Yemen fighting forces children out of school and into work

Published: 28 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

For 13-year-old Muneer Farie, school once represented a path towards a different future. Every morning, he attended classes in his village in Yemen’s Taiz governorate, while afternoons were spent helping his father feed the family’s livestock. The boy, from a farming family, dreamed of becoming the first teacher among his relatives.

That routine has now disappeared.

Renewed fighting in southwestern Yemen has driven Muneer and his family from their home, forcing the teenager to exchange his schoolbooks for goods he can sell in local markets. His experience reflects a wider crisis facing thousands of Yemeni children as renewed hostilities disrupt education, displace families and push households already struggling with poverty towards desperate survival measures.

The latest escalation has shattered several years of relative calm along many Yemeni frontlines. Fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has intensified across parts of western and southwestern Yemen, with Taiz among the areas experiencing some of the most serious consequences.

More than 130,000 people have been displaced by the renewed fighting since the beginning of September, according to recent UN estimates. Earlier in the escalation, UNICEF reported that more than 57,000 children were among those displaced in just two weeks. The fighting has also interrupted education and essential services across several affected areas.

For families such as Muneer’s, the numbers translate into a sudden and painful change in everyday life.

As clashes approached his village in al-Wazeyah district, the sound of explosions and gunfire began to intrude into his classroom. What had initially seemed like distant fighting gradually became an immediate threat. His family eventually gathered their livestock and the belongings they could carry before fleeing early in the morning.

They travelled southwest towards a displacement camp in al-Shimayateen, Taiz. They arrived with little money and few of the basic necessities needed to begin life in an unfamiliar place.

The consequences quickly became apparent. Muneer and his brother began selling socks and other inexpensive goods around markets close to the displacement camp. Instead of spending afternoons preparing for lessons or helping his father with livestock, he now works to help his family obtain food, water and other essentials.

His temporary home is a small tent shared with his parents and five siblings. The crowded shelter offers little privacy or comfort, particularly during humid nights.

“Studying is important, but not in a situation like this where we are struggling to get enough food, water and other necessities,” Muneer said. “For now, I will keep working until the war ends.”

His father, Ghaleb Farie, has been forced to depend on his sons’ earnings as the family tries to survive displacement. Like many parents caught between insecurity and poverty, he hopes the move will be temporary and that the family will eventually return home.

But every new arrival at the camp makes that hope more difficult to sustain.

The disruption to education extends far beyond one family. Yemen’s prolonged conflict had already left millions of children vulnerable to interrupted schooling, poverty and displacement. The latest escalation is adding another layer of uncertainty to a generation that has spent much of its childhood living with war.

UNICEF said renewed hostilities had disrupted education in several areas, with 243 schools closed or suspending learning and more than 137,000 students affected in the period covered by its September assessment. Health services have also been disrupted, with 26 UNICEF-supported health facilities reporting interruptions.

For children who remain in their communities, the danger is not necessarily removed by staying home.

At Musaab Ibn Umayr school in Taiz, principal Abdulwasea Abdu tried to keep classes operating for as long as possible. The school provided children with something resembling normal life despite the fighting around them.

That effort ended after a missile landed nearby and exploded within sight of students.

The incident caused widespread panic, with children crying and screaming as explosions shook the area. Some students displayed signs of psychological distress following the blast. The school was subsequently forced to close, leaving more than 600 pupils without access to classes.

For Abdu, reopening the school is dependent on the security situation. Fighting has been reported on several sides of the area, making it difficult for teachers and pupils to safely return.

The danger is that a temporary interruption can become permanent.

When children remain outside school for weeks or months, families facing severe financial pressure may have little choice but to depend on their labour. Displacement can also make returning to education more difficult because children lose contact with teachers, families struggle to afford supplies and transportation, and schools themselves may be damaged or inaccessible.

The situation has already been observed elsewhere in Yemen. Children from poor and displaced households have increasingly been drawn into informal work, collecting recyclable materials, selling inexpensive goods or helping their families with basic income-generating activities. Recent reporting from Taiz has highlighted how children are being pulled away from education as households struggle to meet everyday needs.

The economic consequences of the fighting are making the problem even more difficult.

One of the major roads connecting the Houthi-controlled port of Mocha with government-controlled Taiz has been disrupted. The route is particularly important because it is one of the few roads in the region capable of handling large trucks and passenger buses.

When transport routes become inaccessible, the consequences quickly spread beyond the battlefield. Goods become harder and more expensive to move, markets receive fewer supplies and families have to spend more money on basic necessities.

For displaced households with little or no income, even modest increases in food prices can have serious consequences.

Essam Nabil, a 56-year-old carpenter in Taiz city, said residents were increasingly feeling the economic pressure. Families that previously managed to buy meat and other relatively expensive foods were beginning to rely on cheaper alternatives as the price and availability of goods deteriorated.

For families living in camps, the pressure is particularly severe because displacement often means losing access to homes, farms, livestock and employment at the same time.

The disruption also affects people travelling between Yemen and neighbouring countries. Roads that once provided direct routes have become inaccessible or unsafe, forcing travellers to take longer and more expensive journeys.

Asaad, a Yemeni expatriate working in Saudi Arabia, said the situation reminded him of the early years of the conflict, when blocked roads forced travellers to make lengthy detours through Aden before continuing towards Saudi Arabia.

The renewed fighting therefore represents more than a military confrontation over territory. It is altering the ordinary routines of millions of people, from how families obtain food and water to whether children can attend school and whether workers can reach their jobs.

The humanitarian consequences are becoming increasingly visible. UN agencies have warned that displacement is continuing to rise, while aid operations face difficulties reaching people in areas affected by fighting. UNHCR said more than 130,000 people had already fled their homes since the beginning of September, with further displacement possible if hostilities continue.

Children are among those carrying the heaviest burden.

For Muneer, the immediate priority is no longer a classroom, an examination or a future teaching career. It is helping his family survive another day in a displacement camp.

His story illustrates how quickly conflict can transform a child’s ambitions. A boy who once divided his time between education and helping with livestock is now working in markets because his family has lost the security that made schooling possible.

Across Taiz and other affected parts of Yemen, many families face similar choices. When fighting removes homes, disrupts markets and cuts access to schools, education becomes increasingly difficult to protect.

For children who have already spent years growing up amid war, another interruption could carry consequences long after the guns fall silent.