35,000 Candidates Sit For Their National Secondary School Exam In Somalia

MOGADISHU, Kenya, 18  – 35,000 National Secondary school students across Somalia sat for their exams on Saturday, being conducted in exam centers in Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, and southwest states, as well as the Banadir region. 

The Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia Mohamed Hussein Roble supervised the opening of sealed examination papers in Mogadishu. 

Prime Minister Roble has put on notice those intending to violate the laid-down rules for the national exams and cautioned against students involving themselves in exam irregularities. 

Mr Roble encouraged the students to face the exams head-on as he wished them luck. 

“The future is in your hands and it’s required of you to prepare yourselves today on how your future will look like and what type of life you want to live,” said Prime Minister Roble. 

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Higher Education of Somalia has assured students of their safety during the examination period, promising to set up heavy security arrangements in all the exam centers.

The students who will be sitting for 10 subjects during the 2022 national secondary exam will conclude the exam on Wednesday 22nd June. 

According to the Global Partnership for Education, an NGO transforming education in lower-income countries, before COVID-19, an estimated 3 million children in Somalia were out of school and those in school were struggling to learn.

The COVID-19 pandemic combined with the effects of protracted crises has exacerbated Somalia’s education challenges.

“Key challenges facing the education sector in Somalia include the lack of access to school for too many children and widespread inequity. Even when children go to school, the quality of education is low,” said Global Partnership for Education in a recent report. 

In Somalia, since the collapse of the central government in 1991 and the education sector was disrupted, schools used different curriculums and grading systems until 2014 when the government unified all academic curriculums and exams conducted in the country. 

The number of students examined in the unified national examinations has grown steadily in the last seven years, from 3,500 students in 2015 to 35,000 this year.

The examinations which have since then been held consecutively every year, in Banadir, Jubaland, Southwest, Galmudug, and Hirshabelle regions, are presided over by the federal ministry of education.