By: Mohammed Al-Shami - SANA'A,almotamar.net- The educational process has improved markedly in Yemen, said the Minister of Education Abdul-Salam Al-Jawfi in a lecture delivered today at Qasr Al-Shabab hall.

Al-Jawfi pointed out that there are 15,000 schools, and 4.8 million students throughout the country, while 600,000 students join basic education every year. The number of employees working for the educational sector has reached 250,000 according to the last survey made a few months ago.

Al-Jawfi affirmed that the educational sector budget comprises more than 200 billion riyals, which means fifth the state's budget. Improving wage processes are underway, where 48 billion riyals will be paid in January for the teachers who were not included in the previous wage strategy, he noted.

Moreover, Al-Jawfi referred to the gross violations made by influential figures of Islah Party as they ordered 20,000 teachers to work on a political party basis, which clearly violates the law, and adds to the state's burden. But the wise policy of the government and serious educational reforms could curb such problems.

According to Al-Jawfi, representative of UNICEF has expressed his admiration at the Yemeni educational sector, wishing Middle East countries would follow suit in supporting the educational sector.

Yemen has got international certificates of merit, and ranked No. 1 out of 13 countries that were selected as a study sample to measure the extent of their care for education, Al-Jawfi stated.