Houthi authorities have held thousands of mandatory propaganda events for teachers and students in Sana’a governorate aimed at mobilizing large groups of fighters, according to Yahya Al-Yana’e, media officer at the Yemeni Teachers’ Union.

In a statement to Almasdar Online, Al-Yana’e said the teachers’ union has monitored 4,168 such events in the last 10 months, and teachers who refused to participate in the events were threatened with dismissal from their positions.  

The Houthis have held 362 of these recruitment events Sana'a schools in the last week alone, he said.

“(Houthis) continue seriously and systematically to employ the education sector to serve its military and intellectual agenda, targeting the education sector and its curricula and activities, which have for decades entrenched the values of equal citizenship and melted class and dynasty differences in the country,” Al-Yana’e wrote. “These practices are one of the most serious violations affecting the future of Yemeni society, given the centrality of education in shaping the consciousness and conscience of the younger generation." 

“This phenomenon will grow exponentially if appropriate and stringent measures are not taken to curb these events,” he warned.

Al-Yana’e called on the Houthis to respect international human rights law, which emphasizes respect for the civilian character of education during war, and urged the international community to take concrete measures to deter the use of schools by not-state armed groups.