Dr. Fahad Yusuf
Prelude
It was on the 5th of February, 2024, when I, Dr. Fahad Yusuf, was appointed to the Chairmanship post at Green Hope University’s Garowe campus. Though the administration I took over from have done a commendable job during their tenure, I inherited a campus in dire need of creative and holistic reforms.
In a very short period of time, my team and I succeeded in implementing the ideas and policies we had outlined. Among other things, we completely overhauled the antiquated management style that predated us, added a much-needed research unit to the campus, and allocated significant funds and resources for this new unit to function well. The results of these policies’ implementation were both swift and way ahead of the schedule we envisaged, as we saw record influx of students to the university and a general rise in the interest in it.
What is Wrong with Puntland’s Higher Education?
In terms of primary, elementary and secondary education, the state of Puntland has the best and most revered education system throughout Somalia, one that has been in place for nearly 3 decades. The state has been conducting uniform, state-wide centralized exams as far back as 2002. But that’s where education-wise, Puntland’s compliments end, because in contrast, the higher education or universities in the state are extremely subpar. There are rarely research units and scientific labs, the lecturers happen to largely be holding mere bachelor degrees, and the standards never improve from the status quo.
Additionally, there is a rife culture of religious sectarianism in all of the state’s educational apparatuses that spans schools, institutes and universities. This sectarianism impedes all and any potential collaboration and creates an unhealthy air of spite that the educational institutions in Puntland desperately need to do away with.
Upon my return to the state and appointment as a university chairman, I was shocked to learn the emergence of new phenomena, things that weren’t the norm when I was last time in Puntlnad ten or so years ago. One of key point is that nowadays universities in Puntland are replete with students who haven’t followed the routine “finish your high school to join a university” formula. These students come from informal religious institutes and smoothly and without any checks, join the most esteemed universities. This not only erodes the trust vested in these universities but also sends a message to all students that there is a shortcut, a substitute for the long and enduring 12 years of school.
A Corrupt Higher Education Office
An office tasked with regulating and having oversight of the universities in the state does indeed exist, but it is nominal and has very much mingled with some institutions, creating a conflict of interest.
There is for example, an employee in that office who tries to smear my chairmanship at Green Hope University at every turn. This officer was very close to some of my predecessors and has himself admitted to me that there were kickbacks he was given over the years. He tries to have me removed from all the meetings university chairmen have with the Ministry of Education, and because he has their ear, he succeeds more than he fails.
All that vendetta because I brought new and fresh blood to my university and refused to spend our tight budget on immoral kickbacks.
This shows how government power is misused all the time, and how we still haven’t outgrown the ugly habit of individuals waging personal wars and going scorched earth on people and/or institutions they don’t like, all while utilizing the state’s resources.
The Cartel of “Eight”
There are about 22 universities in the state of Puntland, but recently, 8 of those universities formed what they called the “Association of Puntland Universities”. As the heads of the other 16 universities, this was news to us and we found about it altogether on cable news. These universities didn’t consult with nor inform us about the establishment of this association at any stage. These closed list of 8 universities carved out criteria of their own, criteria designed to exclude and lock out the remaining 8 institutions. They claimed that any university that isn’t ascended to the newly-formed association by them isn’t proper, and shouldn’t be “recognized” as a university.
Surprisingly, the Ministry of Education whose role was hijacked by this cartel is on board with this, both implicitly and explicitly. The complaints rendered by the remaining 8 universities aren’t tended to well by the ministry, and officers at the higher education office were seen giving endorsement to this monopolization of universities in Puntland.
That almost everything in the state was subject to the monopoly of a few was a well-known fact, education however, was one of the very few sectors that weren’t plagued by the actions of these insecure, anti-competition cartels that love to monopolize everything and make the playing field too lopsided in their favour.
A Way Forward
With the exception of Somaliland which unilaterally seceded the rest of the country, Puntland, a state that is the oldest and most stable in the country, trails in the universities’ scene. The state’s youth often go to Somaliland or Mogadisho for their university studies. This is down to many factors; a lack of trust in the quality of education offered by these institutions, their questionable registration processes, et al. The visible lack of intra-universities’-collaboration, rather the open war these institutions wage on one another, steeped in the myopic religious sectarianism, is also a major contributing factor to the aversion to joining them.
What universities in Puntland need is collaboration, unity and a common vision for both the present and future?
What the government and the Ministry of Education should do is reclaim and assume their role; administer education in Puntland. The ministry has a duty to keep its employees in check and ensure they don’t collude with some of the universities, as that besmirches not only the individual’s integrity, but by extension the ministry’s. A fair and inclusive system benefits all in Puntland, and what is unfolding now is the complete antithesis of that.
Dr. Fahad Yusuf,
Email: Fahadyi844@gmail.com
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Dr Fahad is the currently Rector of Greenhope University Garowe, an agricultural expert.
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