The African Star

An on-line publication for degree and certificate programs in journalism

Vol. 5 No. 1 2008

Problems in the Somaliland public schools

M. Amin Jibril, University of Hargeisa

It was in 1991 when the Republic of Somaliland gained its independence from Somalia.

The new republic inherited a huge destruction of the whole country, after almost a decade of atrocities against its citizens by the dictatorial administration of Somalia.

Somaliland had been ravaged to the ground by forces loyal to the dictator, after indiscriminate bombardments were carried out on major cities as well as the rural areas in 1988.

The worst time was in May, 1988, when Somali National Movement forces entered and captured the military bases of the dictator inside the country. The government responded by attacking civilian residents in the major cities both through air and artillery bombardment.

This destroyed any building the country, including hospitals, schools and homes.

However, in 1991, some of the trained teachers came home, and started to teach under the trees and in the ruins of the school buildings.

Few years later things improved, some of the schools were rehabilitated by the government and the international aid organizations.

But in early days of the school, some students used to bring chairs from their homes. Others did  not have chairs in their homes.

Some of the students used to share on armchair, while some others sat on the floor or on stones they brought from the ruins of the school buildings.

It was in 1993, when SOOYAAL VTC (an organization run by Mujaahidiin Veterans) distributed first chairs and tables to the schools of the whole country.

The situation improved with the construction of new schools.

But after 16 years, Somaliland school children are now experiencing the problems faced in 1991.

In Hargeysa, Somaliland’s capital, there are still schools where children sit on the floor.

Ahmed Dhagah Primary/Intermediate School has enrolled 1200 students. Each class contains more than 60 students.

More than 120 students have no chairs or tables and sit on the floor.

 “Two classes Standard One have no chairs. Students sit on the floor” says Sa’id Ahmed the principal of Ahmed Dhagah.

 “We sent an SOS for the building here (a place next to the school) an orphanage center, and they promised us that they will arrange some school chairs.”

 This problem of shortage of chairs is not only at Ahmed Dhagah School in Hargeysa, but at a number of schools in the capital.

For example, one class was closed without chairs in May 31, school in Hargeysa, where students in at least  two classes also sit on the floor.

“Two classes study without chairs. Meanwhile we closed one school without chairs, but the students of the two classes without chairs use stones collected outside the ruins of the previous dormitory houses for school girls,” says, May 31 Primary/Intermediate school principal, Mousa Abdillahi, speaking to Haatuf Media Network.

But Moussa told Haatuf that his school is not as full as Ahmed Dhagah, “Our school is not as full as Ahmed Dhagah, because 480 students adjusted in the morning studies, while in the afternoon there are 130 students,” said the principal.

Meanwhile, the principal speaking on the low number of students at his school commented “Our school buildings were engaged by the veteran orphan families, for sake of that, even though the enrollment applications are high, but we don’t have classes and chairs, so we don’t register more than the capacity of the school since 55 students fill up h each classroom”.

According to the principal, there are two obstacles to the primary/intermediate school children.

The quantity of students and the school capacity are far different to each, while some of the classes have not received any school chairs or enlargement of the schools even though the demand of enrollment increased each year. “Somaliland school enrollment increased 65% for the last two decades” Says, Somaliland Minister of education, Hassan H. Mohamoud (Gadhweyne) speaking University of Hargeysa’s first graduation inauguration in August 10, 2004.

According to Haatuf Daily (leading Somali Newspaper in Hargeysa), on August, 2007, on a news item entitled “Somaliland: There are schools without students and Students without Classes”, there are places where schools were built even though there is no demand of students. Meanwhile there are other students in the major cities of the country, where there is no school and the enrollment demand is too high.

“Dila which is situated in Awdal region of west Somaliland has two schools, each of it consists nearly twenty classes. One of the schools has no students, even though here in Hargeysa students sit per form chair more than 5 students” the newspaper said.

This was caused by International organizations and their local partners in the country, who built schools where there is no population, and the ministry of education approves these building projects without planning and assessment.

“Some of the problems in the Somaliland education is responsible by the International Aid organizations and Local NGO with the Ministry of Education, because there are schools built both west and east of the country where there is no enough population to build schools. Some of the places the population is pastoralists and move place to place in the country for grassing their animals based for the season. For sake of that its much needed to be assessed before schools were established”. Says Abdirahman Ahmed Shunuf the chairman of Gud-Gude Political organization, which calls free education for all, even though the organization has not yet run for elections, since it was engaged in politics on Last June, 2007, from working human train for the last two decades, used to be call “Somaliland Intellectual organization” . Some of its members decided this year to join in the political, claiming that there is a neglecting of the children future by the political parties.

It is the only political organization in the country calls free education for all.

Some of the problems in the Somaliland education is the fees taken by the public schools.

“It was in 1996, when school fees were imposed, since I was from poor family I tried to campaign against it, some of my classmates were arrested for this reason. However  it continued and even today after 12 years later there are thousands of students who have no access to education because of lack of fees. For example the people who live in State House, Sheikh Nuor, Mohamed Moge, Stadium Etc (poor family dwellers in Hargeisa residents) have no access to schools. This is human right violation, where some children are paid $20 US per student for the private schools, while others haven’t had a penny. This can be translated without money is without education” Says, Mohamed, who is a supporter of Gude-Gude.

There are thousands of private schools in the major cities, some of them run the examination with public schools. But the students of these schools pay 10$ to 20$ per student. Most of the trained teachers of the public schools joined to the private school, reasoning for the poor salaries of the governmental schools.

Even though most of the trained teachers of the school were transferred to private schools, but the quantity of the student in the public and private are so different from each other. “We are 58 students in our class” says a 12 year student of School Of Tomorrow (Private) explaining his father to his education.

This is a sign for the average quantities of both private and public schools, because of them are full of students and it is difficult to teach more than 30.

“It takes to me whole day to check student’s exercises, because I teach more than 70 students” says a teacher in Sheikh Ali Ibrahim Primary/Intermediate School, Faisa Siyad.

the number of Somaliland high school drop outs increased for the last four years.

According to the reports made by the Ministry of education the High School drop outs has doubled for the last two years.

“I left the School on form 3, because you can’t endure sitting on the table on three periods without teacher. For example I used to go to school early in the morning, unfortunately the first three period teachers were absent, than the whole class comes out, than the head master beats and drop them back to class without teachers. Even some time one subject teacher may take 135 minutes for one class, because other two teachers are not in school. Then I decided to leave it, but my parents couldn’t able to pay the private school charges” Says Abdisalan Ibrahim, who drop out from Farah Omar Secondary school in 2006.

Meanwhile when the exam comes, the Public school children gains more mark than the Private school children which take with the High School leaving certificate exams.

“Ga’an Libah Secondary has got the first highest marks in the Somaliland High School certificate examination in this year 2007” Says, Da’ud Ahmed, the chairperson of the National Examination Board, declaring the National examination results in late August, 2007.

However, The Ga’an Libah Secondary School students experience the worst situation to be studied. In the School Compound there is a garage, which repairs cars inside the school compound. The Garage turns on in the morning high sound engines which causes sometimes that the students and the teachers may not hear each other.

According Haatuf Newspaper on December 24, 2007, the School Head Master Sa’id Talabo declined to comment, but some of the students told the newspaper that they complained both the Ministry of education and the Local Government to remove this garage out of their school and to rehabilitate their school fence, but non of them done nothing.

“The school compound is full of business shops, and the road which is full of cars in the study hours, as well as the garage engine sounds, are the problems study under Ga’an Libah Secondary school children” says the newspaper.

“The Minister of Education wrote a number of letter to the local government requesting that the garage should be removed out of the school, and on the last occasion, it was scheduled the garage should move on 15 days, but that hasn’t happen yet. On the issue of the fence, we localized the schools, so it is to the Ga’an Libah dwellers to rehabilitate their children’s schools with the partnership of both Ministry of education as well as the local government” Says, Ahmed Isse, who claimed the spokesperson of the Ministry of Education and the Private schools, in a statement published on Haatuf Daily Somali Newspaper on Thursday, December 27, 2007.

This problem will not only to the poor, people whose their children studies in public schools, but if it is not engaged today, there will be generation without school, or go out to the country to seek education and suicide their lives to cross the Mediterranean sea to reach Europe.

“If this kind of problems continues we will see our children immigrating out of their home country, and they will never be Somaliland citizens, they will be the citizens of any country that gives without charge education or quality education, while others may die in the oceans for seeking education. Even they can endanger Somaliland’s stability, because when they see that there is a classes of education, nothing wrong with them to be gangster like the ones who robes mobiles to the people in some areas of Hargeysa in the night ” Says Gud-Gude Chairman, commenting about this.

What so ever, Somaliland reached development to the education, it is the high time for Somalilanders to face the problems that their School children are facing, both the government, political parties, as well as the ordinary people to solve the problems.