60 Saudi projects to support education in Yemen

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen, has provided about 60 development projects and initiatives to support the education sector in 11 Yemeni governorates, based on the fundamental role of education in building people and achieving stability and prosperity. These projects constitute comprehensive and integrated support for various educational paths, including establishing model schools, developing the academic and research capabilities of universities, enhancing technical and vocational education, and qualifying educational personnel in accordance with the highest professional standards.

These projects were distributed in the governorates of Taiz, Aden, Socotra, Al-Mahra, Ma’rib, Hadhramaut, Hajjah, Lahj, Abyan, Shabwa, and Al-Dhalea, and included general and higher education and technical and vocational training, contributing to achieving comprehensive and sustainable education that leaves a positive impact on the lives of individuals and local communities, and enhances comprehensive development in Yemen.

At the general education level, the program has established and equipped more than 40 model schools in a number of Yemeni governorates, characterized by an integrated educational environment that includes modern chemistry and computer classrooms and laboratories, which improves the quality of education, develops the skills of male and female students, and motivates them to innovate and actively learn in a safe and attractive environment.

In higher education, the program implemented specific projects that contributed to developing the infrastructure of universities and improving their academic and research environment, including equipping 28 modern laboratories at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Aden in various fields such as chemistry, biotechnology, and pharmacology, in addition to establishing an advanced forensic research laboratory at the College of Law, considered the first of its kind in Yemen.

The University of the Sheba Region is the largest academic institution in Ma’rib Governorate, and it has faced increasing challenges represented by the shortage of classrooms and overcrowding of students. Its development project contributed to addressing these challenges by establishing two buildings containing 16 classrooms, a building for administrative offices, and providing university transportation.

The program is also working to establish and equip colleges of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing at Taiz University, in a project that is expected to fill the shortage in health personnel, enhance the quality of medical services, develop specialized scientific research, and prepare cadres capable of supporting the health sector in Yemen.

In the field of technical and vocational training, the program is working to establish and equip the Technical Institute and College of Education in Socotra, to raise the efficiency of higher, technical and vocational education and training, and to provide an appropriate educational environment for students and trainees in the governorate.

At the level of building the capabilities of educational personnel, the program presented projects and initiatives that empower male and female teachers and enhance the quality and continuity of education, including the International Professional Certificates in Teaching (IPTC) project, the digital empowerment of Yemeni teachers project, the access to education project in rural areas, and the initiative to enhance the stability of education.

The program implemented the Rural Education Access Project, which in its first phase qualified 150 girls to obtain a teachers’ diploma, contributing to raising girls’ education rates in the countryside and encouraging them to enroll in higher education. To maximize the impact of this phase, the second phase of the project was launched to qualify 450 girls who graduated from high school in the countryside of 6 governorates: Hadramaut, Al-Mahra, Ma’rib, Taiz, Lahj, and Shabwa.

The International Professional Certificates in Teaching project aims to qualify 200 male and female teachers, through a comprehensive program to develop professional performance based on the model of professional certificates, and sub-programs that provide participants with the necessary competencies at increasing levels. The “Enhancing Education Stability” initiative also supports male and female teachers, ensuring the continuity of the educational process, preserving the stability of the educational staff, and enhancing human development.

As an extension of these efforts, the Kingdom announced, through the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen in January 2026, a package of development projects, which included the establishment of two colleges of computer and information technology at the universities of Hadramaut and Sayun, the development of the Agricultural Veterinary Technical Institute, the establishment of the College of Applied and Health Sciences in the King Salman Medical and Educational City in Al-Mahra, and the construction and equipping of 30 schools in Hadramaut, Aden, Lahj, Abyan, Al-Dhalea, Shabwa, and Socotra, at a rate of 10 schools annually, to enhance access to... Education, and increasing the efficiency of the educational process.

To enhance the continuity of education and facilitate access to it, the program implemented school and university transportation projects, providing dedicated buses that transport students from their homes to their educational headquarters, which enhanced their regularity in studies.

This educational support falls within comprehensive development interventions implemented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen, in coordination with the Yemeni government and local authorities, as it reached 300 development projects and initiatives in 16 Yemeni governorates, with direct follow-up and supervision from 5 executive offices, and covers 8 basic and vital sectors: education, health, energy, water, transportation, agriculture and fisheries, development programs, and developing and supporting government capabilities. Yemen, in a way that enhances the integration of development efforts and the sustainability of their impact in improving basic services and living conditions for our Yemeni brothers.