Taiz: Fears of arresting the director of Al-Shamayatayn education days before the start of implementing a project funded by UNICEF

In a move that raises concerns and doubts, the Director General of Al-Shamayateen District, Abdul Aziz Al-Shaibani, issued a decision to suspend the Director of the Education Office in the district without giving reasons, coinciding with the imminent implementation of a project funded by UNICEF to support education in the district.

In a memo obtained by Yemen Youth Net, Al-Shaibani directed the heads of departments in the Education Office in the directorate not to deal with the Director of Education, Taha Al-Ghaili, based on what he said was a decision taken by the administrative body of the local council, on 10/31/2024, to suspend him from work, without stating the reasons!

Legal violations

Legal sources considered this decision a violation of the law and the powers granted to the director of the directorate. As the decisions to appoint, suspend and change the directors of the executive bodies in the governorate and directorates are within the powers of the governor - the head of the local council in the governorate - according to the Local Authority Law and its executive regulations.

The sources, who spoke to "Yemeni Youth Net" under the condition of confidentiality, were surprised by the silence of the leadership of the local council in the governorate and its executive body regarding the continued commission of such repeated violations by the director of the directorate, who had previously suspended the directors of some offices, including: Finance, Duties, Public Works and Endowments, and detained some of them..!!

Background of the new decision

The new decision to dismiss the Director of the Education Office, Taha Al-Ghaili, issued last Tuesday (November 12), comes at a suspicious and dubious time, coinciding with the office’s imminent receipt of a financial grant allocated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to the Ministry of Education with the aim of advancing the educational process in the country.

The ministry allocated part of this support to correct the conditions of schools in the districts of "Al-Shamayatain" and "Al-Mawasit" located southwest of Taiz Governorate. According to information obtained by "Yemeni Youth Net" from private sources, the share of the Al-Shamayatain district from the support amounts to $192,000, at a rate of $1,500 for each of the district's 128 schools.

Accordingly, the Education Office in the Directorate implemented courses dedicated to school principals, with the aim of training them on how to allocate and disburse the financial grant according to the plan approved by the Ministry and the international donor organization, which approved the start of implementing the project and disbursing the financial grant next December under the supervision of the Education Office in the Directorate.

The seriousness of the decision and its potential repercussions

Local sources expressed their doubts that the director of the directorate's goal behind the decision to suspend the director of the education office at such a critical time was to put UNICEF in front of a fait accompli, forcing it to stop disbursing the financial grant through the education office and transfer it through the local council in the directorate, which made the sources fear that this would lead to obstructing the implementation of the project on time, according to the drawn up plan, which had been worked on for many months.

A source related to the work of international organizations warned that if this actually happened, another large red dot would be added to the evaluation form of the directorate, which is already located within the red zone, and this could lead to it being completely deprived of any development projects in the future.

He added: There is a joint coordination office for organizations operating in the country, to coordinate projects between organizations and distribute them to regions according to need. This office also receives periodic reports, which also include assessments, risks and recommendations, and the office makes its decisions based on them.

The "Yemeni Youth Net" website had previously published a special file that included statistics on international organizations that had withdrawn their work or offices from the Ash Shamayatayn Directorate, with an explanation of the main reasons that led to this. You can return to the file by clicking here

It is noteworthy that since the current director of the directorate, Abdul Aziz Al-Shaibani, assumed his position in 2017, he has suspended and changed a number of directors of the executive offices, including six directors of the Education Office in the directorate..!!