Yemen’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Hisham Sharaf explained in an interview with al-Shorfa earlier this week that he intends to thoroughly reform Yemen’s educational system as to provide better transparency and address issues related to corruption and nepotism.
In order to propel Yemen back onto the forefront of education excellence Minister Sharaf plans to set up a new independent “entity for scholarships, equipping universities with better scientific research tools and the accreditation of private universities.” The minister stressed that his aim is essentially to break down the walls of corruption and allow his ministry to focus on bettering the educational system.
“It is important to establish an independent organisation for study abroad in order to combat the corruption and dysfunction that emerged in this area in past periods,” said the minister.
He added, “The study abroad organisation will be independent and impartial and will work to balance the awarding of grants among all regions of the country, while giving priority to deprived areas.”
Under the old system, students often ran into difficulties when trying to obtain scholarships as officials tend to favour candidates based on their connections and social status, thus creating situations where the most deserving students were overlooked for the sake of political convenience. This is now all set to change under the new governance system.
Moreover, Minister Sharak insisted he wants to better promote and support scientific research and educational excellence as the cornerstone of Yemen’s overall advancement.
“Soon a specialised academy will be appointed to head this sector in order to activate scientific research and communication with university scientific research centres, and in order to activate and develop [these centres] with all locally available means and the support of donors.”
He added, “We will focus in the scientific research process on addressing the issues Yemen is facing. Key among them are the water depletion issue, population growth, unemployment and the stimulation of gradual economic growth, and we will direct research towards developing the agricultural sector, which is indispensable, given that it employs 50% of the labour force.”