Et ellers kærkomment tiltag om at indføre gratis skolegang og fordoble læreres løn i Somaliland møder skepsis. Forskeren Saeed Osman sætter overfor IRIN spørgsmålstegn ved, om de fornødne ressourcer til at klare den stigende indskrivning i skolerne er til stede
HARGEISA, 25 January 2011 (IRIN): The self-declared republic of Somaliland has introduced free education at primary and intermediate levels and doubled teachers’ salaries but these decisions will be hard to sustain and could affect the quality of public education, say experts.
– We need to ask ourselves, does the Somaliland government have the capacity to handle this [salary] increase? The short answer is ‘no’, Saeed Osman, a Uganda-based researcher in Somaliland’s education development, told IRIN.
– The Ministry of Education requested the Finance Ministry to recruit 2.000 teachers but the response was that only 1.500 teachers could be recruited, he said, adding: – This shows that Somaliland’s government lacks the capacity to handle the increased school enrollment.
Somaliland’s Finance Minister Mohamed Hashi Elmi announced on 16 January the introduction of free education in primary and intermediate schools. He also increased, by 100 percent, salaries of civil servants, teachers and personnel in the national forces.
– We have employed about 1.500 new teachers; for this reason all public primary and intermediate schools will be free of charge, Elmi said.
However, education experts say the government’s move could damage the quality of public education in Somaliland.
– Look at the countries in the region, such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. When they announced universal primary education, school enrollment increased by about 200 percent. A similar increase will happen in Somaliland, can we handle this? Osman said.
– The salary increase announced by the government will not amount to much because a teacher used to earn about 100 – 180 US dollar with the parents’ support fee included; without the parents’ support, a teacher earned 50 dollar, so with the new increase, this will come to just 100; this is not adequate if the parents’ support fee is withdrawn [as will happen under the free education system], he explained.
Læs videre på http://irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91719
