By Abdulkadir Khalif
Sunday, September 05, 2010
The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Resettlement, Abdullahi Ibrahim Garweyne, told the media that the Ministry of Higher Education and Culture attained allocations for Somali students to learn in higher education institutions in Sudan and Yemen. He added that other countries have promised to offer more scholarships, without identifying which ones.
Minister Garweyne who is the caretaker of the higher education portfolio informed the potential beneficiaries that an acceptance test will be held in several subjects, namely biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, Arabic language, culture and English language. Apart from good marks, he added that students will also be chosen on good conduct.
Students contacted in Mogadishu by Nation Media Group say since the death of the former higher education minister, the late Professor Ibrahim Hassan Addow, scholarship opportunities for Somali students have gone down.
Professor Addow was killed in December 2009 together with other ministers by an alleged suicide bomber during a Banadir University graduation ceremony at Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu. According to the interviewed students, these types of scholarships offer opportunities to many secondary school leavers who cannot afford enrolment at the local, privately owned universities due to economic reasons.
Meanwhile, tension continues to overwhelm the residents of Mogadishu as the Somali Islamist groups, Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam, continue the jihad (holy war) against government positions and sites controlled by Amisom peacekeepers for the sixth day.
According to the few residents remaining in Hodon and Howlwadaag districts in South Mogadishu, the Islamists made some advances, reaching close to the strategic Maka-al-Mukarramah Avenue that links the airport and Villa Somalia, the state house in Mogadishu.
Over 150 people were killed in Mogadishu since August 30, including a massacre that took place at Muna Hotel the next day, when suicide bombers attacked the lodging facility mainly used by government officials and their families. Six legislators and five government officials were killed in the mission that left 33 people dead.
Source: Sunday Monitor