Deputy Education Minister:
“al-Baihani Institute has been shifted from private education to partisan education”

The Yemen Times Bureau staff member Nabeel Mustafa Mahdi has recently interviewed the Deputy Education Minister, Abdulaziz Saleh bin Habtoor, discussing with him various aspects on the Local Governance and its relationship to education, in addition to tackling some problems dealing with scientific institutes.

Q: How do you assess the previous round of local councils elections and what about the upcoming parliamentary elections?
A: Adhering to democratic principles; is a unique experience to practice your political freedoms freely. All setbacks accompanied the local council election process are considered to be a good step and experience which is a clear indication of the growing awareness of the Yemeni people. These elections have been widely welcomed in a logical and open-minded acceptance. This new experience has to be preserved and the responsibility of keeping it forever should be shouldered by all. We have to make every effort to protect it from those who cast the responsibility on the local councils in an attempt to get back to and reminisce the central past and fanaticism.
In the test of the local councils we have made well-thought steps, one of which is the election process and its continuity so far. Now we are in need of much time to firmly establish the democratic experience for these councils.

Q: What are the positive reflections that may affect the educational process as well?
A: We may not have enough time to talk about the educational process all over Yemen but what we have to do is to have one curriculum system and one central orientation and our policies should be based on centralization. And what is going on in the provinces and governorates is to supervise the on-going executive aspects of the educational process. So, education is an important issue that should not be subject to independent judgments as it is an issue representing the responsibility for building an entire generation.
We, along with the local authorities at the ministry of education are about to establish a joint positive work.
The idea which says that the local councils have been entrusted with mapping out local educational policies and strategies needs to be thoroughly studied to pursue closely the educational processes. That is because it is a public issue, which is not restricted to any governorate or the other.

Q: How do you link the latest incidents that have occurred at al-Baihani institute and the educational reality of the private education?
A: In order to establish private institutes, the ministry of education has adopted certain terms that should be fulfilled when establishing private schools. The eye-catching thing is that there are some schools that have been opened with a view of investing education.
The ministry of education is always ready to cooperate with those who want to open new private schools starting from the kindergartens to the basic education and the secondary schools.
As for the al-Baihani institute, we have made clear that education is no longer related to partisanship and therefore it is not totally allowed to be practiced in educational establishments. The crystal-clear thing is that al-Baihani religious institute has been shifted from private education to partisan education. This is clearly seen when the Islah party insisted on taking over the building to be changed to a private institute. This has been totally rejected by the ministry of education and under the supervision of the local authority.
In this case, the educational problems faced by our students at the institute will be wisely dealt with and tackled. Students will be transferred to public schools in accordance with the educational conditions