ADEN // With the help of the UAE, 33 schools in Aden were reopened on Sunday, after the Emirates Red Crescent rebuilt more than 154 schools in the Yemeni southern port that were damaged or destroyed in fighting with the Houthi rebels.
Dr Mohammed Atiq Al Falahi, secretary general of the ERC, said that all of Aden’s students would be able to return to school after the upcoming Eid Al Adha festival, with all institutions ready to resume teaching.
Dr Al Falahi reopened the 26 September primary school in Aden’s Al Buraiqah district, together with the head of Aden’s reconstruction committee, UAE Brigadier General Abdullah Al Dhaheri,
and the Yemeni government minister for local administration, Abdulraqeeb Al Aswadi.
Fawzia Ahmed, 26 September’s head teacher, told The National that she was devastated when her school was damaged during fighting with the Houthis.
But after the UAE rebuilt the school, “I became very optimistic as teaching will begin after the Eid vacation”, she said.
Aden was liberated in July by fighters loyal to the government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition that includes the UAE.
Earlier on Sunday, Dr Al Falahi met with Yemeni prime minister Khalid Bahah to discuss the ERC’s role in reconstructing Aden and the wider country. During the meeting Mr Bahah thanked the UAE leadership for its continuous support of the Yemeni people, according to the UAE’s state news agency Wam.
“Our work will not be just in Aden,” Dr Al Falahi told The National as he reopened the 26 September school. “Rather, we will reach out to all Yemeni provinces after freeing the provinces from the Houthis.”
He said the ERC was running 11 aid projects in Aden during Eid Al Adha, including the distribution of meat to the families of martyred loyalist fighters and clothes for the disabled, and the rebuilding of the city’s Kawd beach.
In addition, the ERC is helping to restore health services in Aden, including providing equipment to the city’s governmental disabled association, rebuilding the Al Nour Institute for the blind, and rebuilding maternity health centres in the city’s Crater, Al Tawahi and Al Buraiqah districts.
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(via The National)
