STORY: With return to peace, Somali children look to the

future with hope

DURATION: 6:13
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
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CREDIT REQUIRED: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
LANGUAGE: SOMALI NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 6/JUNE/2021, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot - students walking to the Somali National University campus for primary
and secondary school end of year national examinations
2. Med shot - students walking
3. Wide shot - students being searched before entering the examination center
4. Med shot - school boys in a queue
5. Close up shot - shoes
6. Wide shot - a policeman searching the students
7. Close up shot - a policeman on guard
8. Med shot - school girls in a queue
9. Close up shot - school girls
10. Med shot - a policeman searching the students
11. Wide shot - students walking into the University campus
12. Close up shot - Somali National University campus sign
13. Med shot - students writing an exam
14. Close up shot - a student writing an exam
15. Med shot - students writing the exam
16. Close up shot - Ahmed Abdinur Abukar writing an exam
17. Med shot - Ahmed Abdinur Abukar writing an exam
18. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Ahmed Abdinur Abukar, thirteen-year-old student
“I am really excited to be sitting for my examinations. I have just finished
my English paper and it was not very hard. This is my first time to sit for a national
exam and I am very hopeful that I will do well,”

19. Med shot - a student writing an exam

20. Close up shot - a student writing
21. Close up shot - examination paper
22. Med shot - students writing
23. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Ahmed Abdinur Abukar, thirteen-year-old student
“After passing this examination I hope to go to secondary school and then university
to study education. I want to be a teacher. I would love to manage students just like
the way we are being managed here,”

24. Wide shot - students coming out of the examination hall

25. Med shot - girls walking around the campus
26. Med shot - boys chatting
27. Wide shot - students walking around the campus
28. Wide shot - Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur, the Director General (DG) of Education
for Banadir Regional Administration in office
29. Close up shot - Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur typing on his computer
30. Close up shot - computer monitor
31. Med shot - Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur
32. Close up shot - certificate
33. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur, the Director General (DG)
of Education for Banadir Regional Administration
“One area in which we have done well is that we now have a unified curriculum. The
curriculum consists of a framework, syllabus, textbooks that are the same for all
students across Somalia. All of the students, therefore, write a standardised exam,”

34. Close up shot - certificate layout on a computer screen

35. Med shot - Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur
36. Med shot - Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur
37. Close up shot - certificate
38. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur, the Director General (DG)
of Education for Banadir Regional Administration
“The centralised education system is very helpful because if a student is transferred,
for example, from Mogadishu to Baidoa, he or she immediately can continue with
their education because the same syllabus is taught everywhere,”

39. Pan shot - students writing exams

40. Med shot - 14-year-old Sabirin Ali Mohamud writing an exam
41. Close up shot - Sabirin Ali Mohamud
42. Close up shot - examination paper
43. Med shot - Sabirin Ali Mohamud writing an exam
44. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Sabirin Ali Mohamud, 14-year-old school girl
“I hope to go to university to get my nursing degree and then work in order to repay
my parents for their support. I also want to support my siblings and help in
rebuilding Somalia, my country,”
45. Med shot - students writing the exam
46. Med shot - invigilators supervising
47. Med shot - Ahmed Abdinur Abukar
48. Med shot - an invigilator supervising Ahmed Abdinur Abukar
49. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Ahmed Abdinur Abukar, thirteen-year-old student
“When I started school eight years ago, I could not read or write. But now
I am writing national examinations. I am grateful to my teachers for educating me to
the level I have reached. My teachers were also once students just like me. That is
how the world works; you support someone and they will in turn support others. So
in the future, I will also share my knowledge with others,”

50. Pan shot - students writing an exam

51. Med shot - students
52. Close up shot - a student writing
53. Med shot - students
54. Close up shot - students writing
55. Wide shot - students writing an exam

With return to peace, Somali children look to the future with hope

MOGADISHU: June 9, 2021 – Thirteen-year-old Ahmed Abdinur Abukar dreams of

being a teacher. This year, in May, he took an important step towards realising that
dream and sat for the national Primary Education Certificate examinations in
Mogadishu, Somalia.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education says over 60 000 students across the
country sat for their end of year national examinations for primary and secondary
school in May and June, a continuation of a positive trajectory in the education
sector — thanks to the return of relative peace and security — after years of war,
turmoil and ruin. The improved security continues to remarkably increase student
enrollment in school. So, too, an improvement in the quality of education.

We caught up with Ahmed on the day he had sat for his English paper at the Science
and Technology campus of the Somalia National University. The university campus
was one of the examination centers in Mogadishu. “I know I did very well,” he said
with unbridled confidence. “I want to go to university to study education. I want to
be a teacher.”

The Federal Government of Somalia has invested heavily in education. In the 2021
budget, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education was allocated US$10.5
million most of which, according to education officials, has gone into the
rehabilitation and construction of schools and offices to accommodate the huge
number of school enrolment since the government introduced free primary and
secondary school education.

This year 26,688 primary school students from 642 schools in Mogadishu and the
Banaadir Region sat for their Primary Education Certificate, which began at the end
of May at 72 centres and supervised by 1,463 invigilators. In Banaadir Region,
Galmudug, HirShabelle, Jubaland and the Southwest States, some 36,143 secondary
students sat for Secondary School Certificate examinations.

In Banaadir alone, the examination centres were protected by 877 Somali Police
Force (SPF) officers, most of whom have been trained and mentored by the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Police.

A BETTER FUTURE

Over many years, Somalia’s young people suffered the collateral damage of conflict.
As a result, many dreams were stillborn. Mogadishu was a war zone riddled with
bullets, bombs and insecurity. Schools were deserted, children of school going age
were used as child soldiers to fight for Al-Shabaab, and other militant terror groups.

In 2009, the tide began to turn.

AMISOM peacekeepers finally liberated Mogadishu from Al-Shabaab and made great
strides in peace and security. Subsequently, major Somali cities like Marka, Afgoye,
Kismayo, Baidoa, Jowhar, Beledweyne and many other towns were later liberated by
the Somali security forces, with AMISOM’s support. In all the liberated areas is a
story of hope, revival and development; a construction boom, a changing skyline
with new skyscrapers coming up, expansion of commerce and industry,
rehabilitation of schools and hospitals and a steady streak of the Somali diaspora
returning home to take part in the rebuilding of the country.

No child left behind

Abdirahman Omar Sheikhnur, the Director General (DG) of Education for Banadir
Regional Administration, says that in a new Somalia, no child should be left behind.
To that end, his administration put in place adequate measures to accommodate
children with special needs to write the final primary school examinations. The May
examination had 13 of them who are visually impaired and 15 with hearing
impairments. With various information technology tools, these students are able to
attend class and progress through school like everyone else.

“One area in which we have done well is that we now have a unified curriculum. The
curriculum consists of a framework, syllabus, textbooks that are the same for all
students across Somalia. All of the students, therefore, write a standardised exam,”
said Sheikhnur in his spacious office in Hamarweyne district, the old Mogadishu.

“The centralised education system is very helpful because if a student is transferred,

for example, from Mogadishu to Baidoa, he or she immediately can continue with
their education because the same syllabus is taught everywhere,” he added.

After writing her exam at the same center as Ahmed, 14-year-old Sabirin Ali
Mohamud, was resolute that she would be a nurse.

“I hope to go to university to get my nursing degree and then work in order to repay
my parents for their support. I also want to support my siblings and help in
rebuilding Somalia, my country,” she said.

Somali children, with the return of peace and security, can now look to the future
with hope and optimism.

ENDS