Yemen

Hundreds of schools in the northern Yemeni province of Saada have reopened after five months of closure following an 11 February ceasefire between Yemen’s army and Houthi-led Shia rebels, according to local officials. More than half the 121,000 students in grades 1-12 who were due to start the current semester last October were invited to return to school on 27 February, Mohammed al-Shamiri, head of the Saada education office, told IRIN. “We issued a circular calling on all teachers of these schools to come back to their work and resume classes,” he said. “We reopened only those schools we can supervise, but not those in districts that are still controlled by Houthis.” (U.N. News Service)