Sami Noaman
Journalist
The September 26 Revolution was not merely an uprising against a political regime or a ruling system, but a comprehensive transformation that touched the social, cultural, human, and economic fabric of Yemen. It was a revolution of dignity and civilization, carrying at its core the pursuit of justice, equality, and the elevation of society. Education, as a right for all—even without binding legislation—stood at the very heart of the transformation that Yemen experienced after September.
I belong to a generation born two decades after the September Revolution, when Yemen was still charting its path toward civilization, stability, and the future. My parents were rural people. My late father was fortunate to be literate, while my mother could not even read the numbers on a clock. Yet both of them, like tens of thousands of families, did everything possible to educate me. I always heard them say: “Education is the weapon of the September generation… it would be shameful if we did not fight for your schooling. The September generation cannot remain illiterate.”
As a child growing up in a poor, deprived rural family, my mother raised chickens and sold eggs and butter, and even sold the calf that was born every two years to cover my school expenses. My father sold a piece of land to help pay for my university education. In high school, I told my parents I should work to support them, but they firmly refused, even threatening to disown me if I left school. This story is just one example of many Yemeni families that endured hardship and poverty to educate their children. My family’s struggles were perhaps easier compared to thousands of others.
In a poor country scattered across rugged terrain, with villages dispersed in a “Balkanized” fashion, it was nearly impossible for a newly born, resource-limited state to cover the entire geography with schools. Children often walked several kilometers through mountains and valleys, on foot, to reach the nearest school. It became shameful for a child to grow up illiterate, and education became the culture of the republic’s citizens.
As a boy, I left my parents and my remote village in Mawiya district, Taiz governorate, to live with my uncle’s family in the town of Al-Raheeda in search of education. Cities were more vibrant and closer to schools, despite their crowding. Everyone contributed to encouraging students: bus drivers offered free rides for children from distant villages, turning it into a daily commitment; restaurants and shops sold food to students at the lowest possible prices, often showing extra leniency toward the poorest, so they could continue their studies.
Despite limited media and the absence of televisions, radios, or newspapers in rural areas, the culture of the republic and the awareness it carried spread quickly, transmitted from towns and cities. Entire villages would gather in a single household to watch black-and-white television broadcasts for an hour or two, enhancing knowledge and awareness. Later, every family sought to buy a radio, which broadcast 8–12 hours a day, shaping collective consciousness.
The September 26 Revolution became a turning point in the consciousness of Yemenis—mostly illiterate at the time—driving them to reclaim what they had lost, not only for their children but for society as a whole. Teachers were respected, and rural families took it upon themselves to provide food for the educators—Egyptian teachers in particular, as well as Yemeni ones—competing to host them in order to encourage their settlement and strengthen education.
Now, 63 years later, ignorance and clerical-theocratic tyranny once again seek to dismantle education, seeing in its collapse the surest path to returning Yemen to the pre-September era: to a time before dignity and humanity. The Houthi militia deliberately works to distort education, pushing children away from schools and indoctrinating them with sectarian myths and dogmas that glorify violence, crime, weapons, and war. They have altered curricula with lessons that idolize clerical dogma and sectarianism, painting the battlefield as the place of honor and heroism, while unjustly portraying students as weak and unproductive.
Yemenis across all regions—whether under Houthi control, outside it, or in the diaspora—are called upon to sustain this revolution of awareness and to safeguard education against the falsehoods, sectarianism, and systematic indoctrination promoted by the Houthis. It is essential to pass down the consciousness of September to new generations. History reminds us that no future can exist without dignity and freedom, and that civilization can only be built on the foundation of education
