RADIO: Radio teacher: UNICEF and BBC Trust join hands to promote girl education in Somalia (AFRICA)

Radio teacher: UNICEF and BBC Trust join hands to promote girl education in Somalia

Quraxlo Yonis, is a 16 year old girl who lives in Dingal village, some 40 kilometres from Hargeisa, Somaliland. Yonis comes from a pastoralist family that never recognized the importance of sending their only daughter to school and therefore she had never seen or stepped inside a classroom until the family settled in Dingal three months ago. “ I have two brothers and my parents have assigned me the task of looking after our goats and their kids while my brothers herd the camels. At times I help my mother with chores. I had heard about schools but my parents never bothered to take me to one so when we arrived in Dingal I was very happy that they allowed me to attend evening classes”.

These evening classes are no ordinary literacy classes but involve interactive “Radio Teacher” programmes, facilitated by a trained community member. Each lesson is also based on a theme such as health or environmental issues and has been carefully designed to highlight issues that are perceived to be barriers to girls' education in Somalia. While the number of face-to-face classes will initially reach just over 4,000 adults, the BBC World Service Trust (WST) broadcasts are regularly listened to by over 90 per- cent of the Somali population so the real outreach is much greater.

50 “Radio Teacher” programmes will be transmitted on short-wave so that the programme can be heard in urban and rural areas of Somaliland, Puntland and Central South- ern Somalia, and throughout the Somali Diaspora in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen.

The “Radio Teacher” programme is just one of a range of innovative projects which UNICEF - with funding from DFID - is using as a platform to address the gender inequities in education in Somalia. Yonis' case is typical of many thousands of other Somali girls living in a conflict torn and impoverished country. Due to cultural and socio-economic reasons, many parents, particularly in rural areas, do not prioritize sending their daughters to school. In fact, statistics indicate that Somalia has one of the lowest enrol- ment rates in the world with children in rural marginalized groups most affected. While the overall Gross Enrolment Rate stands at about 30.7 percent, less than 1 percent of children from nomadic families have access to formal education.

Compared to previous years, these figures show that there is some improvement in terms of enrolment for boys and girls in lower primary schools, but there is still much to be done if the Millennium Development Goals on access and gender parity are to be achieved. A recent audience survey, undertaken by the BBC WST in Somaliland, explored the range of cultural, economic, psychological and physical barriers that dissuade Somali parents from sending their daughters to school. The survey was conducted in the initial stages of the “Radio Teacher” project using focus group discussions in two regions of Somaliland, in both rural and urban areas. Both male and female “Radio Teacher” prospective students, parents and edu- cators shared their perspectives on girls' education.

Many of the focus group members, like 16-year-old Quraxlo Yonis, had never had access to education. They expressed how their value for an education and their current desire to learn from “Radio Teacher”. However, many parents faced practical challenges with regard to educating their daughters. These included economic barriers such as direct costs (school fees, and uniforms), as well as indirect costs to households such as do- mestic labour which are closely connected to the culturally de- fined gender role of girls in Somalia.

Despite low enrolment and gender disparity in schools most respondents were positive about the impact of education over-all. Yirowe, a female participant in the Burao focus group explained, “Education is the key to life, it enables the person to cover the needs of his life and his family, after one gets a job”. Others were less optimisitic and felt that their lack of education was a lost opportunity and an unalterable condition.

The “Radio Teacher” programme which went on air for the first time last year provided over four thousand participating adults with a much needed opportunity to gain functional literacy skills. In addition to literacy skills the half hour programmes provide information and drama on the theme of girls' education, challenging gender-based culturally accepted barriers and normative societal perspectives. While this may open new windows of economic opportunity for some, it will empower many more with new confidence and life skills and has the potential to challenge the attitudes of millions of parents regarding their own daugh- ters‟ right to education thus unlocking the opportunities for many more Somali girls like Yonis to benefit from education.

Source: UNICEF Somalia
More info: Robert Kihara, Communication Officer - rkihara@unicef.org