SOMALIA TO DISCARD ITS HISTORY & NATIONAL HERITAGE

Could a nation or country continue to exist while discarding its history and heritage and therefore its national identity? Interesting question for academics to explore, but by layman’s gut feeling or rather say, educated guess, it won’t last long in historical terms..

Since when did you hear that Somali schools ceased teaching Somali history? What other school subjects have replaced it? Who is feeding the minds of the young generation? Whom would they become after a while even in the foreseeable future? What national identity will they have?

In Garowe you would know that something is amiss when you observe that nobody is looking for former teachers of history and educators of Somalia’s departments of education. Somalia’s education curriculum is history as one of the victims of the Civil War?

In the past few months I had the privilege of interacting with Hon. Aden Mohamed Ali, the long-time educator and long serving Somalia’s Minister of Education. Some people call him the father of Somalia’s education. I was so happy recently to introduce Hon Ali to the outcoming Puntland’s Minister of Education, Dr. Abshir Aw Yusuf at Grand Hotel in Garowe. The Minister thanked me later for the introduction. Dr. Abshir contacted Aden Mohamed Ali the next day to invite the latter to meet the Minister and Ministry’s staff at Ministry. Aden Mohamed Ali went there enthusiastically to find nobody there. The Education Minister was nowhere to be seen! Aden Mohamed Ali went home rather disappointed.

We are witnessing our man-power resources – our aging and experienced educators passing away one after another without us even noticing them. This is a wake-up call to all Somalis.