Ten days into the new academic year, Houthi militias returned to committing egregious violations against the education sector and its workers in areas under their control. Numerous warnings have been issued on education in Houthi territory being used for inciting sedition and sectarian indoctrination.

Academic sources in the Houthi-run capital, Sanaa, revealed that the latest Houthi violations included the marginalization of educators who have refused to show loyalty to the Iran-backed group as well as forcing private and public schools to use sectarian programs in their morning radio shows.

Faced with Houthi threats, teachers were also forced to attend a training program tailored to the insurgency’s style. The group also introduced a host of amendments to education curriculums.

For 15 days, male and female Yemeni teachers had no choice but to attend training sessions with a sectarian dimension that Houthis held in basements and other secret places in Sanaa, sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.

Attending such training programs was not voluntary and reflected the Houthis’ continued targeting of thousands of tutors in Sanaa and other areas of their control. Teachers who refuse to attend Houthi programs are blacklisted by the group and could get sacked or face jail time.

With the Houthi approach being widely condemned by academics and education sector workers, many have declined to attend the group’s training programs. This led to Houthis firing dozens of public-school teachers and replacing them with unprofessional personnel whose only qualification is their outspoken loyalty to the Iran-aligned group.

Adnan Mohammed, an alias for a Sanaa teacher, says he was forced to attend a Houthi training session lately and confirms that the Houthi courses are misleading and represent an ideological mobilization against all Yemeni values, morals, and norms.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mohammed indicated that the Houthi course program was devoted in its entirety to listening to the speeches and lectures of the group’s founder, Hussein al-Houthi, and its current leader.

The training program promoted a culture of offering absolute obedience to the Houthi dynasty.