Few years ago, I was working in a recruitment office
You know what a recruitment office is?
The one that is presumably getting people jobs
One day,
A young girl showed up
Aged about 18-20
She was veiled
But, frankly..
She had unforgettably beautiful eyes
But let's forget about the eyes for the moment
What do you expect her qualifications to have been?
What experiences had she been through?
I took out..
Anyway, I took out a registration form
Such form is usually used by the applicant to fill in their personal details,
Experience, skills…
anything that may assist me in finding her a job
But, she returned the form unfilled
And said; " I want to work as a cleaner
in an office, a company or any decent place"!
I replied enthusiastically; "why?
I could give you a better job..
Something that won't need experience, qualifications..
That won't require much"
Why do you think she'd asked to work as a cleaner?
Simply, because she was illiterate!
I was shocked
How come a girl at her age is illiterate?
And can't even write one letter!
This young woman isn't alone
She is one of ten million illiterate souls in Yemen
of course reports and statistics vary a great deal
some say 40 percent of the Yemeni people
some put the rate at 50 some at 60, give or take
But what is certain is that there are millions of illiterate people in Yemen
What is certain is that there are millions of Yemenis
living in isolation from the outside world
And it is rather certain that there are young people and children amongst these millions
How can we get rid of illiteracy?
Practically, education in Yemen is already faced with a lot
Extraordinary challenges
To name a few; the infrastructure..
I've visited a district in Abyan where they dreamt of an intermediate school
There was a brilliant initiative by one of the ladies..
Who opened her own house and turned it into classrooms..
to give literacy classes
and help the young women who aspire to complete their studies
there is a poor level of awareness
I visited an area in Hajja where they had schools and everything
But children won't enroll in them
There is a lack of confidence in education and in the future
I mean today if you pick a student and ask; will you finish your secondary education?
The answer will most likely be:
"maybe not" Why?
He will say; and why would I finish it? For what?
What future awaits for me?
educated people are everywhere and are helpless
There is corruption in the education sector,
Mismanagement ..poor strategies
Weak curricula ..bad quality of education
Teachers performing unscrupulously
Overcrowded classrooms..
Countless issues..
There are moments you feel …
there is no such thing as education in Yemen
All of this is reflected in the illiteracy rates
How can we eradicate illiteracy?
How can we minimize the number of illiterate people in Yemen?
The idea I'm about to introduce is quite simple
Do you remember..
Sometime ago we used to have a post-secondary school service
How many of you have undertaken their mandatory service?
The mandatory service was either; recruitment in the army or teaching
My idea is..
We can revive the post-secondary service in the area of teaching literacy classes
In other words,
Each secondary school graduate is required…
To educate 10 illiterate persons within one year
So, if we have 100,000 graduates each giving literacy classes to 10 persons
In a matter of one year, one million people will have become literate
The more people participating in the service, the higher the number of literate people
Hence, in few years…
The 10 million illiterate souls will turn into… Zero
How can we put this idea in motion?
In order to put it into practice,
We need a very simple thing..
All of us need to sense the responsibility..
I need us all to partake in implementing it
And when I say "all of us",
I mean the government sector, the private sector,
Organizations, local associations, political parties
Youth initiatives ..the people!
Each one shall sense the responsibility towards illiteracy
If we all felt the necessity to eradicate illiteracy,
Believe me we are going to see this through
I don't ask for much from these parties
Simply each one of them has got something the others don't
I'm not asking the government sector for miracles
I plainly ask them to open the schools during the summer break
Is this so difficult?
I'm not asking the private sector and organizations to spend much
Just very little to cover the operational costs..
I'm not demanding the parties and the youth to do wonders
They may lend me a hand in the field work..
Or may help by taking part in the service..
I'm asking for nothing but for people's engagement
I've always believed that any challenge
Facing this country..
Can never be beaten.. no way.. unless we all felt the responsibility
unless there was an involvement..
Let's not go far away..
This year..the 12/12/12 cleaning campaign
Do you know what was so special about this campaign?
It was the fact that all were in..
That's all
A friend of mine said
" Jamal, I cried…my tears ran down my face…
It was the first time I see all the people taking part..
Everyone went out..all the people from across the strata
It was the first time I felt we were all united around one goal, albeit simple"
We have to sense the responsibility
We have to believe in participation..
We, mates, need to believe in Yemen a bit..
Believe that it deserves to still be given a little more..
This man is the one who inspired me with the idea I present today
Meet my father…Nasser AlHanash
My father is 60 years old
He didn't get to complete his primary schooling
Nevertheless, he was such a persistent and hardworking man
He loved reading so intensely
That he would deduct money from his monthly salary
to purchase books and magazines
He had a dream..
he longed to see every Yemeni holding something to read
This was the dream of his lifetime
Today, my father is celebrating the publication of his first book
His first short stories collection
My message is quite straightforward, guys..
My message is…
Responsibility Plus Participation equals…
A nation that reads
Thank you very much