Primary school years
Somalia today is a country where schooling is available to very few children. A child of primary school age has only about a one in five chance of attending school. As a result of the collapse of the central government in 1991 and the ensuing long years of conflict schools were destroyed, looted and abandoned. Only now is rehabilitation of the damaged buildings beginning to take place. As per the 2006/7 Primary Schools Survey, there were 1,855 schools operational in the country, the majority concentrated around and in urban areas. Most schools are financed from fees or other forms of support from parents and communities, with some input from external agencies.The total enrolment figure is some 383,983 students, placing Somalia firmly among the countries with the lowest enrolment rates in the world. Nonetheless, this figure for 2007 was 20 per cent higher than for 2006. For a girl child in Somalia the prospects of attending school are even poorer: the Survey of Primary Schools in Somalia for 2006-2007 showed that only slightly over one third, or 38 per cent, of pupils are girls .
Results of previous school surveys reflect the same pattern. The low enrolment and high drop-out rates of girls in most areas are due to a combination of traditional attitudes, timing of classes and economic considerations. Education prospects for children are, encouragingly, much better than a decade ago and although still low, the figures for school enrolment are on track to continue increasing. A process of curriculum development brought Somalis from different parts of the country to consensus on the question of a national syllabi for grades one through four. This new curriculum and syllabus, developed by Somalis in collaboration with local and international partners over the last few years, is now in place, with textbooks in six subjects distributed to all operational schools. In 2007, a teacher mentoring programme provided on-the-job training to 1,142 teachers from 45 primary schools and 42 non-formal education centres in Gedo, Baidoa, Galgadud and Hiran regions. To improve school management and mobilise parents to keep their children in school, UNICEF trained 5,811 community education committee members in 528 schools in Somalia. The capacity of 100 child-to-child clubs was strengthened in 2007. Over 12,000 children from 56 schools in the country were provided with skills to actively raise awareness and promote behaviour change for improved hygiene, health, HIV prevention and the enrolment of out-of-school children in school. In the year, 71,697 new students started school, nearly 52 per cent of them girls. Textbooks, student record cards and class/school registers were provided for all children in formal primary schools (over 380,000) around the country. Clean water points and seperate toilets for girls and boys were put up in 60 schools. For those displaced druing the year, UNICEF installed 493 tented classrooms that benefited 35,091 school children.
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