HARGEISA, 25 January 2011 (IRIN) - The self-declared republic of
Somaliland has introduced free education at primary and intermediate
levels and doubled teachers' salaries but these decisions will be hard
to sustain and could affect the quality of public education, say
experts.
"We need to ask ourselves, does the Somaliland government have the
capacity to handle this [salary] increase? The short answer is 'no',"
Saeed Osman, a Uganda-based researcher in Somaliland's education
development, told IRIN.
"The Ministry of Education requested the Finance Ministry to recruit
2,000 teachers but the response was that only 1,500 teachers could be
recruited," he added. "This shows that Somaliland's government lacks
the capacity to handle the increased school enrollment."
Somaliland's Finance Minister Mohamed Hashi Elmi announced on 16
January the introduction of free education in primary and intermediate
schools. He also increased, by 100 percent, salaries of civil
servants, teachers and personnel in the national forces.
"We have employed about 1,500 new teachers; for this reason all
public primary and intermediate schools will be free of charge," Elmi
said.
However, education experts say the government's move could damage the
quality of public education in Somaliland.
"Look at the countries in the region, such as Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania. When they announced universal primary education, school
enrollment increased by about 200 percent," Osman said. "A similar
increase will happen in Somaliland, can we handle this?
"The salary increase announced by the government will not amount to
much because a teacher used to earn about US$100-$180 with the
parents' support fee included; without the parents' support, a teacher
earned $50, so with the new increase, this will come to just $100;
this is not adequate if the parents' support fee is withdrawn [as will
happen under the free education system]."
At least 200,000 students are enrolled in Somaliland's public primary
and intermediate schools, according to estimates by the Ministry of
Education.
Ali Mohamed Ali, the director-general for education in Somaliland,
said: "Only 21,639 students in public primary/intermediate schools are
currently benefiting from free education; we hope that the newly
employed 1,500 teachers will bridge the gap. Somaliland's school
enrollment increase is 6 percent annually, we do not anticipate a
sharp increase from this."
Before the election in June 2010 of President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud,
Somaliland's annual education budget was 14.6 billion shillings ($25
million) out of a $45 million annual budget. However, sources in the
Finance Ministry told IRIN this year's education budget was about 35
billion shillings ($60 million) out of the government's $90 million
annual budget.
"About 90 percent of the increased budget is expected to come from
the Inland Revenue," a source in the ministry, who requested
anonymity, said.
The increased budget has yet to be passed by Somaliland's Council of
Ministers and House of Representatives.
Welcome move
Somaliland has been largely stable since 1991 when it dissolved the
union with Somalia and public schools were free until 1994 when civil
war broke out with the former Somali National Movement - the
liberation movement of Somaliland - between 1981 and 1991. This caused
economic hardships for the government, leading to students being
charged 15,000 Somaliland shillings ($2.50) each per month since 1995.
Thousands of children are expected to take advantage of the free
primary education. "The programme will give a chance to poor families
to send their children to schools even though the yearly school
enrollment in public schools was about 6 percent of the total number
of students," Ali, the director-general of education, said.
Sa'ed Ahmed Khayre, a teacher in Ahmed Dhagah Primary and
Intermediate School in Hargeisa, said: "Public school principals used
to earn much more than the teachers and we believe that the new salary
increase will give us the chance to evaluate the teachers who are
doing their jobs well or not.
"The increase will boost teachers' livelihoods and encourage them not
to seek other jobs; it will improve the quality of public school
education because earlier we used to care more for quantity rather
than quality."
Parents and students have welcomed the government's announcement.
"Three of my seven children are in the public schools; I used to
worry about their school fees daily because if I don't pay on time, my
children get thrown out of school," Nimo Ahmed Nuh, a petty trader in
Hargeisa, said. "This [free education] was one of the promises made by
KULMIYE [ruling party] during its campaigns last year."
Mawlid Mohamed, 16, a student at Sheikh Madar Primary/Intermediate
school in Hargeisa, said: "We used to be chased home if our parents
didn't pay the school fees on the 25th of every month; now we are glad
this will come to an end."
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