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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, January 2, 2010– School enrolment has risen sharply in
Somaliland since 1991, raising the literacy rate from 20 percent to 45
percent, education officials have said.
“School enrolment [in primary and secondary schools] has increased
dramatically. In 1991, we had only 1,019 students enrolled in schools
but by the year 2009 some 45,223 students were in school,” Abdi
Abdillahi Mohamed, the director of planning in Somaliland’s ministry of
education, told IRIN.
Somaliland declared unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in
1991.
Ali Abdi Odowa, director-general in the education ministry, attributed
the increase to rising awareness and the construction of many primary
schools.
“Hundreds of schools have been built both in urban and rural areas and
adult education has also started,” he said.
Somaliland, he said, plans to ensure that at least 75 percent of the
population is able to read and write by 2015.
According to Mohamed, 225,853 students attended primary school and
21,331 attended secondary school in 2008/2009, while 26,156 were in
adult education.
Some 6,820 students are currently enrolled in technical colleges and
vocational schools.
“We have also added two social science subjects in high school –
business and agriculture – which we hope will encourage high school
leavers to be self-employed,” Mohammed said.
Pastoralists complain
However, the ministry had received complaints from displaced persons and
pastoralists about school fees and the lack of access by their children
to schools.
“Somaliland’s constitution stipulates that all elementary and secondary
education is free; 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,” he said.
In remote areas, the ministry has established a pilot project where
teachers follow pastoralists and teach 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,” Mohamed said.
“We have also started school feeding centers: Pastoralists’ children are
fed in boarding schools in villages when their families are on the move
in search of pasture.”
maj/js/cb
Source: IRIN, December 31, 2009
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