The work done by two former Puntland ministers of education, Dr Ali Abdullahi Warsame and Abdi Farah Juha is commendable. The ministers have put great emphasis on structural reform of education sector and important need for the insertion of vocational and skills training into school curricula. One would fully concur with them in their findings in the state of Puntland education sector.
The Communique or the review of the sector, however, doesn’t go far enough or ignores altogether a fundamental problem characteristic of entire Somalia’s education sector: That we are forgetting who we are as people and as a country – our cultural heritage and character of the nation are being omitted in our education sector and school curricula. It is my humble opinion that until this slow trend of erasing Somali cultural values from our education system is reversed, this nation is sleepwalking into deep crisis of identity and dangerous loss of national character.
The voice of the youth, cry for help.
By Ismail Warsame
Opinion Columnist
https://amazon.com/author/ismailwarsame
[This article has been updated since posting.]
ismailwarsame.blog 