(ERGO) – Farhiyo Mohamed Ali’s eight children are all of school age but none of them is enrolled in school because – poor and internally displaced – she can’t afford the fees.
“We are plagued by poverty. If I take my children to school, the teacher demands payment, and we simply can’t afford it. Some days we have food, and other days we don’t. We urgently need support from the Somali community to provide our children with free education. Nothing is more critical than the education of our children,” she lamented.
Farhiyo’s lives with around 590 families in Bil-iyo-Hidig IDP camp in Kahda, the Somali capital Mogadishu. Since the death of her husband, she has been earning $3 to $5 a day doing odd jobs digging waste disposal in the neighbourhood to earn a living.
“It’s hard to have all these children at home, they are constantly fighting and I have to watch over them because they are not in school. They were in school in our home village, and we used to get the money from our farm but we lost our livelihood,” she said.
She worries about having to leave them at home whenever she goes to work. She told Radio Ergo that she has visited more than 10 private schools, all of which charge at least $10 per child per month, a fee far beyond her means.
Farhiya’s family fled Mubarak village in Lower Shabelle region earlier this year, after the 4-hectare farm that provided them with food and a livelihood was flooded and their crops were all ruined.
They had to abandon their land for a makeshift shelter in the camps that offers little protection from the cold or the sun and where they can’t make a stable income.
Adan Abdi Mohamed, another struggling IDP parent, also dreams of his six children being able to get an education. He has been searching for a free school for over a year and a half but hasn’t found an affordable one.
The nearest available free schools are located in Hodan, Wadajir, and Dharkenley districts, which are far away. The high transport costs prevent him from taking his children to those schools.
“There is no education here, we can’t afford it. If I send the children to a Koranic school, the teacher asks for money at the end of the month, which we don’t have. They are stuck in makeshift shelters. A child without education faces numerous hardships. The number of children stuck here has increased, and us parents are helpless,” Adan said.
He works as a porter unloading large trucks delivering food supplies, getting jobs one or two days a week. His highest daily income is $5, with which he struggles to support his family of eight.
Adan fled the Iji area of Middle Shabelle region in February 2023 as clan conflict erupted in the area.
He emphasised that life was much better when they lived in the village, where he managed a two-hectare farm that provided them with an independent living.
Eleven-year-old Omar Cali Said had to leave Bararug school in Garasbaley district due to financial constraints, just as he was preparing to enter third grade of primary. Coming from a displaced family in Bil-iyo-xidig camp, he is one of seven siblings who rely solely on their mother.
“I would love to be a doctor and help people. I haven’t attended school for three months because we don’t have the money to pay. Now I’m just staying at home, unable to afford my education, so I’ve decided to stay here,” Omar said.
Bararug school with over 200 children was run by a youth organisation of the same name, but they ran out of funds.
Omar’s family came to the camps in Mogadishu after fleeing Barirre in Lower Shabelle in May 2021 due to conflict between government forces and Al-Shabaab. In their village they relied on agricultural work and a herd of 20 sheep. Now Omar’s earns $3-5 when she can get laundry jobs.
The BAR teachers’ association collected data in August and September revealing that 17 schools in 11 displacement camps across Daynile, Kahda, and Garasbaley districts had closed, leaving over 6,000 children out of school.
The secretary general of BAR, Abukar Malin Yusuf, noted that the association had more than 100 teachers as members. He said the lack of education had pushed hundreds of children into engaging in negative activities, overshadowing their futures.
“In terms of education in Somalia, especially in camps where displaced people reside, we can firmly state that there is a significant lack of educational resources. Schools that previously operated with the support of various organisations have now closed leading to children becoming disengaged and potentially turning to drugs or joining gangs,” he told Radio Ergo.
Abukar highlighted that youth groups were struggling to find financial resources to continue educational initiatives they had set up. Meanwhile the number of children living in the camps was rising as more and more families became displaced due to climate crises and conflict.
