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by Abdi Mohamed
Thursday, September 17, 2009
After more than 18 years of anarchy and lawlessness in Somalia there are small signs of regeneration in the education system.
Mogadishu, Somalia (Media Line) - Mohamed Abdullahi, a student at Aqon-Bile primary and secondary school in Mogadishu sits thumbing the pages of his biology book in front of his class. Each day Ali undergoes a long journey just to come to school. He treks from the north of the capital every day to pursue an education. Unlike the clogged streets of western cities, in Mogadishu, violence, roadblocks, and poor road conditions are the main causes of delays during residents' daily commute.
Abdullahi arrived late to school one morning, when a roadside bomb explosion struck a police convoy traveling nearby. The streets remained jammed for several hours and although that day he left several hours early to ensure he would arrive at school on time, he still ended up coming in late.
Fearing for their lives many children’s parents forbid them from traveling to school. A few dollars per month can buy a good education in Mogadishu, but with high unemployment, most people cannot afford even this. There is a brain drain towards safer areas as many schools have been unable to find qualified teachers willing to work in some of the more dangerous areas of the capital.
It is not hard to see where these sentiments come from when violence still affects the few surviving schools.
Sweating and standing at the entrance of his class after the teacher refused to admit him because of his tardiness, Ali a 24-year-old student, spoke to The Media Line, “I don’t think that I can continue an education in this troubled manner."
“The streets are usually blocked in the early hours, there is often gunfire on the streets -- and teachers don’t see your trouble but they close the doors if you are late even two minutes," he said.
Aqon-Bile School is one of the few schools in the capital. They have both an English and Arabic curriculum. Both girls and boys attend the same classes. An exception in Mogadishu's mainly gender segregated classes.
Bashir Hudi, the Principal, told The Media Line that now is the most difficult time for Somalia’s education as many teachers and students are fleeing the country because of the escalating violence.
"It's an unbelievably hard time for education, we hope peace will come soon" he said as some of his students were away that day after fighting broke out in one of the major roads in Mogadishu.
"No student can come every day because of the violence blocking them from traveling on the streets" he added.
Mohamed Said Farah, spokesman for the Mogadishu Education Umbrella, told TML that some schools have decided to close to raise awareness of the escalating insecurity that is hampering education in the capital in particular, and the country in general.
"In excess of 30,000 students have lost school education due to insecurity and the targeting of teachers and students" he tells TML.
Many students fled the violence in Mogadishu, either going to the city's edges, to outside regions or to neighboring countries.
Sitting with his parents and children in a hut in Elasha Biyaha refugees camp, outside Mogadishu, former student Mohamed Nor tells TML that he couldn’t keep on learning after some of his friends were killed and others joined in the warring sides, mainly Al-Shabaab.
“If I can’t learn safely, then I won't go to school, my life is worth more than education" Mohamed Abdi, a retired student in Mogadishu told The Media Line in his house.
"There is no place to learn in Mogadishu right now, I’m waiting for a peaceful time to learn" he says as he was revising his mathematics lessons. "We gradually forget what we have already learned."
Driving along the long streets of Heliwa district, once the heart of Somali education, abandoned school buildings with foul smelling rooms, no longer hold any traces of having once been classrooms.
Thorny trees are growing in and around the schools, the desks and chairs were stolen long ago. There are no windows. Most rooms are dark and deserted, or home to refugees who fled the fighting in Mogadishu. Many of the working schools have been saved by gunmen, but those which had no protection have been blackened and are a wretched sight.
Some working universities are trying to cover the educational needs of their Somali students. Banadir University, one of the universities built some years ago, is trying to meet the growing demand for education, as many students who have graduated become nurses and doctors.
"We [lecturers] work in a difficult time, all violence must end at some point, and we hope there will come a day not of violence, but of peace in Somalia." Professor Mohamed Mahamud Bidey, Dean of the Benadir University Medical College told TML.
Bidey added that a study conducted by his university showed that 35% of Mogadishu students were displaced in the violence and more than 30 schools were forced to close, many others moved to temporary locations.
While many students stopped learning because of the violence, others have been pressed to join in the fighting in Somalia, joining the mainly Islamist Al-Shabaab, an education official told TML on condition of anonymity.
With no a governmental agency, the schools are organized by educational agencies who manage most of the schools in Mogadishu.
Al-Haramain, an Islamic relief agency, used to care for orphans, but was closed by American troops, after being accused of aiding terrorist groups. Now, many of those children have joined the Islamists fighting the government of Somalia and the AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
"Many of my former students at Al-Haramain are now Al-Shabaab members," a former teacher of Al-Haramain said on condition of anonymity.
"They joined in the fighting because they had no proper care and they have been brainwashed with money by the warring sides to join the fighting," he added.
Unemployment and ignorance often pushes young men to become gunmen after failing to get a proper education. In the Somali capital, the unabated violence raging through its territory, has meant some people have never attended school since the central government was toppled and the country fell into chaos.
"I have never attended a school or any education centre. I’m 28 now," Nur Shire, a shopkeeper in Mogadishu told TML at his shop.
"How can someone who grew up in violence learn at school?" he asked, remorseful that he was never able to secure an education.
Even with an education though, many qualified people are unable to secure jobs at schools and universities. Some are blaming a lack of nationalization in teaching and clan based hiring.
"I was one of the Somali teachers who graduated from Lafole University. In 1988, after the collapse of the government, being able to find proper work became very rare," Abdiwahid Januni, a former teacher, told TML at a café shop in Mogadishu.
"I don’t have a job now, because most schools hire teachers for clannish reasons" he added, unhopeful for Somalia’s education future.
When Somalia’s original educational curriculum became unusable, nearly all of the schools started using foreign curriculums such as that from the U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. Old text books are now simply used as wrappers for food and other commodities.
But there is some hope, private schools are filling a much needed role in the chaotic country. These schools started in 1991, and provided education for lower payments than the public schools.
Dallas school is one such private school in Mogadishu.
"I’ve been learning English for one year, I hope to be a skilled teacher/translator soon" said Mohamed Farah, a student at the school who spoke to TML as he was having an English conversation lesson with another student.
"We taught many students who are now working in and outside the country" says Burhan Garasow, teacher and manager of the school.
"We hope the violence will come to an end, so we will be able to teach more students" the teacher told TML in his office.
Though violence is unabated in Mogadishu, the sentiment is echoed by many students.
"I want to become a doctor. I want to save my people," says Fatima Ahmed,14, a student at Aqon-Bile school, who grew up after the start of the bloody civil war.
While some private schools are gradually being re-established, most schools in the area are totally destroyed – a shattered education system from a city torn apart by militia. One of the many victims and subsequent factors behind the ongoing violence, since the 1991 collapse of Somalia's central government.
Meanwhile, hopes for education with peace lie in waiting.
Source: MediaLine, Sept 17, 2009