Education in Somalia
The Somali National University was the first high level education institution in the territory of Somalia.
The latter includes a gender sensitive national education policy compliant with world standards, such as those outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
[7] Examples of this and other educational measures at work are the government's enactment of legislation aimed at securing the educational interests of girls,[8] promoting the growth of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) program designed to reach parents and care-givers in their homes as well as in the ECD centers for 0-5-year-old children,[9] and introducing incentive packages to encourage teachers to work in remote rural areas.
[12] It is headed by the Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Hassan, under whom a Vice Minister and Director General help oversee a Post-Primary Education Division (PPED) and a Basic Education Directorate (BED), among other boards.
Lower and upper primary students are taught for 36 and 42 lesson periods, each lasting 35 and 40 minutes, respectively, per week.
English is the language of instruction in secondary schools, except in the Somali, Arabic, and Islamic courses.
Nugaal University in Las Anod also provides tertiary instruction to residents of Sool.
These include vocational skills training, adult literacy, community health education, and agricultural extension activities.
[19] Qur'anic schools (also known as duqsi) remain the basic system of traditional religious instruction in Somalia.
They provide Islamic education for children, thereby filling a clear religious and social role in the country.
To address shortcomings in religious instruction, the Somali government on its own part also subsequently established the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, under which Qur'anic education is now regulated.
Total student enrollment increased by 27% over the previous year, with girls lagging only slightly behind boys in attendance in most regions.
[23] The table below shows the level of education completed by surveyed residents of Puntland and Somaliland in 2013.
