(ERGO) – More than 400 children from displaced and low-income families in Baidoa have been out of school since November after a fire destroyed Elej primary and middle school.
The free school, established in 2016 and supported by the South West State Ministry of Education and international NGO, Save the Children, served mostly children from poor internally displaced families.
The headteacher, Sahra Aden Abdi, told Radio Ergo that the six classrooms and all the equipment were destroyed in the fire at Elej school. The fire started in a nearby displacement camp and spread rapidly. Thankfully all the children were safely evacuated.
“Everything in the school was destroyed – office equipment, classroom materials, and food supplies for the feeding programme. The people who studied here are very poor and cannot even buy shoes or clothes for their children,” she said.
The school administration lacks funds to rebuild and is still awaiting a response from Save the Children and the Ministry of Education.
For many displaced families in Baidoa, education is seen as a path out of poverty. The loss of Elej school has left hundreds of parents fearful that a rare opportunity for their children’s education has been lost for good.
Four of Ibrahim Mohamed Noor’s 10 children in Irarog displacement camp had been learning at Elej school for five years.
“My children were studying well. Their lack of education now causes me deep sadness. I cannot take them to fee-paying schools because I don’t have the money required. This situation has become a major source of worry for me, and I can’t do anything about it,” he said.
Private schools in Baidoa charge about $10 per month per child. Ibrahim is already overwhelmed by daily survival needs and has no savings to fall back on.
His family depends on limited support from neighbours in the camp, allowing them to prepare food only once a day when assistance is available. Otherwise, they frequently endure hunger.
“Getting food is very difficult for us. We are people with nothing, who cannot even prepare food once a day. Sometimes the children eat once, sometimes not at all. I am unemployed and disabled. I have looked for work but couldn’t find any,” he said.
Ibrahim previously worked as a farm labourer on the outskirts of Baidoa, earning $4 to $5 a day. He lost his job in September when prolonged drought dried up the farmland and can’t find any alternative source of income.
Life for the family is hard. They can’t afford the 6,000 Somali shillings charged per jerrycan at a privately owned borehole three kilometres away, so rely on a single jerrycan that his wife carries home after appealing to borehole owners.
Their shelter is a fragile hut that is overcrowded and unstable. They were displaced in 2018 from Doy-gaab area near Baidoa after drought destroyed the three-hectare farm that used to support them.
Other parents face similar hardships. Habibo Hussein Hassan, a mother of seven, said three of her children were studying at Elej school and now have no opportunity.
“My children are without education, and I can do nothing. School requires fees, uniforms, books, and pens, and I have no money. They had free education and were learning well. Their situation now deeply saddens me,” she said.
Habibo’s children had been enrolled in grades three and four. The school also provided free meals and learning materials, easing the burden on families living in poverty.
As a single mother, Habibo depends on irregular cleaning work in Baidoa, earning a couple of dollars once or twice a week. The income is barely enough to sustain her family of seven. She has accumulated $70 in debt to buy necessities at local shops.
“The money I owe was for food and clothes I bought for my children at different times. This debt worries me greatly, and I can’t repay it. I have no income at the moment. God is the only one who can bring a solution,” she said.
Habibo has lived in Iraroog camp for four years. Her family was displaced in 2021 from Eel-dhuun area, about 60 kilometres from Baidoa, during the last terrible wave of drought known as ‘sima’ (meaning ‘equal’) that ruined their two-hectare farm and their livelihood.
She said the free education provided by Elej school had given her and her children not only assistance but also hope for the future.
