1.
Source:
Education
Statistics
(World
Bank),
Sep
2015.
knoema.com.
Center
for
Economic
Development
Amata
Giramata
and
Miranda
Dafoe
Policy
Brief
The
Issue
Education
plays
a
very
important
role
in
the
development
of
a
country.
Through
education,
a
country
is
able
to
attain
various
other
resources
such
as
health,
good
governance
and
economic
growth.
Two
key
inhibiting
factors
to
development
in
Somalia
are
low
literacy
rates
and
high
rates
of
rural-­‐urban
migration.
Somalia
has
had
a
weak
central
government
even
eleven
years
after
the
Nairobi
Accord.
Due
to
the
inability
to
stabilize
the
national
government,
Somalia
has
been
unable
to
provide
its
citizens
with
a
public
education.
This
has
created
a
market
for
corporations
and
Non-­‐governmental
organizations
to
create
privatized
education
opportunities.
These
private
institutions
have
targeted
the
urban
areas
particularly
due
to
the
larger
populations
in
Mogadishu
and
Hargeysa.
Due
to
the
high
price
of
a
private
education
and
the
lack
of
educational
institutions
in
rural
areas,
the
mean
years
of
schooling
has
remained
stagnant
at
a
low
level
of
approximately
five
and
a
half
years.
Additionally,
the
high
prices
have
widened
the
gender
gap
in
the
education
system.
This
is
because
only
men
can
afford
to
pay
these
high
prices
due
to
the
economic
status
in
the
community
and
for
families
who
can
afford
to
send
one
child
to
school,
the
boy
child
will
most
likely
be
preference
Figure
1:
Somali
Distance
Education
and
Literacy
Source:
Country
Profiles
(UNESCO),
2009.
www.unesco.org.
Somalia
Education
Reform
to
Address
Literacy
Rates
The
Issue
to
the
girl
in
acquiring
the
education.
The
barriers
to
attain
an
education
are
due
to
high
prices,
gender
bias,
and
the
rural-­‐urban
divide.
These
barriers
have
resulted
in
low
national
literacy
rates
of
37.8%
given
25.8%
of
females
are
literate
and
49.7%
of
males
are
literate.
Furthermore,
the
current
(2015)
mean
years
of
schooling
is
5.50
years
and
the
projection
of
mean
years
of
schooling
for
2020
is
5.90
years
showing
how
the
education
improvement
is
very
slow.
Given
that
the
mean
years
of
schooling
and
literacy
rates
in
2015
are
among
the
lowest
for
any
country
in
the
world,
making
a
reform
to
the
educational
structure
of
Somalia
is
of
urgent
priority.
Figure
2:
Somalia
–
Projection:
Mean
years
of
schooling.
Age
25+.
Male
(mean
years
per
person
in
a
given
year).
APRIL
2016

2.
Positive
Economic
Analysis
The
economic
argument
to
education
would
include
a
cost-­‐benefit
analysis.
The
cost-­‐benefit
analysis
of
education
would
argue
that
education
has
a
number
of
positive
benefits
on
the
private
and
public
side.
The
private
side
explicit
costs
include
tuition,
books,
and
other
fees
whereas
the
private
implicit
costs
are
lost
earnings.
The
public
costs
are
spending
on
public
education.
Given
that
the
goal
of
improving
education
is
to
increase
the
literacy
rate
of
Somali
citizens,
the
benefits
must
be
stated.
Public
benefits
to
increased
education
and
literacy
rates
are
increased
entrepreneurship,
additional
skilled
workers
in
the
form
of
human
capital,
better
decision
making
in
society
and
health,
technological
development,
and
higher
participation
in
the
political
sphere.
Somalia’s
central
government
is
both
weak
and
in
debt.
The
central
government
is
not
able
to
provide
the
education
its
citizens
need
due
to
the
high
cost
of
education
that
Somalia
simply
cannot
afford.
In
order
to
internally
strengthen
the
government,
Somalia
needs
the
benefits
education
brings.
Normative
Economic
Analysis
As
mentioned
above,
most
of
the
issues
stem
from
the
privatization
of
the
education
system.
Grants
can
help
to
improve
and
address
the
failures
of
the
system.
United
Nations
Education,
Scientific
and
Cultural
Organization
(UNESCO)
that
is
a
mediator
between
developing
countries
and
donors,
can
help
to
provide
these
grants.
The
grants
would
be
given
to
citizens
to
acquire
an
education
in
a
more
stable
Islamic
Arab
country
such
as
neighboring
Yemen.
Yemen
would
intentionally
mirror
the
cultural
practices
of
Somalia
of
practicing
Islam
and
speaking
Arabic.
This
allows
the
students
from
Somalia
to
receive
an
education
that
is
sensitive
and
authentic
to
their
cultural
heritage.
The
grants
would
aid
the
recipients
in
learning
how
to
teach
and
would
be
expected
to
return
to
Somalia
at
the
end
of
their
education,
in
order
to
contribute
to
the
development
of
a
stronger
Somali
education
system.
The
grant
system
should
be
gender
sensitive
by
intentionally
reserving
an
equal
number
of
recipients
from
all
genders.
Grants
are
a
better
ethical
solution
than
foreign
aid
or
other
NGO
loans
because
grants
do
not
create
the
dependent
relationship
between
the
donor
and
the
recipient
unlike
foreign
aid.
Additionally,
grants
are
ideal
especially
in
the
case
of
Somalia
because
as
an
economically
underdeveloped
country,
there
would
be
no
risk
to
fall
into
debt
and
there
are
no
restrictions
to
grants
unlike
foreign
aid.
Figure
3:
Gender
disparity
in
primary
school
(survey
data)
At
the
same
time
the
students
are
receiving
an
education
in
Yemen
to
later
become
teachers
in
Somalia,
Somalia
will
use
grant
money
to
build
public
schools
in
each
of
the
eighteen
regions
of
the
country.
This
will
allow
the
public
education
structures
to
target
both
rural
and
urban
areas.
Because
these
public
schools
will
exist
in
every
district,
the
rural-­‐urban
migration
rate
will
decrease.
The
migration
rate
will
decrease
because
the
citizens
will
see
the
same
opportunities
for
education
in
all
districts.
Figure
4:
Gender
disparity
in
secondary
school
(survey
data)
Source:
Education
Statistics
(UNICEF),
2006.
childinfo.org
Source:
Education
Statistics
(UNICEF),
2006.
childinfo.org

3.
This
brief
is
intended
to
analyze
the
affects
of
improved
public
education
on
literacy
rates
and
migration
in
Somalia.
This
brief
draws
information
from
a
variety
of
sources.
Some
of
the
external
sources
include:
Abdi
Abdulahi,
Isaaq.
“The
Current
Education
System
of
Somalia
and
Its
Challenges.”
The
Current
Education
System
of
Somalia
and
Its
Challenges.
Mareeg,
Nov.
2015.
Web.
08
Apr.
2016.,
Abdul
Kadir
Khalif,
Tea.
“Somalia’s
Regions
Slowly
Evolve
into
Federal
States.”
News,
The
East
African,
15
Aug.
2015.
Web.
08
Apr.
2016.,
Ahmed,
Abdi.
“Biggest
Cities
Somalia.”
Biggest
Cities,
Somalia,
GeoNames.
2015.
Web.
07
Apr.
2016.
The
final
portion
of
this
policy
implementation
will
be
UNESCO’s
encouragement
of
Somali
government
to
continue
to
invest
in
their
education
system.
UNESCO
will
be
unable
to
fund
the
education
of
Somali
systems
indefinitely.
Somalia
must
find
a
better
economic
means
of
sustainable
educational
reform
through
public
investment.
This
can
be
done
through
a
series
of
loans
from
an
institution
such
as
the
World
Bank
or
the
implementation
of
a
tax
structure.
Given
the
current
income
of
the
country
is
so
low,
a
loan
would
be
the
more
feasible
option.
Conclusion
Providing
public
education
throughout
all
regions
of
Somalia
is
the
optimal
policy
solution
to
increasing
literacy
rates.
This
three-­‐tiered
progression
allows
Somalia
to
build
from
within
with
the
financial
assistance
of
Non-­‐governmental
organizations.
The
first
tier
will
incentivize
teachers
to
stay
in
Somalia
by
giving
them
an
education
while
preserving
their
cultural
identity
by
providing
that
education
in
an
Islamic,
Arabic
context
through
Yemen.
The
second
tier
will
provide
grants
to
the
local
governments
or
tribes
to
build
public
schools
with
subsidized
education
fees
in
all
eighteen
districts
of
Somalia.
The
third
tier
will
use
UNESCO
grant
providers
to
encourage
the
Somali
government
to
invest
in
greater
educational
reform
through
loans
from
the
World
Bank
(after
the
sanctions
on
Somalia
have
been
retracted)
or
increasing
public
spending
on
these
public
schools.
This
three-­‐tiered
system
will
help
ensure
that
the
education
system
in
Somalia
is
reformed
in
a
sustainable
way
that
is
reflective
of
their
cultural
values
while
closing
the
gender
gap.
Additionally,
with
these
resources
there
will
be
an
increase
in
the
enrollment
of
primary
and
secondary
education
in
both
rural
and
urban
areas
and
across
socio-­‐economic
statuses.