Instability in the way of education
By: Abdulaziz Billow Ali,
Somalilandsun- UN agencies dealing with education in Somalia argue that the endless combat still pose a huge threat to the education sector.
For two decades, instability pushed many Somalis out of school, both at the basic and university levels with only a few finding spaces in schools outside Somalia but at a costly price.
However with an improvement in the security, many universities are opening up as life is springing back to Mogadishu, renewing the hopes and dreams of many youths in Somalia.
Recently, 650 students from SIMAD University in Mogadishu graduated with degrees in different categories with the institute’s management expressing high hopes in the improvement of education in Somalia.
According to latest figures by the UN, as of August 2011, about 1.8 million children aged 5 to 17 were already out of school in southern Somalia because of the displacement of school-aged children due to war and famine. Insecurity and lack of funds has also been a major challenge.
For many years owing to the conflict, the younger generations were compelled to engage in violence, stay idle or migrate abroad with the majority losing opportunities for their socioeconomic development like education.
Currently, more than 25 private universities are operational in Mogadishu.
A suicide attack at a graduation ceremony in December 2009 killed professors, government ministers and graduating students in a Mogadishu hotel casting a dark shadow to the Somali education sector that is slowly coming to terms with the tragedy.
Lately Muslim countries have pledged scholarship to needy Somali students and it is more likely that education in Somalia will improve in the coming years.
For the people in Somalia and the young in particular, maybe the end to the war will create a perfect environment for education here in Somalia and a possible return of Somalia Universities back to the list of the Africa’s greatest universities.
Abdulaziz Billow Ali, Press TV, Mogadishu
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/14/278070/somalia-instability-in-the-way-of-education/
