TITLE:
COVID-19 Responses and Education in Somalia/Somaliland
AUTHORS:
Eric Herring, Peter Campbell, Mustafe Elmi, Latif Ismail, Sandra McNeill, Abdi Rubac, Asma Saed Ali, Amel Saeed, Mohamed Shidane
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19, Education, Somalia, Somaliland
JOURNAL NAME:
Sociology Mind,
Vol.10 No.4,
October
20,
2020
ABSTRACT: The research explored the
educational and broader social impacts of COVID-19 control measures and efforts to compensate for those measures in the education
sector (e.g. by online teaching) in Somalia/Somaliland. It did so through 131
interviews and four focus group discussions with forty government educational
officials, educators and the public with a wide range of educational
experiences, including no education ever. Positive views of the general
availability and quality of education were based on comparisons with the past
period of civil war and state collapse. Nearly all participants agreed that
education had been harmed severely by COVID-19 control measures. They also
tended to agree the educational inequalities that disadvantaged girls, the poor
and rural populations had been exacerbated by COVID-19 control measures and by
education provision to compensate for educational institution closures.
Building back better in education as a response to COVID-19 is not happening
when looked at overall, as even the positive efforts, while laudable in
themselves, are exacerbating inequalities. The findings were similar for both
locations. The research highlights the need and potential support for a more
inclusive approach to responding to COVID-19 in the education sector.