Since March 2015, the civil war between the Yemeni government and the Houthis has worsened life conditions for innocent civilians in Yemen. About 14% of the population is estimated to be internally displaced and more than 18.2 million require humanitarian aid. Millions of Yemeni children lack necessities like shelter and food, making access to education, often seen as a secondary need in crisis, increasingly out of reach.

Education in Yemen

Seven years into the conflict, 2,916 schools were destroyed, partially damaged or used for noneducational purposes and around 172,000 teachers were irregularly paid or sought better income sources. Two million children were out of school before COVID-19 and the pandemic hindered access to education furthermore.

With forced displacements, bombings and lack of female teachers making schooling a challenge, the frail access to education endangers these children’s futures; in some cases, early marriage for girls and armed group recruitment for boys is the only path forward. Amid this disruption and displacement, digital technology offers new ways to keep learning alive, even in the most challenging conditions.

In recent years, AI has revolutionized the modern world in various fields, including education. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, education worldwide has quickly shifted to online platforms and technological tools. In November 2022, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world; students commonly use this chatbot as it is known to enhance education by providing personalized and interactive learning and ongoing feedback.

These emerging tools do not exclude war-torn countries. AI in higher education in Yemen is relatively common; despite the crisis, students utilize AI tools to facilitate learning and aid them in attaining their academic goals.

AI Usage in Yemeni Universities

A study at the University of Science and Technology in Aden found that 95.8% of respondents use AI tools for educational purposes. Usage frequency varied: 21.1% reported daily use, 30.5% used AI a few times a week, 28.4% used it once a week and 20% used it rarely. Only 4.1% of respondents had never used educational AI tools.

Though the educational AI tools are various, this university’s students primarily lean toward ChatGPT; the study reported that they use ChatGPT at 78.9%, as opposed to 8.4% for Gemini, 1.1% for Claude and 11.6% for other AI tools. Another study on EFL Yemeni students showed that a third of the respondents use AI tools daily. Their tool of choice for English learning is ChatGPT at 42%, which exceeds tools specifically designed for language learning like Duolingo at 24%.

Perceived Benefits and Drawbacks

AI in higher education in Yemen has proven very effective in helping students grow throughout their curriculum. The EFL students noted that AI facilitated their understanding by providing interactive and faster learning, flexibility, convenience and immediate feedback. These students believe that AI tools enhance their practical and technical skills, improve their critical thinking abilities and increase their motivation to learn.

However, several drawbacks to using AI tools for education show that full integration into Yemeni universities is still out of reach. Financial constraints limit access to AI. Engineering students specifically reported a lack of funding, insufficient technological resources and poor training on effectively using AI tools for personalized learning.

Skepticism about AI’s accuracy is another major drawback; many students have expressed that ChatGPT, the most used AI tool, can provide unreliable information, false references, gradually weaker answers and logical errors and contradictions.

Conclusion

AI in higher education in Yemen is widely used across various fields of study. ChatGPT has much positive feedback for facilitating learning and providing remote, personalized education. Many aspects regarding the inaccurate nature of the chatbot, as well as the financial limitations and threatened internet access, diminish the potential benefits of the tool. Nevertheless, continuous technological improvements and increased international support to Yemeni educational establishments and students can help break the barriers to education in Yemen.

– Yasmine Belabed

Yasmine is based in Boumerdes, Algeria and focuses on Technology and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr