Saleh Abdulbaqi
Cultural Editor
Yemen Times
The children's issue is a tangled social issue as a result of the deteriorating social and economical crises and the extreme poverty prevailing in our society. Children Cultural and Social Studies indicate that there is a clear deficiency in child care due to many reasons, of which illiteracy is the most outstanding. Illiteracy of parents and of society in general obviously has a strong impact on children. Premature awareness to child's needs whether material including food, clothes, medicine and toys or moral including going out to parks, organizing trips, encouragement, etc. The restricted atmosphere in which children live may lead them to grasp at the nearest chance to revolt against their parents. They may take to streets and fall in bad company. They may take to begging which is a very negative phenomenon on the increase. Others are forced by hard economic conditions of their families to work leading them to quit schools. The work performed by children in cities varies widely. Some work in cleaning car windshields at intersections; some work as street vendors of many goods and articles like newspapers, water, home supplies, cassettes, fruits and vegetables, etc. Some work as waiters in restaurants, in mechanic or carpentry workshops, as collectors of fares in buses, and some work as beggars or in building construction. Studies pertaining to the legal analysis for children indicated that legislation, regulations and rules derived from the Islamic instructions have ensured a good atmosphere for children, though there is a gap between the rhetoric of these legislation and reality. A number of children are locked in prisons without any legal warrants. Others are subjected to assault, violence and sexual harassment as they are locked in with prisoners of old age.
Most of the perverted children who take to thefts, adultery or gangs are attributed to many economic, psychological and educational reasons. The separate family, deprivation of children, and children's falling in bad companies can be the breeding ground for the perversion of children. Besides, the clear deficiency of policies in dealing with juveniles' training and qualification has increased perversion inclinations in these sections of the society. Studies also indicate that there is a clear deficiency in health care for this section.
It is also found that some kids get fed up with schools, with the boring syllabi and way of presenting them to students, mainly because of unqualified teachers. In addition, children feel unable to afford all school tuition fees, increasing continuously. Therefore, they drop out of schools and start looking for a better alternative. The absence of the policy of a compulsory education, at least basic education, aggravates the situation. Besides, the rising number of jobless university graduates, mainly qualified, make most people come to believe, therefore, that education is no longer of economic value as it doesn't render employment. The begging phenomenon has been the focus of most of the research conducted in the past few years. Studies confirm that the phenomenon is very much related to poverty. Children may be liable to many dangers especially if they are females. Begging also creates another burden on unemployment. Studies also indicate that economic and social hardships leading children to beg can be contemporary. However, this easy money-earning job creates in them and their families the desire to continue.
Studies conducted on child labor are too many. Child labor is very associated with poverty and the low standard of living. School drop-outs have made the situation worse.
By and large, to limit this ever increasing phenomenon in Yemen, economic measures to raise and develop the individual income are a must and should be given priority over all other issues to achieve an overall development for the local communities. Measures should also be taken to relieve the unemployment rate, ensuring free education for children, especially in the basic education levels. Students dropping out of schools should be studied carefully and the problem tackled. Females should be encouraged to join schools. Divorce and parents' separation should be solved to ensure a conducive atmosphere for a stable childhood in Yemen .

Farouk Al-Kamali
Yemen Times
Taiz
The nations of the world have successfully accomplished getting rid of computer technology illiteracy, while the Arab countries, including Yemen, still do their best to get rid of illiteracy in writing and reading. It is certain that we will remain in the dark. Not only because our economy is deteriorating, but also because we don't take care of people and we haven't achieved human development in all aspects of life. The majority of the Yemeni people are still illiterate, particularly the "Big Guys," general managers, and half of the members of the Parliament. The worst of it is that the tribesmen themselves are not able to read a letter properly whereas they could do other things successfully such as exploding pipelines or kidnapping foreigners. It is embarrassing to our government to try to get rid of illiteracy after all these subsequent governments, particularly after the 26th September Revolution up to this moment, and therefore the attempts are in vain. We are threatened by the huge number of illiterate in the Arab countries. According to the international level concerning human development issued from United Nations Program, the number of illiterate have reached 59.8 million in 1985 in the Arab countries. The number is subject to increase to 65.5 million people in 2005. In Yemen, the number of those who wanted to join illiteracy eradication programs has decreased to 65.1 percent. The number of Yemeni children between 6-15 years old has reached 4,580,000. Of this number only 2,847,941 join schools, while the number of the students who don't go to schools have reached 1,732,059. A symposium was held by the National Organization for Illiteracy Eradication titled " together for illiteracy eradication" on Al-Saeed Cultural Hall in Taiz last week. Ezz Al-Deen says "The notion of illiteracy is modifiable. It can be modified with the passage of time. Two decades ago the issue of the illiteracy was accepted by the majority of the people, while the notion of the illiteracy is rejected by nations. The progress of any country is measured by its human development in all aspects of life in culture, sciences, and economics. With some other countries still under the yoke of its illiterate rulers, the number of illiterate people is horrible. The world has changed in all aspects of life and we as Yemenis are still preoccupied with the packet of cigarettes and the bunch of qat. The world has achieved dramatic shifts in technology and information while we as Yemenis still watching space world channels not for one or two hours but for tens of hours. But this is not enough; they are also wasting time chewing qat. If we think deeply about the possibility of these hours, how they could be well-exploited to get rid of illiteracy by educating the male and female adults. Undoubtedly, the results would be satisfactory. We still dream as Yemenis, of good free education, or at least a very simple school to our generation. Nevertheless, Yemen is still underdeveloped culturally, socially, and economically.
The establishment of an illiteracy eradication body can exert a lot of effort in the field of getting rid of illiteracy in our country. " Illiteracy centers are not adequate and the teachers are not highly qualified enough and therefore they receive low salaries." Fawzia Noaman said. "I wonder why we bear the burden of general education and yet, we don't have even one school with good teachers. The country is unable to do as that of the French woman,Odeil Juli do in Al-Makha. She could integrate the illiteracy eradication program with the Ministry of Health. She also trained girls from Al-Makha and from remote places like Al-Wazeaia and Thubab. She provided all facilities for the trainers.", she added.
Showki Al-Kadhi, the Chairman of the National Organization of Illiteracy Eradication, sees that the problem of illiteracy eradication is disappointing. The potentials are poor in quality and the number of drop-outs from schools is remarkable. " The government has no interest at all in getting rid of illiteracy, with the absence of coordination and the public interaction.
Others see that the main cause of illiteracy is poverty. To get rid of illiteracy we have to get rid of poverty first.
In conclusion, we thank Odeil Juli for her exerted efforts in the field of the illiteracy eradication.

Othman Abdurabo:

Othman Abdurabo is a prominent educator and well-educated personality. During his educational career in the Abyan Governorate, then known as the Fathli Sultanate, he could manage to be a teacher and an artist. Othman Abdurabo joined the educational field in 1956 when he was appointed as a teacher in a school in Yafa'a. Abdurabo has made many artistic and cultural contributions since he mastered several artistic genres, including duet monologue through which he tackled many negative aspects prevailing at that time. Othman Abdurabo Abdullah Muraybish was born in 1941 in the city of Shaqrah Abyan Governorate, is married and the father of three boys and three girls. Salleh Abdulbaqi of Yemen Times met Othman and spoke with him about different issues pertaining to culture.
Othman Abdurabo started his career as a teacher on November 1, 1956 in the sultanate of Yafa'a during the colonial rule. At that time schools used to hold different cultural, artistic and sporting activities which used to be called the 'the Fathers' Day'. Abdorabo was so keen in performing the monologue through which he criticized high dowries which used to be over 10 thousands shillings, though salaries at that time did not exceed 250 shillings per month. His monologues had great influence on the people at that time and people started thinking of fixing small dowries. This is what actually happened after the 14th of October Revolution, when the Dowry Act was enacted fixing it at the sum of 2 thousand shillings. Following the revolution, Abdurabo tackled different daily life problems and difficulties such as housing problems, labor issues, censorship, etc. In the 80s upon the establishment of a musical group headed by the prominent Adeni singer Atrush, Abdurabo joined the group at the invitation of the former. Then, Abdurabo started a professional career which had been significantly influenced by the late artist Omar Mahfuz Ghabah as for the art of monologue, although his artistic skills were not limited to monologue. Similarly, Abdurabo was deeply involved in theater through which he tackled many issues related to education and cooperatives, etc.
In 1975 he assumed the post of director of the Culture Office in Abyan. During his post, many cultural and artistic festivities were performed in Abyan such as weddings, songs and theater festivities. In 1958 he wrote a comic lyrical monologue (Kua'adah Ma Yehmylha Hamal) which coincided with the proclamation of the Federation of South Arabia and the unity of Egypt and Syria. This monologue became very famous and was broadcasted from the Cairo-based Voice of Arabs. At that time Abdurabo was called for to the office of the British Councilor in Ja'ar and Ahmed Fada'aq was requested to translate the monologue into English. When asked about the difference of the cultural situation in our country between the past and the present, Abdurabo said that the cultural and artistic life was more vigorous in the past, especially in the former South Yemen, as there used to be lots of musical groups, theater actors and folklore bands, all run by the former ministry of culture in the South. Moreover, the Fine Arts Institute in Aden played a pivotal role in promoting the cultural life in Aden. The different art groups participated in several festivals abroad and opened the door for our cultural heritage to be known overseas. If these artistic groups and festivities maintained their activity up until now, there would be a real cultural renaissance. However, what happened was the opposite, as the cultural life has further weakened and it is now in a stagnant situation. In my opinion, the reason behind this situation is because the concerned authorities do not pay due attention to those artists. Despite all this problems, we hope that the authorities will reconsider the situation of the Yemeni artists. Abdurabo lavishly spoke about the cultural renaissance took place in the 50s and 60s, saying that at that time people used to love art, and artists used to dedicate themselves to art as well. Abdurabo added that we shall not forget that Abyan has a rich cultural heritage that is different from the other parts of Yemen and this has given me the chance to interact with local traditions and norms there.

Book fair to be Inaugurated in Sana'a
Cultural Minister stated that within the national ceremonies of the revolution, the second season of the cultural activity would be inaugurated on the 24th of September. Inaugurating the 12 International Book Fair in Sana'a will be among the activities of the second season. 247 Arab and foreign publication centers are taking part in this book fair. The minister indicated that he gave directives to the publishers to grant a 25% discount to Yemeni readers. The cultural reality seminar and other cultural seminars will be held to that end.

Saeed Cultural Corporation Celebrates Yemeni Revolution
Mr. Faisal Saeed Fara'a, Saeed Cultural Corporation, stated that the corporation was thinking of establishing a special one-man museum for Hussain Abo Bakr al-Mehdar's contributions.
Mr. Abduljabar Hayel Saeed put the foundation stone for the museum.