Yemen’s Education Crisis: Teachers Pushed to the Brink by Vanishing Salaries

The Collapse of a Profession

In the southeastern port city of Mukalla, Mohammed Salem begins his day like any other professional: at a government-run school. However, his workday does not end with the final bell. By evening, Salem has cycled through a second shift at a private school and a third job at a local hotel.

"If I had any spare time for a fourth job, I would take it," says Salem, a veteran educator with 31 years of experience. Despite his grueling schedule, his monthly earnings have plummeted from the equivalent of $320 a decade ago to just $130 today.

His story is the rule rather than the exception in Yemen, where a decade of civil war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed government has decimated the economy and pushed the education system to the brink of total failure.

A Currency in Freefall

The primary driver of this misery is the catastrophic devaluation of the Yemeni riyal. Before the conflict, the currency traded at 215 to the US dollar. By mid-2025, it had crashed to nearly 2,900 in some regions. Currently, in government-controlled areas, it fluctuates around 1,560.

This hyperinflation has turned full-time salaries into "token allowances." For many, the result is a desperate fight for survival:

• Food Insecurity: Families report skipping meals and cutting out protein. "We only get meat during Eid through donations from the mosque," Salem admitted.
• Healthcare Rationing: Teachers describe using herbal remedies for sick children, only visiting hospitals for life-threatening emergencies to avoid unaffordable bills.
• Sacrificed Futures: Some educators are pulling their children out of university to join the military, where pay (though dangerous) is higher than in the classroom.

A Lost Generation

The scale of the crisis is laid bare in the United Nations OCHA 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. The statistics paint a grim picture of a nation losing its future:

• 6.6 million school-aged children are currently out of school.
• 2,375 schools have been damaged or destroyed by fighting.
• 193,668 teachers (roughly two-thirds of the national workforce) receive no regular salary.

In the Houthi-controlled north, public sector salaries have been largely frozen since 2016. In the south, the internationally recognized government struggles with dwindling revenues following Houthi attacks on oil export terminals, leading to chronic payment delays.

Protests and "Patchwork" Fixes

The frustration has boiled over into the streets. Across government-held territories, teachers have organized strikes and sit-ins, demanding a living wage. The response from the central government, often operating from abroad and plagued by internal rifts, has been minimal.

Instead, local provincial authorities have attempted to fill the gap with "incentives." In Hadramout, teachers received a modest monthly raise of approximately $16. In other districts, bonuses range from $19 to $32.

For educators like Hana al-Rubaki, a part-time teacher and sole breadwinner for her family, these measures are nowhere near enough. Earning just $44 a month after taxes, she notes that the lack of job security and delayed pay makes daily life an impossibility.

"We now live just to survive, rather than to teach," says Ali al-Samae, who works in Marib while his family remains in Taiz. "In the past, salaries covered our basic needs. Now, even milk has become a luxury."

As the economic war continues alongside the military one, Yemen’s educators are being forced to choose between their passion for teaching and the literal survival of their families, leaving the country's youth to pay the ultimate price.