Yemeni Teacher Turns His Home into School for 700 Students

Almost 700 come daily to his house which he converted into a school in the southwestern city of Taiz, which has been at the center of Saudi Arabia’s deadly war on the Arab country that has left millions on the brink of famine.

Al-Shorbagy opened the school following the outbreak of war saying he had nowhere to send his own children. However, 500 boys and girls aged between six and 15 signed up for lessons in that first year.

“All the schools closed down and we had a problem that our kids were on the street,” Al-Shorbagy said, Reuters reported.

“We opened this building as a community initiative. It was my national and humanitarian duty towards my neighborhood.”

Inside the house, facilities are basic, with exposed brick walls and big gaps where windows should be. Ripped curtains are used to divide up space for classrooms.

Undeterred, the eager children find any space they can on the floor, with barely any room to move, let alone write. They share donated books and follow what one of the 16 volunteer teachers writes on a broken white board.

Classes include math, science and English, with Al-Shorbagy saying he follows the pre-war Yemeni curriculum.

Despite the ramshackle setting and lack of facilities, the school is oversubscribed in a country where education has been decimated and accessible, free school options are limited.

According to a UNICEF report, some 2,500 schools have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the Saudi-led war on Yemen in 2015.

Two million children are out of school in Yemen, including Shehab Mohamed Hazzaa, whose mother was trying to enroll him at Al-Shorbagy’s school.

“I came here to register... in the school and the principal told me that it is too crowded and rejected him,” said the mother, who declined to be named.

The only other option in the city are private schools but they cost up to 100,000 Yemeni riyal ($400) per year, putting them out of reach for many in the impoverished Arab country.