Student enrollment increases in Somalia

  1. Posted on Saturday 9 January 2010 - 08:00
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    School students has increased in Somalia breakaway state of Somaliland since 1991, moving the literacy rate from 20 percent to 45 percent, education ministry officials said. In Somaliland state, some 45,223 students went to school in 2009 while since 1991 at least 1,019 students enrolled in schools.
    Indrukken uit Somaliland. Foto gemaakt door Peter Couvee.JPG
    Abdi Abdillahi Mohamed, the Director of Planning in Somaliland's Ministry of Education said: "School enrollment [in primary and secondary schools] has increased dramatically". "We hope to encourage high school leavers to be self-employed," he added.

    Ali Abdi Odowa, Director-General in the education ministry told IRIN that the rise in students enrollment was due to awareness and the construction of many primary schools.

    He said "Hundreds of schools have been built both in urban and rural areas and adult education has also started".

    He announced that Somaliland plans to guarantee that at least 75 percent of populations would be able to read and write by 2015. Mohamed said there were 225,853 learners in primary school and 21,331 others attended secondary school in 2008 and 2009, as 26,156 were in adult education.

    According to Mohamed, Some 6,820 students also attended technical colleges and professional schools. The Education ministry of the self-declared independent region added two social science subjects- - business and agriculture- in high school.

    Elementary and secondary education is free, according to Somaliland's constitution but displaced persons and pastoralists had argued that they still pay school fees.

    Abdi Abdillahi Mohamed said "there are no fees paid by students but of course there is what we call contributions paid by parents to support voluntary teachers and teachers' salaries".

    In rural areas, the ministry has begun a pilot project where teachers follow pastoralists and educate them in mobile schools.

    "This project is in Togdheer region... Teachers and the school follow the pastoralists wherever they go, and we pay such teachers more than the others," he said.

    The north Somalia state of Somaliland declared its independent from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after warlords defeated long time dictator of Mohamed Siad Barre.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive