Separation of the sexes at Sana’a University sparks a wave of anger in the face of the Houthis
The decision to separate males from females in the Faculty of Mass Communication at Sana’a University sparked a wave of anger among Yemeni circles, including activists and politicians loyal to the Houthi group, who described the decision as “ISIS” and considered it apostasy from the values of freedom and equality that Yemenis had fought for for decades.
While Houthi figures were announcing their intentions to back down from the decision; An announcement was made about the start of its implementation in the College of Arts, and it was supported by senior leaders, and sources revealed that there is competition between Houthi academic elements to please the senior leaders.
According to academic sources at Sana’a University, it is possible that the objections expressed by Houthi leaders and activists to the decision were fabricated, in order to measure the reaction of society and within universities, and then pass the decision on to the rest of the colleges and universities after the end of the controversy.
After Houthi leaders who control the College of Information decided, last week, to allocate the first three days of the week to male students, and the next three days to females, and to integrate parallel education students from the two categories with their counterparts to ease the burdens, the revolutionaries announced the start of implementation of the decision in the College of Arts last Sunday.
Houthi decision to divide weekdays between male and female students of the Faculty of Mass Communication at Sana’a University to prevent mixing (Twitter)
During the past days, Houthi leaders announced their intentions to cancel the decision and reverse it, after it sparked a lot of criticism, controversy and ridicule even among the militias. Although it had the support of higher leaders, while male and female students announced a strike to protest the decision, which they considered racist and adding many burdens to them.
Compete for positions
Sources at Sana’a University explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that the dismissal decision came in the context of the intensification of competition between a number of Houthi leaders for a number of positions in the context of the Houthi coup leaders’ intentions to make adjustments in a number of positions in the university, especially those of the president and his deputies.
According to the sources, the decision to separate the male students from the female students in the College of Mass Communication was issued by the personal judgment of Omar Daer, impersonating the dean of the college, in the context of his efforts to satisfy the leaders of the group and obtain the position of the university president, after he spent six years in his current position.
The sources add that Daer, who talks with the leaders of the group about his achievements in the college, and concludes his speech by stressing that he has made efforts that deserve the position of president of the university; He agreed with the so-called “University Student Forum” to issue the decision as a return line for him if it caused a negative reaction from the coup leaders.
The sources confirm that Daer is aware of the efforts of the supreme leaders in the Houthi coup to take measures in this regard. However, she did not agree on the mechanism for its implementation, and he wanted to be proactive in making the decision to satisfy her.
The “University Student Forum” is an entity similar to a security apparatus created by the Houthi coupists to monitor public universities and discipline work and study in them according to the coup project. It was granted illegal powers that exceed those of university presidents and the Ministry of Higher Education.
Militia members have started building separation walls between male and female students (communication platforms)
According to the sources, a number of the coup leaders were thinking about the way in which male students are separated from female students, indicating that the basis of the dispute focused on the costs that any decision would require in this regard.
This proposal was objected to due to the lack of sufficient halls, equipment and supplies on the one hand, and the inability of teachers to deliver lectures repeatedly on the same day; This led to the emergence of another proposal to allocate half the days of the week to male students and the other half to female students, which was also objected due to the increased burdens and energy consumption of teachers.
However, the last proposal was the closest to implementation. Because it places burdens only on the teaching staff, who have not been paid for many years.
Criticism from within the group
In this regard, a number of Sana’a University students confirm that they were aware of the Houthi putschists’ intentions to issue such a decision, and a number of them told Asharq Al-Awsat: Security and intelligence officials at the university informed them, during interrogation sessions with them because of their exchange of conversations with female colleagues, that mixing will be prohibited during this year.
To the extent that the decision to separate male and female students in the College of Mass Communication was supported by Houthi leaders; A number of activists and media professionals loyal to the group expressed their rejection and denunciation of this decision, which they described as offensive to male and female students and their families, and that it distorts the image of the Houthi group, and confirms the charges against it of extremism.
Muhammad al-Maqaleh, who was previously a member of the so-called “Revolutionary Committee”, speaks; What he described as the dust of the countryside that tightens its grip on the city and controls it, where the issues of rural women are different from the issues of city women, indicating that the decision is behind the Houthi leaders and wings coming from the directorates of Saada governorate. Where is the group’s main stronghold.
Houthi leaders touring Sana’a University, claiming to develop its infrastructure (Houthi media)
Al-Maqaleh addressed the Houthi leaders, saying: “What is happening in Sana’a today is not the values of religion, but the values of illiteracy and backwardness, and I personally no longer see anything but new opportunistic faces that we did not know before.”
A pro-Houthi newspaper called “La’a” devoted a number of its pages to attacking the decision, criticizing it sarcastically and sarcastically, and accusing the party that issued it of following the approach of ISIS, giving space for a number of activists to write articles rejecting it.
The newspaper attacked Hussein Hazeb, who was appointed Minister of Higher Education in the government of unrecognized militias, after he spoke of his lack of knowledge of the decision, and his lack of objection to it. “Because it comes within what he said is to mitigate or prevent what leads to the promotion of soft war, and to strengthen the faith identity.”
Legalization and circumvention
The minister in the coup government, Hussein Hazeb, returned to criticize the decision; Because it gives the opponents of the Houthi militia material, without getting tired; In the field of what he calls the “soft war”; Because the reactions between supporters and opponents about what happened, a soft and comprehensive war par excellence, as he said. Hazeb’s comment on the issue was evasive and evasive. This suggests that he is trying to please several parties in the Houthi militia.
There is no problem in separating males and females as a goal that we all agree with in order to mitigate or prevent what leads to the promotion of soft war and to strengthen the identity of faith – which migrated to some – but whoever carried out this separation in a university college gave the other a subject – without getting tired – in the field of soft war at the level of the entire country!! The reactions…
– Sheikh Hussein Hazeb (@husseinhazeb) July 20, 2023
In turn, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, the cousin of the militia leader and a member of what is known as the Supreme Political Council, claimed that the decision agrees with the wishes of the students, calling on those who object to it and the desire of their daughters’ parents to submit a request to the presidency of Sana’a University to continue mixing, until the majority is achieved for them to return to the previous situation before the decision.
Brother, Minister of Higher Education, Brother President of Sana’a University, I suggest regarding the separation step that took place in one of your colleges, and the fact that the Yemeni people are people who preserve values and customs and have a distinct Islamic identity, as can be seen in the people’s personal and public events, their joys and sorrows, etc. Departing from this concept is the exception…
– Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi (@Moh_Alhouthi) July 21, 2023
Al-Houthi directed that the exception to this decision be made by preparing a form for the parents of the female students to sign the request for mixing and specifying a study room, and for the father to specify which of the male students is entitled to mix with his daughter, so that the militias are not responsible for what will happen during the mixed study.
During the past two days, the militias have resorted to claiming, through their media, that Western scientific studies have been published, which concluded that there are devastating effects of mixing in universities, as it kills ambition and creativity and eliminates intelligence, and claimed that the American Harvard University has turned into a hotbed of rape due to mixing.
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2023-07-25 09:20:38
