Armies of Liberation

YJS dispute about admission of new members delays elections, Yemen Post

The Editor in Chief of Al-Ray Al’am (Public Opinion) newspaper Kamal Al-Olfi revealed that his newspaper’s office was set into fire by anonymous elements last Friday.

Al-Olfi mentioned in a press release that the fire was casued by petrol, which was poured outside the office’s door, therefore, setting the entire office on fire, hinting some of the office equipments were destroyed completely.

Stressing that the paper will not change its stance, Al-Olfi accused corruption forces of standing behind the incident especially when his paper has been launching wide campaigns to criticize corruption and corrupt officials.

In its recent issues, the paper attacked the Minister of Local Administration Abdul Qader Ali Hilal and a number of commercial institutions.

For its part, Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) described the incident to be a dangerous development targeting independent newspapers. It also considered this incident to be a new way for intimidating the independent media.

The syndicate demanded Interior Ministry to launch a prompt investigation into the circumstances of the incident and to reveal those who were behind it.

In related news, YJS will hold elections next October to vote for a new council. Though these elections were supposed be conducted last June, political differences over admitting new members among the syndicate’s affiliates pushed the syndicate’s presidency to delay the elections.

AM

Almotamar.net - Hundreds of Yemeni journalists intend staging a massive sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Yemini Journalists Syndicate (YJS) in the capital Sana’a on Saturday. The sit-in comes in protest not deciding their applications for the union membership and in condemnation of what they have described as double standard the YJS councils in dealing with them.

Almotamar.net learned that hundreds of journalists from different governorates intend to erect a camp in front of the YJS headquarters in condemnation o f the unprofessional behaviour of the Journalists syndicate in dealing with its members and its message in general and in protest to depriving them of the union’s membership.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, May 1 — Yemen is marking International Labor Day, also called May Day, by celebrating the occasion in its capital city of Sana’a today.

Mohammed Al-Jidri, head of the General Union for Yemeni Laborers, told the Yemen Times that more than 100 workers selected from all governorates will be awarded at the celebration at the Cultural Center.

He noted that each governorate will celebrate the occasion by rewarding several distinguished workers, adding, “Even companies will celebrate the day, with 4,000 workers being rewarded.”

According to him, Yemen has more than 10 million laborers between the ages of 15 and 64 working in the private, public and agricultural sectors. (?) Yemen’s estimated population is 21 million, 45.9 percent of whom are under age 15.

(Read on …)

Yemen Times

- Laborers protest at Marib governorate’s premises, accusing ruling party of rigging trade union’s votes

Tens of public sector workers gathered on Monday before Marib governorate’s premises protesting against the ruling party for allegedly rigging trade union elections that took place in the governorate, the weekly reported in one of its front page stories. It added that the Marib local authority ordered tens of security and military soldiers to take control of the hall where the election was held, following withdrawal of the protesters, who challenged integrity of the election and neutrality of the supervisory committee in charge of overseeing the electoral process.

According to the weekly, the protesters also demanded the competent authorities in the government to take firm procedures against those accused of rigging the vote and committing other illegal violations with the intention of manipulating the vote result in favor of the ruling party.

Despite two of the supervisory committee members quit as a result of the challenges presented by the protesters, branch of the General People Congress in the governorate continued its activities and manipulated the vote result in favor of its candidates. The Ishteraki.net correspondent in Marib mentioned that the protestors staged a peaceful demonstration after they withdrew from the election conference, adding that they didn’t involve in clashes with policemen.

The weekly quoted a protestor as saying that there are individuals, who were appointed by the ruling party as agents for its candidates, however, they don’t work in the governorate, pointing out that the party also appointed ghost workers.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Feb 20 — The Yemeni Teachers Syndicate and the Syndicate of Educational Professions released a statement calling for all Yemeni teachers to stage a one day sit-in on Tuesday, February 26, to force the government to raise their salaries.

The call for the sit-in came on Monday, after the extension to the negotiating period ended.

The statement said that the government had not responded to teachers’ demands to raise their annual wages within the month. The two syndicates decided to call for nationwide peaceful sit-ins. The statement indicated that while the government procrastinates from meeting the rights of the employees, claiming it is unable to curb the price hikes, it continues to operate as usual. The statement mentioned that the government neither appreciates the nature of teaching nor the significance of the teacher, who is the cornerstone of education. “This negligence has led to the constant decline in the quality of education,” said the statement.

The syndicates demanded that the government give teachers a 60 to 110 percent raise in their standing basic salaries, including YR 130,000 ($600) a month in back pay beginning from the middle of 2007, and release the annual bonuses suspended by a governmental decision in 2005.

The statement also asked the government to provide rural living expenses for the teachers who teach in rural areas, in accordance with the teachers’ law.

Moreover, the syndicates requested that local and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other syndicates sit in solidarity with the teachers. This is not the first sit-in organized by the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate. Last year the syndicate arranged many sit-ins and protests with the same demand of raising salaries. The protests forced the government to adopt a new strategy to deal with the demands, promising to raise teachers’ salaries. “The government has not made radical solutions for the teachers’ problems but limited ones. It gives teachers very small salary increases, which are nothing at all in proportion to the price hikes. In addition, the increases are always subject to many fines and taxes,” commented Ahmed Al-Rabahi, head of the Teachers’ syndicate

He added that the maximum salary for teachers according to the law is YR 160,000, and they are asking for YR130,000, which will come to YR 70,000 after taxes and insurance are deducted. In addition, Al-Rabahi believes the numerous strikes last year in many different governorates could oblige the government to pay the teacher bonuses and back pay.

Isamail Zaidan, general manager of information for the Ministry of Education, refused to comment, while personnel manager Faisal Jameel couldn’t be reached.

Abdulaziz Murshed, father of a student, supported the teachers in their demands, but at the same time is worried about his son and the other students. “I’m sure that teachers have the right to stage a sit-in because their salaries are too low due to the unbelievable price hikes. Also, every increase they get is preceded by two or three price hikes and followed by another two or three. But though they have the right to protest, students will be affected and I’m worried about that,” Murshed said.

Al-Sahwa

YLS threatens to resort to collective political asylum

November 28, 2007- Chair of the Yemeni Lawyer Syndicate in Sana’a threatened that YLS will resort to political asylum if official authorities don’t end its constant violations against lawyers.

“Judges, prosecutions and security men commit infringements against lawyers through imprisoning them and preventing them form entering to police stations.

He further highlighted that YLS would plan to arrange protests, sit-ins and marches in case continuation of violations.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

Yemeni Veterinaries Syndicate has called veterinaries all over the country for a general strike next Sunday to ask for better attention while fighting bird flu and taking care of animal wealth.

The syndicate said in a statement that it had demanded from the government some legal financial extra for veterinaries, 80% of salary, in accordance with “Regulating Animal Wealth Law” issued in 2004.

Although the president ordered to give veterinaries the requested extra to better their living standards, the order was ignored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, said the statement.
It said that officials in the ministry did ignore the financial allowances for Bird Flu Controlling Room.

Because the syndicate is interested to avoid any troubles, specially in these difficult situations the country lives, it warns the ministry to positively interact with legal requests of veterinaries and all workers in animal wealth sector before implementing a general strike, said the statement.

A recent report, issued by the General Authority for Animal Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, has shown that the authority is unable to implement precautionary measures to prevent possible outbreaks of bird flu and rift valley diseases, which still threaten Yemen and neighboring areas.

The report attributes this incapacity to the lack of adequate funds to carry out preventive programs.
Few months ago, the Cabinet approved a support estimated at YR 50 million for agriculture sector to implement blocked projects.

Yemen Observer:

IBB - The Yemeni Teachers Syndicate in Ibb organized a huge sit-in demanding the implementation of the wages codes on Wednesday, November 21st. Protestors, from across the province gathered in front of the governorate building.

The sit-in lasted about two hours from 9:00am until 11:00 am, during which time several speeches were delivered by representatives of the YTS. Protestors chanted slogans which bear witness to their complaints; “Oh, government of corruption a hike of prices has prevailed all over the country”, “Oh, government of despair, where is the increase in wages, the government is on the TV, in reality, there is no achievement. Oh, minister, oh Jawfi, to hear hunger is enough, Oh, Minister, Oh, Mojawer, don’t denounce or deny our rights.”

In a statement, the protestors demanded the release of the second phase of the wages law beginning July 2006, the third phase from July 2007 according to the 43rd item of law for 2005, and the release of allowances, bonuses and salaries held back for years to be paid in cash to all government employees, since this was agreed to in this year’s budget, and YR82 billion was set aside for this purpose.

They also demanded the maximum increase of the second phase (YR100,000), the third phase (YR130,000), and the beginning of a financial connection for degrees to be re-allocated evenly and fairly among employees.

With reference to the bonuses, they demanded the granting of the bonus to all who deserve it, as of July 2005 until August 2006, and the bonus for educationalists in general to be at a rate between 60-110 percent, depending on one’s qualifications. This is according to documentation signed by three syndicates - YTS, GUTEP and UTP - and the ministry of education committee on July 31st, 2006.

They also demanded bonuses for instructors, administrators, teachers of the Qura’n and all those who have been deprived of this right in the education, health, engineering and other sectors. They demanded the rural exchange allowance be paid retrospectively to all staff in rural areas who have been deprived of this right. They also demanded the return of sums illegally deducted from salaries in October under false names and the investigation and trial of those responsible.

“These are our fair and clear demands, they are the demands of all teachers, male and female, in the ruling party or in the opposition, from all schools of the Republic. These rights are for all, they have nothing to do with policy and, for the purpose of quick implementation, we announce the launching of the new phase of peaceful legal activities for this year, as in the other governorates of the Republic,” said Abdussalam al-Khudairy, secretary general of the YTS. “We are within our legal rights to escalate the means of protests and demonstrations, and to strike from work if required,” he added.

He also mentioned a list of abuses that the teachers were exposed to due to their participation in the sit-in, and asked teachers to report any arbitrary action, stating that the SYT would support and stand-by those who were subject to unfair treatment.

The rally was conducted in a very peaceful, democratic way in which opinions were expressed freely. The protestors also thanked security men for their cooperation, stating, “Soldiers, Army, we have something in common - the love of living.”

The “legal” trade unions are the ones co-opted by the GPC. The ones that express the voice of the workers are outlawed and apparently, not allowed to protest.

Taiz JMP adopts outlaw trade union
Wednesday, 14-November-2007
almotamar.net - Director of Social Affairs and Labour Office in Taiz governorate Ahmed al-Alimi on Wednesday said what so-called the Council of Trade Unions and civil society Organisations Coordination n Taiz to carry out a sit-in on Wednesday in front of Taiz governorate building is violation of all valid laws as the entity that announced staging the sit-in is illegal and carrying out any activity exposes it to legal accountability and punishment.

Al-Alimi added that practicing democratic action within the legal frame is a right guaranteed by the constitution but violation of the laws under any name is an unacceptable act and must be faced with legal measures. The official pointed out that leaderships of the branches of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) in the governorate were pushing that illegitimate e entity which issues statements without any legal support for practicing its activity.

Al-Alimi said there are 370 legitimate organisations working in the governorate representing branches of unions, and professional and workers societies and there are 6 illegal organisations, among them the Yemeni Teachers Union working with partisan leaderships on organising the sit-in under the name of the council for coordination of unions and civil society organisations in Taiz.

A statement issued by federations, unions and societies in Taiz asked the leadership of the local authority in Taiz to order the authorities to deal with that in line with the laws, reminding the official sides that there no official description for the so-called the coordination council.

Meanwhile legal sources described the JMP announcement of solidarity with the sit-in as dangerous precedence legalizing all outlaw practices. The sources told almotamar.net that Taiz JMP support for the demands called by the coordination council as an evidence of the JMP involvement in formation of that illegitimate entity.

The agreement was reached a ways ago but nada.

News Yemen

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The teaching staff of Sana’a University has warned the government of peaceful protests and open strikes in case it continues to postpone meeting their requests of better payments and rights.

If the government continues to ignore our requests, the marches may go beyond the university to reach the Presidency Palace, the Sana’a University’s Teaching Staff Syndicate warned in a press release on Thursday.

The syndicate gave the government one week to fulfill its promises to better the situations inside the university according to the agreement signed between the government and syndicate on May 19, 2007. It urged the government to stop postponement and to prove its credibility and sincerity.

The teaching staff has no new requests, but it just asks the government to achieve the agreement it signed with the syndicate six months ago, said the information official of the syndicate Abdullah al-Azazi.

The Teaching Staff of Sana’a University has asked the government earlier this year to approve financial and administrative independence of all universities, to reform worsening conditions inside universities, to commit to the universities law related to academic appointments, to develop the scientific research, to tackle the shortcomings of salaries strategy, to pay teaching staff the professional allowances, to make a health insurance system for the staff and employees, in addition to other scientific and academic issues.

Almotamar.net - The Union of teachers and assistant teachers at the University of Sana’a, the Union’s Administration Body and all teachers of the university to stage a partial strike beginning of next Saturday to be followed by an all-out strike to be announced on Saturday 19 May.

A statement of the Union, almotamar.net received a copy of it, said the teaching staff members have found themselves forced to resort to a legitimate and legal way that they tried to avoid, i.e. the strike, for the achievement of all the just demands and legitimate rights of the teaching staff at the university.

The union ascribed its call for strike to not beginning in carrying out the executive procedures of the president of the republic election platform with regard to universities in hindering the president’s directives concerning residential plots of land for university teachers in addition to not implementing the university decision of distributing the plots of land among the teachers of the university.

The other cause mentioned in the statement regarding the strike is that of not spending the allowance of the nature of work to be added to wages scale and annual increments that was done previously.

Among other causes of the strike the union statement mentioned is non-implementation of agreements reached with the university presidency regarding the solution of retirement, death and promotions. The other cause is related to non-providing comprehensive health insurance that guarantees offering suitable health service to teachers, in addition to other demands.

The union said in its statement that suspending of lifting the strike is connected to meeting all the demands and implementation of all agreements, calling on Sana’a University Administration and concerned government sides to speed up meeting their demands and legitimate rights.

The union also expressed preparedness to make up the students for the period of strike.

Almotamar.net tried to contact officials at the Sana’a University and president of the university to comment on the teachers demands but failed to obtain any clarification or reply as the university officials declined to answer almotamar.net repeated phone calls.

Half of Yemeni children under 5 are malnourished. This is the statistic I hate the most. There’s ten million kids in Yemen.

Top officials hold multiple paid positions. Ghost workers drain the budget, and the Civil Service Ministry is fighting hard to reform the system.

Prison conditions are appalling.

The sons of a military commander (who murdered someone who told them to stop harassing girls) got arrested only after public protests. (They may never come to trial though.)

A 5000 year old settlement was discovered dating back top the Kingdom of Sheba.

Security arrested a (Zaidi) Shiite preacher, this is going on all over the country. And to no one’s surprise, the vacancies are filled by Salafi preachers. Also arbitrarily arrested, numerous political activists (both Socialists and Zaidis), journalists and anyone else who objects to the government’s tactics in fighting the war in Saada.

School is closed for three months.

LAHJ

- Teachers cease work over explosion

March 13 — Teachers have refrained from working at Al-Abous district’s Talb School for three months and classrooms remain closed because an identified group detonated a package of explosives in the school, damaging it and intimidating its students, who number as many as 550.

After the incident, parents urged concerned authorities to punish the perpetrators and prevent any armed protests at the school. Lahj Governor Abdulwahab Al-Durrah, directed the chief of the security department to take whatever measures necessary for teachers to resume working, but such hasn’t occurred.

This is actually very good. I hope the Civil Service ministery sticks to his demands. And that the doctors realize they need to pressure the Health Ministry in order to achieve their raises. This is how reform is going to happen if it happens.

YO: Doctors from six medical syndicates are threatening to go on strike beginning March 24 if their salaries are not increased. The doctors have adorned themselves with red badges to announce their protest. The six syndicates have accused Minister of Civil Service Hamoud al-Sofi of blocking their salary increases. Al-Sofi rejected the accusations of the medical syndicates.

Physicians want to receive special additional pay because the nature of their work is so difficult, and because they deal with cases of life and death. The minister says that the matter is not a problem between him and the doctors, but between the doctors and the law. The minister said that the doctors cannot get a raise in pay until the pending slate of reforms are adopted by the Ministry of Health. These reforms are demanded by the international community.

The Ministry of Health said that it instituted the reforms already, but an investigation by the civil service found that the doctors’ payroll list included names of dead people, retired people, and employees that are working in other countries. The law prohibits doctors from working for private and public hospitals at the same time. But all the doctors working in the private sector are the same ones working in the government hospitals, said al-Sofi.

The demands made by the medical syndicate are legal, said al-Sofi, but should go through proper procedures. If the doctors want rights, he said, the must also live up to their duties and obligations and not work two jobs. There are a number of irregularities that the health sector suffers from, said al-Sofi. The Ministry of Civil Service has submitted to the Ministry of Health a matrix of structural and organizing reforms to be implemented so as to reform the irregularities in the health sector.

“The Ministry of Health has pledged to implement these reforms, but none of these reforms have been done yet,” said al-Sofi. Among the most significant irregularities, he said, is the list of the salaries of the actual employees that includes names of dead persons and the retirees. Other irregularities include the misdistribution of the labor force, as some hospitals are suffering from a surplus of doctors, while other hospitals are empty, and there is not even one person who can present the essential services in these hospitals.

He added that the reform process at the Ministry of Health is going on very slowly. The ministry had claimed it implemented the reforms, he said, closer examination revealed that nothing had been implemented. “We will approve the salaries increase, this ‘special work allowance,’ once the reforms are done,” said al-Sofi. “Hence, we will go to their offices to give them the work allowance or the salaries increase.” In other news, doctors and nurses complain that they are not receiving half the salary that foreign health workers receive, which they were promised by Prime Minister Abdul-Qadir ba Jammal.

Al-Sofi complains that the prime minister promised to replace the foreign workers with Yemeni workers and this has not happened. Meanwhile, doctors and workers in the health sector have been tying red badges on their arms and threatening to start a partial strike that will be graded to full strike gradually starting from March 24. Dr. Mohammed al-Thawr, one of the leaders of the strike, said that the minister of civil service was the main obstacle to implementing the agreement to increase the doctors’ salaries.

Additionally, he said that this time the doctors will not suspend their strike until their demands are responded to fully. “We hope the government will not oblige us to reach the full strike, because this will harm the reputation of the government, the reputation of the health employees and will harm the citizens as well,” said Dr. al-Thawr.

The six medical syndicates that agreed on the strike were: the doctors syndicate, the doctors and pharmacists syndicate, the dentists syndicate, the physicians syndicate and the syndicate of the parallel medical professions. The number of the workers in the health sector across Yemen exceeds 35,000 workers.

Keep in mind, many teachers in opposition parties were transfered to distant posts after the election as retribution. Some refused to go. On the other hand, control of the pay to make sure it goes directly to the teachers is a good thing. There’s several good mechanisms here.

YO:

The educational bureau of the capital secretariat sacked 412 teachers this week, said Mohammed Abdullah al-Fadhli, the bureau’s general director. The teachers were discharged after it was proved that they had not been working for almost six months, which is the period required for legally sacking an employee for absenteeism.

This action came as part of the agenda of reform adopted by the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Education to end the practice of some workers illegally holding two government jobs, and the existence of phantom employees. Al-Fadhly said that his office sacked 361 teachers in December 2006 and 51 others this past January. Furthermore, the educational bureau has adopted a new strategy for paying its employees salaries. From the beginning of January 2007, all the employees of the educational bureau of the capital secretariat and all governmental schools in the capital began receiving their salaries from the CAC Bank after opening credit accounts there for each employee.

“This step will help to verify that the salaries are going to actual employees and not ‘ghost employees’ or other corrupt individuals,” said al-Fadhly. This step also encourages teachers to save money, and helps to ensure that they receive their salaries on time. Once the capital secretariat had adopted these reforms, the Ministry of the Civil Service decided to finally implement the teachers’ pay increase that was promised by the government last September. The pay increase was made effective in September 2006, but the actual dispersal of funds has been delayed.

The Ministry of the Civil Service stipulated that no governorate in the country would receive funding for the teachers’ pay increase until they had adopted and enacted the reform agenda, which included fingerprinting all current employees and getting rid of all dual jobs and sacking all non-working employees. Al-Fadhly, who considers himself “a reformist,” is proud that his educational bureau was the first to implement the reform agenda. As a result, twelve thousand teachers in Sana’a will receive their pay increases this month, at an estimated value of YR 500 million.

However, the teachers union has rejected the salary increase as insufficient, and far below the amount demanded by the union. The teachers union is one of three unions that represent teachers. The teachers union that is affiliated with the Islah party has rejected the current pay increase and is demanding a 200 percent increase in pay. The largest union—the Union of Educational Professions—had called for a strike at the beginning of February, after the salaries for the month of January were released without including the pay increase that both it and the government had agreed to this past September.

The strike was suspended when the Ministry of the Civil Service explained that no state institution would receive the pay increase until it had complied with the stipulations of the reform agenda, which the ministry distributed to all concerned bodies.

IMHO All the unions should form a national union of workers. That would have a little more impact.

Al-Motamar:

Four medical and pharmacist unions announced Sunday the establishment of a higher coordination committee and supervising committees in an effort to unify the medical and pharmacist cultural and trade unionist action through direct and free elections and to embark on having a unified union for physicians and pharmacists and another union for dentists, on the way for the establishment of a federation for medical professions.

A statement containing a code of ethics issued by the four medical unions affirmed the necessity of uniting the trade unionist work along with keeping the existing unions forms for each profession until holding the general conference. The statement also indicated the unification of efforts of all those unions in medical issues such as the demand for improving the circumstances of the profession regarding the nature of work and expensiveness as well as other rights and the joint coordination.

The statement the almotamar.net received a copy announced that those steps were out of their realization of the situation experienced by the medical profession with all its branches and out of their feeling of the responsibility. Thus the leaders of the trade unionist action of the physician and pharmacist and dentists unions viewed it is necessary to unify their efforts because the responsibility of those unions is a common one.

These grievances go back to July of 2005 when the fuel subsidies were lifted and a new Wages and Salaries strategy enacted but never implemented.

Teachers are facing similar and worse problems: many have been transferred from their jobs to distant locations in retribution for the teachers strike in March and for participating in the electoral process as opposition activists. Those who refused to go are being threatened with termination, and salaries are being withheld. Considering the state apparatus is at the disposal of the ruling party, politicized employment is one means of repressing democratic progress.

NY

Doctors and Pharmacists are going to make a sit-in before the premises of the Ministers Council next Tuesday to protest the government’s delay to tackle their financial status, accusing the government of attempting to “take away their rights”.
They called upon president Saleh to implement his election program and fulfill his promises to improve the living and scientific standards of workers in health sector.
The syndicate decided to make such a protest because the second year since the Salary and Wages Law was issued is approaching the end while the government did not fulfill its promises it gave for doctors yet, said vice chairman of Doctors and Pharmacists Syndicate, Mohammad al-Wafi.
The syndicate said in a statement that the sit-in would be achieved under the slogan “Protecting our Rights is Respect to our Identity”. It said that doctors and pharmacists rights are confiscated and they should not keep voiceless.
“The government used to mock doctors profession and their rights so it refuses every time to implement laws and decisions related to doctors and pharmacists. We have sent hundreds of letters to the government to improve our conditions like judges and others, but in vain”, said the statement.
The government moves over law, over rights of people and over all values and standards, said the statement.

Update: Here’s more on 400 teachers whose salaries were suspended from al Motamar:

SANA’A- Local sources at Shara’ab district, Taiz governorate, said heads of education centers suspended the November month’s salaries of 400 teachers that amounted to 10 million riyals. Sources told almotamar.net that the education center has granted more than 400 teachers arbitrary dispatching decisions since the beginning of this year in return for illegal payments.
According to the sources, the education center appointed principals without referring them to the Education Office in the governorate, the procedures of which are arbitrary. The educational process in the district is subjected to trafficking, sources added.
The sources further noted a number of schools lack textbooks since the beginning of the academic year. A number of inspectors in the district appealed to the local councils to quickly interfere and release their salaries as well as investigate into the case.

Yet more YT: Teachers threaten to renew strike: (Read on …)

NY: The Ministry of Education denied Monday any intention to close the Holy Quran teaching schools that it runs.
The Holy Quran teaching schools have been established by a presidential resolution and they have their own bylaw and structure, manager of the General Department of the Holy Quran Schools in the Ministry, Mohammad al-Ghaili told NewsYemen.
NewsYemen got a copy of an official order, attributed to the Ministry of Education and Education Office in a governorate, obligating the government primary and secondary schools to teach the Holy Quran as a separate subject inside schools but not outside.
The al-Ghaili denied such an order and said “it is baseless and has not any legal reference”.
Asked about complaints offered by some teachers of the Holy Quran about moving them to other schools and closing the Holy Quran schools where they used to teach, al-Ghaili said that such practices were personal and “have not a legal base”, confirming that the ministry is looking into the teachers’ complaints.
Abdul-Rahman Saad, head of the Legal Affairs Department in the ministry, said that closing the Holy Quran schools is illegal and “who does so has not legal base”.
NewsYemen has received complaints for Holy Quran teachers in Hajah over closing the Holy Quran schools there and confiscating their salaries.
The head of Education Office in Hajah refused to comment on the complaints and the legality of such procedures.
The legal affairs manager Ahmad Hadi asked the head of the Education Center, Yahya al-Sobaihi, in Haja to release the salaries of teachers, but al-Sobaihi said that he ordered not to release the salaries until teachers agree to move to other schools, pointing that the closure of the Holy Quran schools based on an order by the ministry to all schools to teach the Holy Quran as a separate material inside the formal schools, not outside them.
The Ministry of Education started observing the Holy Quran Schools after merging the scientific institutes with the government schools in 2000.

Opposition party teachers transfered to distant posts. AS:

Teachers-at Aflah Alyemen district (Hajjah province ) – belong to joint meeting parties JMPs , complain of despotic and illegal procedures authorities in Hajjah exercised against them.25 teachers confirmed - at complaint a copy of which Sahwa net received-that education administration in the district distributed them to far schools instead of schools they work in since beginning of current year as them being JMPs activists .

They demand manager of education office in the governorate to stop as such measures that insult the teachers rights.