New education sector support project (Horumarinta Elmiga) starts in Somaliland
The European Union (EU) launches a new education sector support project that will enrol over 50.000 primary and secondary school children across all regions of Somaliland. The vice president of Somaliland H.E. Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismail launched the € 8.9 million project, in the presence of education partners, parents and teachers at the Grand Haddi Hotel in Hargeisa.
The initiative, called Horumarinta Elmiga, is already in its third phase and has constructed 42 schools and enrolled over 100.000 children since 2012. The new three-year phase will build 10 new schools equipped with solar electricity, WASH facilities and recreational spaces, and construct 65 additional classrooms in existing schools. It will also provide flexible classes to urban working children, radio education programmes for pastoralist children in remote areas, and employment-oriented vocational training to 350 young people. Additionally, 229 teachers will be trained in the new Teacher Education College which was built with EU funding from the previous project phase and inaugurated just last month.
The government has recently made great investments in education, with increased financing and teacher support. It has also developed new textbooks that are being used in schools throughout Somaliland. But challenges persist: only a quarter of all children in rural areas go to primary school, while in urban areas it is 60%. Girls make up almost half of the children going to primary school, but at secondary level they are only 38%. Horumarinta Elmiga will support the government to achieve its goal to provide access to quality education for all children in Somaliland.
The EU Chargé d’Affaires, Fulgencio Garrido Ruiz, congratulated the government on its important achievements in the sector and added: "We expect that this major funding initiative will significantly contribute to increasing the number of girls and boys who attend and complete school, and receive quality education. You can count on the support of the European people."
“The new phase of Horumarinta Elmiga will help us address our main goals to increase access and improve the quality of education in Somaliland”, said the Minister of Education and Science, Isman Jama Adan. "The European Union is a valuable partner to achieve this, and we thank the EU for it."
On the evening of the launch, Radio Hargeisa will broadcast an education debate to mark the event. It will feature educators, parents and young people who will share their experience on what makes a good education, and why it is so important to them.
Contact: Alix Wurdak and Abdikadir Abdi DELEGATION-SOMALIA-PPI@eeas.europa.eu