sector.
2. The difficulty of economic reform processes and their consequences.
* Privatization and the resulting problems for employment.
* Free economy policy and the challenges that accompany it.
3. There is often a lack of trust between the private sector and government authorities.
4. The difficulty of dealing with new international situations (globalization, the GATT Agreement, the World Trade Organization, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, etc.)
5. The problem of the new regional situation (terrorism, military conflicts, high unemployment rates, global recession, etc.)
6. Problems and difficulties in financing educational and training systems to ensure sustainability. (Nazem 2007 AD, Ana’ib 1418 AH).
The information revolution also led to a radical change in the economic and social field, including capital, production methods, forms, and relationships. As the importance of traditional elements and methods of production and raw materials declined in the value of the commodity, information became the most important element and the distinguished manager became the one who possesses more modern knowledge and information, and the skills to use technologies. As a result, cognitive and technical capital became more important and had a deeper impact than physical capital. . In the face of these changes and in confronting these challenges, we must seek the required change according to our contemporary needs, and quickly identify these challenges.
B- Social and cultural conditions:
1. The problem of distributing and dividing social classes into classes of varying levels in all fields.

2. Dealing with the prevailing intellectual trends towards different types of education and learning and the aspiration for distinguished higher education.
3. Weak or lack of social acceptance and satisfaction for manual and professional work.
4. Inherited customs and traditions and the strong influence of religion, customs and traditions on social and cultural life.
5. Existing and outdated laws, legislation and customs that hinder development.
6. Bureaucracy and traditional resistance to change and everything new.
7. Institutional fragmentation and selfishness.
8. The absence of a unified body responsible for setting and formulating the requirements for quality education (quality assurance, granting certificates, standard levels of skills, academic accreditation, a national qualifications framework, etc.).
9. The culture of lifelong education and self-learning is not firmly established.
10. Insufficient attention to marginalized groups, people with special needs, and females. (Nazem 2007 / Al-Far 1998).
Second: At the global level:
We find that there are those who point out that the education crisis in Yemen and the Arab world is in an era in which the world stands on the verge of the second decade of the twenty-first century and faces major challenges represented by a group of issues of a global nature, the most important of which are:
1. Population explosion: It is expected that the Earth’s population in 2025 will reach about six and a half billion people, most of them in third world countries, including the Arab world and Yemen.
2. Environmental crisis and environmental deterioration, as human society faces a severe crisis in the relationship between humans, development and the environment, and the manifestations of pollution in all its forms that are harmful to natural resources, and the rates of their availability.
3. Rural-to-urban migration has become a dangerous demographic phenomenon that involves problems related to uprooting from original environments and moving to new environments that present newcomers with a heavy burden with multiple faces and dimensions, the most important of which are social and economic.
4. The inter-societal world, where humanity faces global social, cultural, economic, and technological transformations that impose their influence on the national social fabric, the regional economic system, and the system of human values.
5. The knowledge explosion represented by the revolution of information, technologies and means of communication and the impact of this in bringing about a radical change in individual and social lifestyles and in peoples’ aspirations and hopes for human development.
6. Educational systems are directed towards change and responding to the demands of societies and anticipating the future and human research. Education is a means to develop human capabilities and enable him to benefit from his environment, develop it, and prepare it to deal with the information revolution in particular. (Emad El-Din 1997; Mustafa 2005).
Accordingly, there are many questions on the minds of many observers and those interested in educational affairs in many Yemeni institutions and universities, regarding the inputs, operations and outputs of educational systems, and the extent to which they keep pace with the modern era, taking into account the peculiarity of the Republic of Yemen, which lived for a period of time, under the yoke of the Imamate. And colonialism, which played a major role in formulating primitive educational systems based on curricula of a traditional nature on the one hand, and to serve its reactionary and colonial purposes on the other hand. Despite the passage of more than forty years since the liberation from the Imamate and colonialism since the revolution of September 26, 1962 and independence in November 1976, and the discovery of oil wealth that brought financial returns to it, the educational systems in Yemen have not yet achieved their full potential, and have not achieved a qualitative shift in our Yemeni society. At all levels, in addition to the low level of education and the decline in its status and value in the citizen’s priorities, the Republic of Yemen was also unable to eliminate alphabetical illiteracy, which exceeded six million illiterate people, according to the latest statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics report in 2004.
Despite the above, education in Yemen has gone through various stages of quantitative and qualitative expansion. After the September and October revolutions, the Republic of Yemen was able to spread science and knowledge, open schools in cities and villages, and work to provide education and make it available to all the people of the country (boys and girls) and in response to development requirements and growth. In order for our country to keep pace with the global growth movement that all societies need, in the scientific, technical, economic and social fields, and interact with it positively, this movement has formed a strong motivation for trying to bring about a high-quality qualitative shift in developing education at all educational levels, confronting the various challenges that hinder it, and envisioning appropriate solutions. To improve the educational process in the Republic of Yemen to keep pace with the times, even if it has not been achieved to an acceptable degree.