EU Intervention in Education

“My dream to become a teacher becomes a reality...” Fadxiga Nuux Cali

Fadxiga Nuux Cali is a female teacher aged 24 years. She teaches in Ahmed Dhagali primary school in Hargeisa town in Somaliland. She is a first born in a family of six children (3 boys and 3 girls). Her father is a bus driver and a sole bread winner. Her mother is a housewife. Nuux joined the SCOTT programme in 2006 and completed the teacher training programme at the University of Hargeisa. The University of Hargeisa is 5 km from her home and 4 km from her current school.

―In 2006, the Ministry of Education, Somaliland visited my school and announced that there was a teacher training programme supported by the EU and that teachers would be recruited to join it. I was excited as I needed to train as a teacher and fulfil my life time desire to pass on knowledge to other children‖— she noted.

She was recruited under the in-service urban SCOTT teacher training programme. She attended the morning sessions at the University and taught in the afternoon.

―The programme was very intensive‖ — she remembers.

When the final exams were administered, she passed with honours. She was the best among the 70 female students in her class during this period.

―After I completed, I came back and taught in my former school. I have improved my skills a great deal. I‘m now able to prepare my plans and schemes of work. In addition, I can now manage my classroom of 64 students. Students now participate in the learning. They are motivated, their handwriting has improved and their overall performance is much better‖ — she confirmed.

From observations made on her lessons delivery, she portrayed in- depth knowledge of the subject matter, had good lesson plans and schemes of work, a very good and audible voice, very good board plan and very good classroom management. She also extensively assessed the students work. With these achievements as a teacher, she is undertaking a capacity building course and hopefully she will pursue a degree in education in future

Fadxiga Nuux in class with her pupils

1

The Accelerated Primary Education Support Programme in (APES) project making the difference to the children of Somalia

Bambasso Primary School before construction Bambasso Primary School after construction

Children in a furnished classroom in Bambasso School Play and recreation for the Girl-child

In picture 1 Pupils of Bambasso Primary school in region of South Central Somalia taking lessons under a tree before the intervention of APES. In 2010, school construction and classroom furnishing (picture 2) was carried out and has led to increased access to quality education in the same school (Picture3). In addition, play and recreation (picture 4) has contributed to the active participation of girls in schools supported under this project. This EU-funded intervention Accelerated Primary Education Support Programme in Somalia (APES) is implemented by NRC-Europe.

Never too Late to Learn

Talking to Lul Dahir Warsame, one cannot help but admire the immense determination that lies beneath her quiet and reserved demeanour. At 51, Lul –a married woman with three daughters– is a beneficiary of the EU- funded and ADRA-implemented SIBES project promoting adult literacy in partnership with the Ministry of Education in and Nugaal regions. According to her, learning basic literacy and numeracy skills despite her advanced age was the greatest gift that she could ever have asked for. Lul is a businesswoman based in Jalam village, located between Garowe and Galkayo town in the Puntland State of Somalia. She

2 is a milk vendor and her daily task involves buying milk from major vendors in Garowe town and reselling it in smaller Jerri cans to customers in Jalam. Prior to ADRA‘s intervention, Lul explains that she used to have major difficulties in labelling the different Jerri cans which were meant for different clients. ―Since I did not know how to read or write, I used to mark the Jerri cans with different coloured marker pens. Needless to say, the confusion that used to reign was immense and as a result I kept on losing valuable clients because of my illiteracy‖, she adds with a sad and forlorn expression on her erstwhile beaming face. But now everything has changed since I began attending adult literacy classes that have been introduced by ADRA. I am now able to communicate with my husband and my clients. My milk business has as a result been growing in leaps and bounds since I can now comprehend basic numeracy skills and operate a simple cash book. She quips: ―Thank you ADRA for introducing me to adult literacy classes, may your good deeds long continue to touch others!‖

Promoting Access to Basic Education Services in Puntland

Darwish Primary School, in Garowe, Puntland was established over 40 years ago as an elementary school. Children completing grade 4 would join other intermediate schools in Puntland for grades 5-8 until the 2005-2006 academic year, when the school started its own intermediate school, facilitating easy translation to intermediate classes for students completing elementary school. The EU-funded Basic Education Development project implemented by ADRA supported the construction of 2 new classrooms that housed the first group of learners enrolled for intermediate level. ADRA has continued to render support to the growth of Darwish through the EU-funded Support to Integrated Basic Education Services (SIBES) project, which started in July 2008. The support is in the form of learning materials, capacity development and provision of extra learning spaces with an additional classroom constructed to accommodate the increased population of learners.

On 30 July 2009, the school marked a significant moment of its history when 220 pupils (112 girls and 108 boys) graduated from grade 8 after passing their intermediate level exams. The school is well managed with 22 professional teachers supervising over 1,500 learners enrolled. This has ensured effective use of assistance provided resulting in increased access to basic education for both adults and children. The school‘s head teacher –Mr. Mohamed Ali– was grateful for all the support extended to the school and urged for more support to be given to the country‘s growing education sector.

“I Can Now Read!”

Medina Sheikh Muhammad believes she could have been a great woman! Yes, an empowered and educated woman bestriding Africa with a message of hope for the women and the girl children. However, as fate would have it, Medina, a 30 year old woman from Hiran (in South Central Somalia) has not achieved this goal. The cultural restrictions on girls‘ education and the ignorance of her parents about education negatively impacted on her ambition to access education in her childhood. The furthest she could go was to help her mother in domestic work sometimes herding goats. Medina had to make do with the reality of lost opportunities and she has bitter words for the status quo prevailing in Somalia at the moment.

Medina narrates that when she was fourteen years old, she was forced into a marriage with a man in the rural area that had no interest in education. So she could not get the chance to learn. Thanks to the EU-funded Basic Education Development project implemented by ADRA a ray of hope has come into Medina‘s life. ―Life is now very different after recent changes. This is my first opportunity to get education and I will work hard so that I succeed,‖ says Medina who is now an adult leaner in the functional adult literacy programme in Moqokori primary school. Medina regrets her lost years not attending school but now there is light at the end of the tunnel because she has a chance of learning specific small business skills alongside other survival skills like reading and writing. ―The efforts to re-establish the education system in the country by constructing schools for children and functional adult literacy for adults revived my hope,‖ says a gleaming Medina. She has a daunting mission though. Medina is adamant to accomplish what her early life did not allow her to and her daughters are not going to undergo a life without proper education. On this count, Medina has vowed to educate her daughters despite the attendant drawbacks the Somali culture presents on girl-child education. ―My commitment is to mobilize my

3 female colleagues to attend the adult literacy classes and send their daughters to school. This will in the long run allow women to participate in decisions affecting their lives, making policies and governing their country,‖ the adult learner concludes saying that this project will remain fresh in the minds of Moqokori community for many years to come. This is because Medina is just one out of thousands of women who were mainly under threat of not accessing any form of education but now have an opportunity to jump out of the trough of ignorance altogether. There are all indications that the Basic Education Development project has changed Medina‘s life for the better and it is hoped that this will be the case for hundreds of illiterate adult women in Somalia.

Disabled Girl’s Future Brightened by Education Project

To Maryan Hassan Mohamed, a 14-year-old disabled girl, the long standing conflict in her native country, Somalia, and the attendant inability to deal with famine, illiteracy and disease in her backyard have only served to darken her determination to belong to the hallowed class of educated and empowered women. Maryan lost her leg from a gunshot earlier in her childhood. The 14-year Somali civil war left her disabled with no opportunity to access her other ‗leg‘, education. For a long time Maryan did not get the chance to enrol in school, yet she really wanted to study. Whenever she asked her father to take her to school, his response was always the same: ―my daughter, you can‘t reach the schools because they are far away from our house‖. Her father persistently reminded her much to the chagrin of this determined but handicapped girl.

―One day I saw big trucks unloading stones in an open square near our house‖. With EU funding, a school was constructed for our community. ―I was overwhelmed with joy as tears filled my eyes; it was as if I had gotten fresh legs to run‖, beamed Maryan who also benefited from a pupil scholarship since her parents could not afford to pay school fees. ―I told my parents about my free education offer and they were so happy and grateful to the Community Education Committee and the school for doing me this great favour‖. It is only then that lady luck seemed to have struck on Maryan‘s door. The new school had dramatically turned her dream into reality when she performed well in grade four common examinations becoming the second best girl student while her friend Nima became the best girl student in the school. ―All my teachers love me because I am never late and have never been absent from school. I am now in grade five and our school holds the trophy for best performance among the 16 schools supported by the EU.‖ This has been so because the school has been equipped with all the necessary teaching and learning materials.

Where does Maryan see herself in 10 years‘ time? ―My number one expectation is to continue with my education up to degree level and become a teacher so that I can teach other children in our community. I cannot dispute whoever said that every cloud has a silver lining‖. ―The school has really changed my life. I wish it would support us with our education up to secondary level.‖

The EU-funded Basic Education Development project implemented by ADRA in both Hiran and Nugal regions of Somalia was to increase access to quality primary education for children and quality basic education for adults in the Hiran and Nugal regions of South Central Somalia. The project has two components: basic education for children and functional adult literacy for women.

Strengthening Capacity of Teacher Training in Primary and Secondary education

Mohamed, 21 years old, lives in but his family lives at Dinsor town in Bay Region in South West Somalia. His family depends on farming, itself heavily reliant on rain patterns, but there has been a drought for last two seasons. Mohamed lived with his parents until he was 10 years old. Then, he was sent to Mogadishu where he lived with his relatives and completed his primary and secondary school. He could not continue his education because he could not afford school fees for the University. Mohammed started looking for a job in Mogadishu

Mohamed in class with his learners

4 but it was hard to get one with a primary school qualification. Instead he got a job as an assistant teacher in one school at Dharkenley district. He worked for one year earning $50 a month. Until Mohamed‘s displacement by the continuing fighting in Mogadishu, Mohamed lived with his relatives in Hodan. After displacement, he moved to an IDP settlement in Dherkinley. To date, he lives in an overcrowded IDP settlement located near Mogadishu‘s international Airport.

When the EU-funded SCOTTPs (Strengthening Capacity of Teacher Training in Primary and Secondary education) programme started in March 2009 in Mogadishu, Mohamed got the information about the project through friends and applied. He sat the admission test in Mogadishu University and passed well. He said, ―One of my happiest days was when I heard that I passed the admission test of SCOTTPS because I can‘t pay the university fees. SCOTTPs now pays for my transport and gives me free training. Thanks to NRC, the EU and SCOTTPS!‖ Mohamed is currently attending class with 40 other trainees from different districts in Mogadishu whilst the project meets Mohamed‘s transport costs and fees. He is currently learning to be a teacher.

With this programme, NRC Europe has overall responsibility for ensuring quality teacher training for 360 serving teachers through in-service training programmes and 15 female teachers through pre-service programme. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the development of a sustainable, cohesive education system by providing relevant primary and secondary education to all children and youth of Somalia.

5