Building Bridges for
Somaliland University Student Outside and
Inside the Country
It is widely acknowledged that
one of the fundamental pillars of sustainable human development is
investment in education of a good quality. On 10th aug ust
2009, SONYO umbrella organized a meeting between University students
inside and outside the country. Truly it is a colossal achievement
to be proud of and one of milestones of our success as Somaliland
university students inside and outside the country. It is a signal
of enhancement that enables as young students to contribute fully in
our education to our society and the world at large.
The ceremony took place at Ambassador Hotel in Hargeisa. A number of
univ ersity students inside and outside Somaliland were seen in the
ceremony hall and the corridors of the hotel. The ceremony opened
with Holly Koran recitat ion by one of the students. After
that the chairperson of SONYO umbrella sta rted the speech and
talked about the importance of such meetings. He indicat ed
the necessity of exchanging experience with their local people to
contrib ute for the development of the country. Though in Somaliland
the importance of young graduates were not recognized by our
society, but the growing influence of young graduates like this
meeting is bearing out the community that our voices should be
heard. Having said that, young students will not be passionate, cre
ative and innovative unless their societies understand they have the
potential to improve their country socially, economically and
politic ally.
He also urged the foreign based
students to have close friends to their host nations to establish a
sustainable relationship which will ultimately be benefi cial
to our country. Somaliland Minster of internal affairs was invited
to the stage, he told those who are studying abroad to respect the
rules and the regulations of their host countries as they are
ambassadors of their country. If you behave the people you live with
good character, it is good for us. Other wise will spoil the name of
your country. Later on, the session begun with presentation by
different students from different universities in abroad.
One of the Somaliland students in Malaysia started the presentation
with the overview of Malaysian education. He told to the
participants that Malaysia education is 70 owned by the public while
the private universities are 30 per cents. Apart from that, he
compared the Malaysian universities with the local universities.
That presenter indicated that Malaysian universities have
facil ities unlike Somaliland universities. Namely teaching methods
and also what is known E- facilities such as, libraries. The
presenter enlightened deeply the social problems faced Somaliland
students in Malaysia including social –ec onomic
adaptability, financial problems, temptations, Isolations; Racism
and Environmental issues were most challenges encountered students
in Malaysia.
Secondly, a lady graduated from
Kenya Institute of Managements who prese nted her experience
of the education in East-Africa. That sister mentioned that there
are 13 students in Uganda who were awarded Scholarship by the
Somaliland government. She put in plain words the faculties provided
by East African universities, Such as Social Science namely
Development studies and Social work and Social administration. And
this has contributed to finishing their studies successfully. There
are also challenges in those students in terms of culture
difference, food and behavior. Language barrier and ineffective
student association was also another major obstacle. There are also
prese ntations made by Somaliland student in Yemen , Pakistan ,
India , Egypt , Ethiopia and in the local. Besides the presentation
on achievement and challenges, the Somaliland student in abroad
highlighted to contribute their country Education, Patriotism and
hard work.
The message is clear; the expansion of employment opportunity is far
below the growth in the higher education graduates because of a lack
of investment. Unf ortunately Somaliland government is not putting
higher graduate concerns at the heart of their development agenda,
and still more remains to be done. You ng students need access to
both decent formal education and opport unities to acquire
employment to actively participate in all spheres of develop
ment in their society. Young graduates in Somaliland struggle the
transition from unive rsity to work. These major challenges
caused that many young graduates up either unemployed or
underemployed in the informal sector with little prote ction
and prospects.
Let us remember the wisdom says, “Student are like young plants,
they ne ed to be cared for , if you take good care of your
plants, you will have strong plants and a good harvest. It is the
same with students, if you look after the m”
Our motto "
Together we can make difference."
Written by:
Farhan Abdi Suleiman
(Oday)
Tell: 252-2-4401132
Hargeisa, Somaliland |
Farhan Abdi Suleiman is a social
worker, fresh graduate at university of Harg eisa and
youth activist. You can be contacted at oday1999@yahoo.com or odaycs@yahoo.com
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