Written by Pina Bontius
Introduction
Somalia has a variety of issues among its education sector, one of which is equality of education. While enrollment rates and expected time in school are low in general, they more negatively affect vulnerable social groups (GPE Secretariat, 2024). Two significant vulnerable groups in Somalia which face this problem are children with disabilities and girls; this article will report which barriers those two groups face in terms of education, and what the impact of such barriers is on the quality of education they receive.
Barriers for children with disabilities
Children with disabilities face many challenges in education. There is social stigma around the issue of disability, which disincentivizes parents from identifying their child as disabled in the first place, along with a lack of access to healthcare which would detect disabilities. Therefore, the real proportion of children with disabilities is unknown, which makes it harder to detect the issue and find solutions (UNESCO, 2022). However, existing data shows that disability is a significant barrier to education for Somali children. One issue is negative community attitudes (UNICEF, 2022, p. 80). One fourth of parents included in a 2022 study reported that negative attitudes of teachers and other members of the community were the primary reason for not enrolling their disabled child in school (UNESCO, 2022, p. 80). Social discrimination against disabled students is prevalent; for example, 92% of girls with disabilities reported that they have experienced discrimination at school, which makes it an unsafe and uncomfortable learning environment (UNESCO, 2022, p. 80). Moreover, parents themselves have expressed the view that due to such stigma, people with disabilities will be unable to find employment even after fully completing their education; therefore, there is less incentive to send such children to school, as it would not increase the chances of employment (UNESCO, 2022, p. 80).
A second important issue regarding disability is a lack of accessible infrastructure and aids. Due to widespread poverty in the country, families are often unable to provide such learning aids by themselves, and the schools are not equipped with the materials to compensate for that. For instance, according to a SISEND study in 2022, no schools offered audio books or books in braille for visually impaired students, which is significant because visual impairment is the second most prevalent form of disability among Somali students (UNESCO, 2022, p. 80). Additionally, the water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are not equally accessible to disabled students and to able-bodied students. 69% of schools in 2022 lacked physically accessible toilet facilities, and 62% lacked access to clean drinking water; this may disincentivize students with disabilities and create an uncomfortable unhygienic learning environment (UNESCO, 2022, p.80). There are several programs, such as one supported by the Global Partnership for Education, which aim to empower children with disabilities by providing assisting devices such as hearing aids or magnifiers; however, the supply is still too low, and students have to share these resources among themselves (Global Partnership for Education, 2024a).
In 2020, Somalia had 5 schools for students with special needs, but these still face significant issues, such as lack of accessibility for students with disabilities who do not live near such schools, and a lack of teacher training which would specialize in the needs of disabled students, as well as a standardized teacher training curriculum (UNESCO, 2022, p. 76). Additionally, these schools focus on a specific form of disability, usually the more prevalent ones such as hearing and visual impairment, which means that students with other disabilities are excluded (UNESCO, p. 76).
Barriers for girls
Girls in Somalia have less effective access to education than boys. According to UNESCO (2022, p. 74) boys’ education is prioritized due to reasons such as financial struggle, societal norms, safety concerns and early marriage, hence girls are 1.35 times more likely to not be enrolled in school than boys. This creates a gender gap in education, affording boys more opportunities from the start. Even among the girls who do attend school, they tend to drop out earlier and have a shorter educational experience. On average, the expected duration of girls’ education is 1.48 years, compared to the boys, for which the average expected time spent in school is 1.95 years (UNESCO, 2022, p. 20). This effectively means that boys spend 30% more time in school than girls, widening the gender gap in education and therefore future employment opportunities (UNESCO, 2022, p. 83). The gap is even more pronounced when considering the fact that boys enter school earlier than girls on average; 50% of boys enter school at the age of 6, which is the official school-entry age, while only 44% of the girls enroll at the same age (UNESCO, 2022, p. 84). Additionally, their access to education peaks at age 11, while for girls, it is at age 12; this means that boys both have a temporal advantage, and get more opportunities for education earlier on, with a 6% higher effective access to education than girls (UNESCO, 2022, p. 84). This disparity can also be observed in learning outcomes; for instance, girls are at a disadvantage to the boys in every grade, and men in Somalia have almost twice the literacy rate of women, with 49.7% of men being literate, compared to only 25.8% of women (Cline, 2018).
The reasons for such a gender gap need to be understood and addressed to solve the issue. The most prevalent factors are social gender expectations, early marriage, low access to WASH facilities and a lack of female teachers. Social expectations dictate that girls should stay at home and help with housework and childcare, as opposed to learning in school (Cline, 2018). Especially with the high rates of poverty in Somalia, families might not be able to afford school fees for all the children, and will prioritize the education of their sons over the daughters due to such gender expectations (Horn Observer, 2025). Connected with this is the issue of early marriage and early pregnancy (Global Partnership for Education, 2024b). According to UNICEF, data from 2022 shows that 17% of women between the ages of 20-24 were married before the age of 15, and 35% under the age of 18 (UNICEF, 2022, p. 68). Child marriage is a significant factor in girls’ school drop-out rates (Ali Mohamud, 2020). It negatively impacts girls’ education by compelling them to drop out of school and perform household or childcare duties; specifically in Africa, each year of child marriage reduces the girls’ likelihood of literacy by 5.6%, and reduces the likelihood of them completing secondary school by 6.5% (Wodon et al., 2017, p. 55). The effect between early marriage and education is bidirectional; early marriage reduces the probability of school attendance, while increasing education reduced the probability of child marriage (Wodon et al., 2017. pp. 55-58). Therefore, increasing education through means such as abolishing school fees, improving teacher quality and curriculum, and direct cash transfers, might reduce the rates of child marriage, which in return increases the girls’ chances to complete their education (Wodon et al., 2017, p. 58). Conversely, cracking down on early marriage allows girls to stay in school longer, which in turn decreases child marriage rates.
Other reasons for a gender gap in education in Somalia include a low access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) facilities, as well as a low share of female teachers. Over 25% of schools in Somalia do not have sanitary toilet facilities, and 15% do not have access to clean water (UNESCO, 2022, pp. 140-141). Access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities is incredibly important for young girls’ menstrual hygiene management. If faced with a lack of such facilities, girls cannot manage their menstrual cycle at school, and have to stay at home during that period; this causes them to miss school and fall behind the boys who do not face such setbacks; an issue which has been emphasized by some international organizations (Global Partnership for Education, 2024b). Secondly, over 80% of teachers in Somalia are male, which is likely a consequence of the gender gap in education itself; in secondary schools, female teachers make up only 3% of the teaching staff (UNESCO, 2022, p. 124). This can be problematic both due to safety concerns, and a lack of role models for girls in education; they might be less motivated to continue education if they cannot see themselves represented in such roles and feel understood in the classroom. Additionally, the UNESCO (2022) study showed a pressing need for Somali teachers to undergo training for inclusiveness and gender responsiveness, as to motivate young girls in school and provide them with the proper and inclusive learning environment.
Conclusion
Though there are programs and initiatives to increase equality of education in Somalia, vulnerable groups such as disabled children and girls still face unique challenges preventing them from attending school or receiving quality education. One part of the issue can be addressed through improving infrastructure in terms of accessibility for disabled students and in terms of volume of WASH facilities for girls, while a bigger challenge will be addressing the normative and societal barriers which disincentivize such vulnerable groups from attending school. Negative social attitudes, discrimination, and social gender expectations are among the most significant factors which prevent effective access to education; though addressing them is difficult, it is also necessary to ensure all children in Somalia get a fair chance at obtaining quality education.
Bibliography
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