Teachers in Yemen’s Taiz Governorate said their school had turned into living prisons after landmines were extensively planted in their vicinity.
Al-Shaab School in the village of Akkad posed a great risk to students and staff alike, according to Naji Khalil, a teacher at Al-Shaab School.
Everyone feared the mines, the teacher explained. Teachers were unable to reassure the students or their families about the situation in the school, because of the omnipresent danger.
That is why several parents refrained from sending their children to school, and many of the staff moved to other schools.
Khalil expressed his thanks and appreciation for Project Masam, saying: “Without the efforts of Project Masam, Al-Shaab School would have remained in the grasp of mines, deserted by its students and teachers and turned into a wasteland. This project delivered this school from the prison of mines and restored to it the light of knowledge again”.
“Masam sacrificed so as to save the educational process in our school. Its efforts reaped an incredible success. Students returned, and parents had confidence again in the safety of their children in it. Teachers are happy with this achievement, as we are now able to perform our mission feeling safe and secure, no longer fearing for our lives and the lives of the students whom we consider as our children,” he added.
Ahmad Ghaleb, Director of Al-Siddiq Al-Kadha School in Taiz, meanwhile, described the spread of mines in schools as a great challenge and ordeal suffered by many schools.
“These mines wanted to paralyse the educational process, make the people ignorant, spread illiteracy, and prevent our children from receiving their education, with the aim of wounding Yemen. Targeting knowledge in any society is a poisoned dagger that paralyses the future of any homeland”.
In an interview with Project Masam, Ghaleb said that these mines caused terror among students, teachers, and parents. Everyone is afraid of entering schools and fears for their lives from the mines. Several schools have been completely abandoned and become wastelands.
“Thanks to Masam’s removal of mines from our schools, the educational process has been resurrected and backed up with a vital lifeline, allowing it to breathe again and return to all its activities. Masams teams sacrifice their lives for the sake of this humanitarian landmine clearance and the lives of the Yemenis.
“We trust them and their competencies and experiences, hoping that all our schools will be liberated from mines by Project Masam, so that the educational process can recover as soon as possible.”
