The activities of the first national conference for developing curricula and diversifying educational paths were launched on Wednesday in the capital Sana’a, organized by the Ministry of Education over a period of five days.

At the opening, His Excellency Field Marshal Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Supreme Political Council, blessed the holding of the first national conference for curriculum development, which comes after eight years of the brutal US-Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by member of the Supreme Political Council Ahmed al-Rahwi, al-Rahwi indicated that the Yemeni people, during eight years of aggression, provided the brightest examples of cooperation and solidarity between the people and the state, so male and female teachers continued their role in education and citizens played their supportive role to prove to everyone that education is a responsibility shared between the state and the citizen.

He said, “It has become clear through experience that there is no development or advancement for any people or state except when education is the highest priority. Indeed, knowledge is an important condition for succession in the land, life cannot be built in a way that shows God’s greatness and wisdom except by benefiting from science and derived knowledge.” From the Holy Qur’an as a basic and main source of knowledge, science and culture, it establishes for us the correct starting points through which we walk in the various knowledge of life’s affairs.

He added, “We cannot achieve political independence and economic independence in our reality as a nation, if we do not achieve cultural and intellectual independence.”

He continued, “We are today in an era where the logic of domination in the world is based on sophistication and economic independence, and there are models of countries that have moved from rock bottom to top with the help of their children, which requires an effective educational system that provides science that meets the requirements of the times and preserves the identity and independence of peoples.”

President al-Mashat indicated that the enemies focus on targeting the young generation and the youth, as they are the present and future of the nation and the pillar of its strength, indicating that part of this war is keen to change the curricula in accordance with the American and Zionist mood, deleting the verses of jihad, deflecting the compass of hostility, and presenting the enemies as friends and seeded with misconceptions.

He said, “We are keen, through the first national conference to develop the curriculum and diversify the educational paths, to come up with a modern and advanced educational curriculum in which work and application are inseparable from education, and that its main goals with which the Yemeni student is associated are large and inclusive goals that build for us a strong, invincible, civilized the Yemeni student.

He stressed that holding scientific conferences has an impact on developing curricula and serving the educational process, pointing to the need for a national committee to absorb these and other efforts within a comprehensive vision that achieves the desired goals, urging the involvement of specialists in various fields in the process of developing curricula.

President al-Mashat also stressed the importance of linking sciences, knowledge and disciplines with the needs of development and work, and working to develop curricula to keep pace with scientific developments in practical aspects, as well as keeping pace with development in the humanities.

In turn, Prime Minister, Abdulaziz bin Habtoor expressed his thanks to the leadership of the Ministry of Education for organizing this scientific conference, which seeks to extract the current educational situation and pave the way for applying its outputs in developing curricula according to a scientific and educational vision that takes into account the great diversity of the Yemeni people.

He explained that the Ministry of Education is facing a huge number of challenges as an extension of the nature of the difficulties faced by the government and the state in Sana’a in general, not the least of which is the transfer of the functions of the Central Bank of Yemen to its branch in Aden province.

He said, “These are challenges imposed by the aggression and siege on the Yemeni people for nearly eight years, as part of its endeavor to destroy the Yemeni state at home and break the relations between the state’s leadership and its various groups, especially the public employee who is deprived of its salaries on the one hand, and closing all sources of resources through the siege on the other hand.”

Bin Habtoor stressed that despite the meager funds made available to Sanaa, which did not exceed 7 percent according to the latest general budget approved in 2014, all state institutions were able to make qualitative achievements, foremost of which is success in confronting and deterring aggressors, their agents and mercenaries, maintaining internal security and protecting Yemeni families and address the looting of oil and gas.

He added, “It is not possible to remain silent about the looting and selling of Yemeni oil and gas, and the people of Yemen are suffering and the employees are without salaries, especially the teachers who represent a large segment of the employees’ strength.”

He continued, “Employees and their families suffer while their dues go to the pockets of corrupt agents and traitors, of which fourteen billion dollars, the value of oil and gas sales for the past years, were placed in the National Bank of Saudi Arabia, and the fate of only one and a half billion dollars was unknown.”

The Prime Minister stated that the state with its full institutions is present in Sana’a, and that the decision-maker on whom the Yemeni people rely is present o it and peaceful initiatives come from it, and it is also always striving to relieve people, facilitate their lives and safety and ensure security and stability.

He noted the vision of the leader of the revolution, Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, which included the spiritual aspect and lofty values, and the aspect related to the process of building and developing the various aspects of the daily life of the Yemeni person.

Bin Habtoor confirmed that the government is counting on this conference to meet the challenge and work to reform the education system through scientific research that will be discussed by the participants according to the scientific method.

He touched on the importance of consolidating the gains achieved during the last period through the conference, taking into account social diversity and the specificity of this diversity that prevails in Greater Yemen for more than a thousand years, and the importance of preserving and strengthening it continuously.

Source: Yemen News Agency