By A/Rasaq H. Nuurre (Xuubey)

Introduction

In the Federal Republic of Somalia (FRS), there are efforts to restore the country’s shattered education system after decades of civil wars that leveled most of the educational structures. For the first time, after the collapse of the central government in January of 1991, the country will send one million children and youth to school in the school year of 2013/2014 (Unicef, 2013). Even so, there are many challenges facing this new initiative as the FRS’s Ministry of Human Development and Public Services listed in a report issued on September of 2013.

These challenges include socio-economic-political factors, educational program management, monitoring and evaluation processes, and more importantly curriculum organization and planning procedures, among other things. However, there are other challenges that can derail this valuable initiative, such as the alleged government corruption and any subsequent mistrust between the public and the government regarding the issue of corruption. This paper will attempt to examine curriculum organization and challenges that the Go-2-School Initiative may face in its efforts to restore the country’s education system. Also, the paper will highlight the significance of assessment and evaluation in a curriculum.

Education Disintegration 

Since the collapse of the state, Somalia’s education system has been dysfunctional and in a coma. A Power vacuum developed right after the regime’s collapse and the country disintegrated into warring factions (Bakonyi, 2009). Somalia’s rule of law vanished quickly, and the subsequent chaos and confusion replaced the law and order in which public institutions and private properties were overly ransacked. Schools and education materials did not survive from the widespread looting activities; administrators, teachers, and students were either displaced or killed (Abdinoor, 2008). As a result, Somalia’s education and literacy rate, which in the midst of 1970s reached 55% (Abdi, 1998) sharply dropped after the collapse of the regime (Anagnoste, Agoston, & Draghici, 2009). Today, Somalia’s education performance is amongst the bottommost nations in the world (African Press Organization, 2011). In effect, only 42 percent of Somali children are in schools today (Unicef, 2013).

Curriculum Concept 

In ordinary educational settings, a curriculum is expected to have the essential common concepts that teachers are held accountable for by their school boards and administrations. These common concepts of curriculum include scope and sequence, syllabus, content outline, textbooks, course of study, and planned experiences (Posner, 2004). These concepts are fundamentals for establishing a valuable and meaningful curriculum that schools can follow to educate youth and children. For instance, the scope in the curriculum concept focuses on what should be taught in the class, whereas the sequence responds to the question of when different learning materials, programs, and activities should be offered (Ediger & Marlow, 1995). Besides, understanding the arrangement and the order in which these materials and other teaching programs are presented to students are equally monumental.

Another common concept for a curriculum is textbooks, which are instructional supplies used as the guide for classroom teaching. In addition, syllabus, content outline, course of study, and planned experiences are all equally important elements of the curriculum concept that Somalia’s education planners need to take into consideration. In actual fact, learning could be empty and ineffective in the absence of these concepts in any curriculum. Therefore, developing an inclusive curriculum and assessing what kinds of education materials are suitable for youth and children who grew up in a lifelong civil war is indispensable.

Read more: Go-2-School Initiative

A/Rasaq H. Nuurre (Xuubey)
Email: Anurre5@gmail.com