Yemen’s union of teachers has denounced the Iran-backed Houthi militia for co-opting the country’s schools and curriculum and accused Tehran of using the education system to indoctrinate Yemeni children with violent and anti-Semitic propaganda.

The report concluded that the Houthi militia were using the education system to pursue a “policy of cultural colonialism.” Yahya Al-Yinai, head of media at the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate, highlights how the Houthis have made hundreds of changes to the teaching curriculum since they seized power in a violent 2014 coup, replacing nearly 90 percent of school principals with pro-Houthi allies.

Al-Yinai accused Iran of orchestrating the changes in a policy to spread its revolutionary ideology into Yemen.

Another recent study by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) has revealed how the Houthis have targeted the mainstream education system in Yemen by spreading its rhetoric of hate in textbooks circulated in the curriculum designed to influence the country’s children.

Researchers say that the materials feature severe anti-Semitic rhetoric, including Holocaust-related imagery such as a yellow Star of David and barbed wire used in lessons on how to oppose all forms of normalization with the “Zionist–American hegemony.”

Eldad Pardo, IMPACT-se’s director of research, said:

“The combination of the textbooks’ graphic depiction of deceased children, prevalent hatred, glorification of violence as the only solution for resolving conflicts, the indoctrination of children to sacrifice their lives, and the overall Manichean worldview, run contrary to UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance and are unacceptable in any society.”

Pardo also noted how the educational material offers a window into the inner workings of Iranian influence in the Arab world, saying:

“The connection to Iran—the power behind the Houthis—is downplayed in the examined educational materials. Instead, Iran is presented as one of many allies and partners victimized by the West.”

The report explains how Iran maintains part of its regional influence through education, emphasising how the education model used by the Houthis in Yemen may offer further insights into “a problem that looms large in the Middle East and beyond,”

Around 3 million young Yemenis currently receive their education in Houthi-controlled parts of the country.

Marcus Sheff, IMPACT-se’s CEO said:

“Despite lip service to Yemeni nationhood, the Houthis are far more interested in radicalizing than in homogeneous education.”

While Arik Agrissi, chief operating officer at IMPACT-se, said:

“Textbooks can act as either a barrier or blueprint to radicalization. In the Houthis’ case, it’s explicitly the latter.”

The UN expert group has also previously denounced the “military use of schools” as depriving children of their right to education.

The latest report is just the latest example of how the Iranian-backed group targets children for their malign aims. Research conducted by independent “eminent experts” for the UN Human Rights Council found that at least 34 girls aged from 13 to 17 were recruited to work as spies, medics and recruiters between 2015 and 2020.

According to the report, many of those recruited were exposed to sexual violence and forced into marriage as part of their recruitment.

In February 2021, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the SAM for Rights and Liberties released a report which found the Houthi militia in Yemen have forcibly recruited around 10,300 children in Yemen since 2014.

The report, released on the “International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers” found:

“The group uses an education system that incites violence and teaches the group’s ideology through special lectures inside the official educational facilities to fill students with extremist ideas and encourage them to join the fight to support the group’s military actions,”