Challenges of continued civil strife on the education system in Somalia

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of war on an education system with specific focus on Somalia. It is a known fact that wars have very devastating effects on human life in all aspects. In most cases the education system is never left out of these devastating effects. At times the whole education system can be brought to its knees by prolonged effects of war. The main reason being that security of both the learners and the teachers take priority and this means education can only take place effectively in a secure and peaceful environment. Some of the effects of war on the education system in Somalia addressed in this paper include; poorly developed Early Childhood Education (ECE) sub-sector characterized by few enrolments, teacher shortage, inadequate teaching and learning facilities, lack of policy and common curriculum, as well as incapacity of the relevant government departments to coordinate, inspect and enforce standards. While this may seem to apply mainly to the ECE sub-sector, similar challenges are also experienced in the other educational sub-sectors including primary, secondary, tertiary and university education. The paper therefore presents an overview of the whole educational system starting with a brief background of the country, the structure, organization, administration, financing and participation of learners in the education system. With regard to instituting educational reforms the efforts of international organization like UNICEF, UNESCO and other NGOs cannot be ignored. In fact their contributions are being felt in the education system in Somalia today. This has also been given some attention in this paper. The paper concludes by looking at the various educational issues and challenges facing Somalia as a country.