Somaliland: Private schools deserve our appreciation and applauding – not intimidation and bullying at the hands of unelected bureaucrats.
Ever since the new minister of education took office, there has been growing tension and hostility towards the private schools. The constitution of Somaliland upholds and encourages free enterprising and private ownership. However, the attitude and the language of the educational officer’s vs private school ownership remains me of communist Cuba or Saltine era the Soviet Union, where wealth and entrepreneurship were a curse or taboo rather than something worth applauding and appreciation.
As we are all aware, the education of Somaliland has emerged from the ruins of total destruction at the hands of Siyad Bare Dictatorship in 1991. Ever since, both the public, private schools as well as and our universities have demonstrated remarkable progress. However, the pace at which private education has progressed, over the years, is commendable and should be the pride of every citizen of this Great Nation. But our respected Minister and his lieutenants evidently see otherwise.
Recent statistics show that private schools represent more than 70% of the total schools in Somaliland. This is unprecedented in entire Africa and considered to be an unseen miracle in the Horn and East Africa. Prior to the reclamation of independence, private schools were prohibited and considered illegal. But the new of Somaliland has adopted privatization of many economic sectors previously by the government like telecommunication, banking and education. As a result, we have made remarkable progress in many walks of life and also created thousands of new jobs.
As far as the vast majority of Somalilanders are concerned, the option to send our children to the best institutions is one of the fruits of independence. Following the independence of Somaliland, the concept of free-market economy has sprung like mushrooms in the entire territory and private education is currently the backbone of the educational apparatus. Another successful Model of education is the Community universities which are non-profit and not directly managed by government officials – who are often blamed to be inefficient and at times presumed to be corrupt.
This week, the crisis and disagreement between the Ministry of Education and management of various private schools across the country stem from the following issues:
⦁ The entire 450 scholarship positions that were recently granted to us by the Ethiopian government have been earmarked for the Government-run public schools. This is despite the fact that the public schools make only 30% of high school graduates in 2019. These facts and figures, notwithstanding, someone might argue that the parents of the public-school children are often poor and cannot afford to support their kid’s day- to-day livelihood let alone enrol them into local universities. Therefore, it is justifiable that the entire scholarships are granted to the less affluent segment of the society – Affirmative Action. But on the other hand, the pressing question is: where is the respect for merit, Hard work and excellence. How come A+ student is surpassed by D student. Who on earth has legalized or approved segregation of Somaliland Students into HAVE and HAVE NOTS. Where will this communist style sickness lead us. We need another way of doing business. We used this space between our ears.
⦁ The Government has also issued a new Education Directive specifically for the private Sector Schools which stipulates the following frustrating requirements which, if not checked, could have crippling consequences. The Ministry has recently started a strict registration campaign. The original aim was obviously to weed-out the radical elements from the educational society. The ministry is also targeting the ultra-liberal thoughts that have more recently infiltrated our conservative, God-fearing people. However, according to well-informed sources, the Ministry’s directive requires that at the beginning of each scholastic year, each and every school should register it is existence with the Ministry – from scratch. This condition is most probably designed to intimidate and eventually shutdown certain schools for reasons known only to the concerned government officials. Some of these schools have been operational for more than 20 years. Most of the current government officials, including the majority of Somaliland cabinet ministers, have graduated from these privately-owned schools. Therefore, what is the logic behind asking your elementary school mentor to fill useless forms and answer unnecessary questions. The only conceivable reason is a recipe for corruption and pulleying the owners. Independent legal councils have also confirmed that the new registration directive issued by the MOE is in controversy with the relevant laws.
⦁ Under the new directives, any private school that intends to hire a new teacher have to send the latter’s VC to the Ministry to approval; No reason has been given for imposing this stupid requirement. This is a classical example of putting the cart before the horse. Logically, the Ministry should test all the teachers and give them the licenses to work in pre-determined category of education. Thereafter, it is up the teacher to seek his livelihood and apply for the school of his or her choice. Likewise, the School should have the liberty to hire any teach so long as he or she is duly certified by the Ministry. This is another tool of unnecessary intervention with the obvious motive of intimidation.
CONCLUSION
The approach of the Ministry of Education shows prejudice against privately-owned schools. The concept of private ownership is upheld by the Constitution of the Land. However, there is a tendency to mark the school owners as the Bourgeois of the Soviets Era. On the contrary, the school owners are actually self-made entrepreneurs who have spent lifetime effort in the upbringing of thousands of successful young men and women. They deserve our appreciation and applauding – not intimidation and bullying at the hands of unelected bureaucrats.
RECOMMENDATION
First and foremost, I would recommend that the government monitoring of the private schools should be “At Arm’s Length” since these schools have out-performed the public system – If Not Broken, Don’t Fix It (فاقد الشيء لا يعطي). We should also have the vision to expand and enhancing this successful Private Schooling Model, including prestigious private boarding schools at would attract thousands of students from the neighbouring country and diaspora.
Countries like Turkey, USA and Malaysia are attracting millions of students from around the world and business is generating millions of jobs and also earned the countries large foreign currency earnings. This is part of the so-called services industry. Saudi Arabia is earning more than 15 Billion Dollars a year from what they call Religious Tourism being the inflow of pilgrims into Hajj and Umra. Somaliland has the opportunity of expanding the private education industry by opening scores of large-scale boarding and day schools and emerging as Regional Hub in this regard – but where is the Vision and Strategy!!!.
If successful, educational tourism could create more jobs than any other industry in the Somaliland Economic structure. The Ministry should have this long-term strategic vision and refrain from bitty inter-fighting and dismantling the available structures that has been built over the years.
Secondly, the Colonial era Public Education Model is not working; the focus should be on the ways and means of improving the available. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The new Public schools’ Model should be similar to our community universities (Hargeisa, Amuud, Burao etc). We should adopt a community-based Public schooling system where the community have the biggest say in the day-to-day business of education (Planning, Monitoring, Financing etc). The schools should have Board of Directors comprised of the parents, the business local community and other notables of the locality. The Board should have the power to appoint and expel the Principals and other school management if they fail to deliver on their contractual obligations.
Finally, the Ministry has the right to monitor and exercise its oversight on the entire education system. But they also should spend positive signals and open fruitful discussions with Schools’ management before issuing directives. The aim should be the formulation of sound policies and strategies tailormade to fulfilling the goals and targets of viable and sustainable education system. The fundamental objective is raising educationally empowered and mentally enlightened generations. On top of that, the Ministry of Education should recognise that the private schools have the potentials of developing into an entire Education Industry that could contribute to the creation of thousands of jobs and also fuel economic growth of unparalleled dimensions.
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Hassan Abdi Yousuf
Hargeisa, Somaliland
