Somalia fights to standardize schools with first new curriculum since civil war began

Record ID: 1434620

  • Title: Somalia fights to standardize schools with first new curriculum since civil war began
  • Date: 1st October 2019
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN ENTERING BANADIR ZONE SCHOOL VARIOUS OF CHILDREN GETTING OFF THEIR SCHOOL BUS VARIOUS OF STUDENTS TAKING NOTES DURING LESSON VARIOUS OF ABDULKADIR MOHAMED SHEIKH TEACHING BLACKBOARD WITH SOMALI WRITING IN CHALK (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDULKADIR MOHAMED SHEIKH, MATH AND PHYSICS TEACHER, SAYING: "Students are coping well with the new curriculum because it is based on their religion, culture and vernacular. They are finding the new curriculum easy to understand. They are learning well under this new curriculum and can even read the books on their own now." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS READING FROM TEXTBOOKS IN CLASS (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) SHUAYB MUHIDIN, STUDENT, BANADIR ZONE SCHOOL, SAYING: "This new syllabus is a lot better than the former Kenyan one which was in English. The new curriculum is better because it is in our mother tongue - Somali" VARIOUS OF BOYS READING FROM TEXTBOOKS VARIOUS OF GIRLS READING FROM TEXTBOOKS MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 21, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ABDIRAHMAN MOHAMED ABDULLE, STATE MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND CULTURE TAKING NOTES IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDIRAHMAN MOHAMED ABDULLE, STATE MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND CULTURE, SAYING: "There are undeniable challenges. Right now there over 30,000 teachers but only about 22 percent of those teachers are qualified and certified. You can understand that the quality of students depends on the quality of the teachers." MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) GIRLS TAKING NOTES DURING CLASS MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 21, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDIRAHMAN MOHAMED ABDULLE, STATE MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND CULTURE, SAYING: "Insecurity is a general challenge for the whole country, but we know that if people are educated, the country will be peaceful. This country has gone through different stages of insecurity. But as you know, the Somali people, and Somali students, can endure a lot, even more than a lot of people. They keep attending school." MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS COMING OUT FROM BANADIR ZONE SCHOOL AT HOME TIME SCHOOL BUSES DRIVING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2019 09:48
  • Keywords: education systems new curriculum Banadir Zone School Islamist insurgents enrolment rates new syllabus
  • Location: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • City: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Education,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AZ9L2DZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Every school day, students travel Mogadishu's battle-scarred streets to get to Banadir Zone School. For years, the government has battled Islamist insurgents but now authorities are also turning to a new challenge: schools like Banadir.
    The start of this school year marks the first time since the civil war broke out in 1991 that the government has issued a new curriculum for primary and secondary school students.
    As clan warlords battled each other and armed factions rose and fell, schools had to make do with whatever materials were to hand. Over 40 curricula were used across Somalia, creating a hodgepodge of competing education systems in a variety of languages, the government said.
    Now, as Somalia begins to get back on its feet, students are finally starting to read from the same page.
    Since August, pupils have been issued nine subjects from textbooks printed in Somalia, and their schools have synchronised academic terms.
    The new books cover English, Arabic, Somali, maths, Islamic studies, science, physical education, technology, and social studies.
    "This new syllabus is better than the old Kenyan syllabus, which was in English. The new curriculum is the best," Muhidin said, sitting three-abreast to a desk in his year seven maths and physics class.
    With only four out of ten children in school, Somalia has one of the world's lowest enrolment rates for school-aged children, according to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
    During the chaos of the civil war, schools sourced textbooks from more than ten countries, and English and Arabic replaced Somali as the language of instruction.
    For a country that experiences near-daily deadly bomb attacks by militant Islamist group al Shabaab, religious education is a particularly important subject, said State Minister of Higher Education And Culture Abdirahman Mohamed Abdulle.
    With the help of Somalia's clerics, Abdulle said the government has trained teachers in Islamic ethics and created a syllabus that "teaches the correct version of Islam, the Islam Somalia used to practise throughout history."
    "This curriculum will produce students who are sound, who are free from terror ideology, moderate students who have Islamic knowledge as well as other subjects."
    It's a step in right direction, but the education system isn't chalking up A-grade results quite yet. Only 22% of Somalia's 30,000 teachers are certified or qualified, Abdulle said.
    "The quality of students depends on the quality of the quality of teachers," he added.
    To that end, the government has established teacher training colleges, while current teachers will be able to bone-up with online modules.
    Abdulle is undaunted because, he said, the challenges of the new system are minor compared to the gunfire and chaos sowed by almost three decades of civil war.
    "There are security challenges but if the people are not educated and given quality education, then worse will come."
    (Abdidrahman Hussein, Okwi Okoh & Katharine Houreld)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register