Objectives

The main objectives of primary education are to introduce the
child progressively to the world around him and her and to lay
a solid foundation for future learning.

Primary education will:

• Promote learners’ growth and acquisition of spiritual, cultural and intellectual values and adaptive attitudes to life based on Islamic principles and ethics.
• Inculcate basic literacy, numeracy, and reinforce communicative and manipulative skills.
• Foster the growth of desirable civic qualities of tolerance, respect for others, maintenance of peace and patriotism.
• Stimulate learners’ desire for knowledge and lay the basis for future learning.

Policy direction

The Regional government is committed to the following policy objectives:

• Improvement of the participation of children aged 6-14 in primary education to at least 50% by 2014.
• Improvement of the participation of girls enrolled in primary education from the current estimate of 36% to 50% of total primary school enrollment by 2014.
• Improvement of the participation of children from nomadic/rural
  communities from the current estimated 4% to at least 25% of the total primary school enrollment by 2014.
• Improvement of the overall participation of children with special needs in primary education.
• Improvement of the overall participation of socially/economically
  disadvantaged children in primary education.
• Consolidation of the access gains made by reducing drop out and repetition rates especially among girls.

These policy objectives will be pursued largely through:

• Creation of awareness among parents and local leadership to place more value on education.
• Support to school construction, rehabilitation and expansion on the basis of school mapping.
• Establishing appropriate incentives to encourage more participation of communities, organizations and other non-state providers in the provision of educational services.
• Improving the relevance of primary education curriculum
• 
  Support to the production of the right number of quality teachers for the primary education sector.
• Providing the correct level of financial support and incentives to the primary education system.

Curriculum of Primary Education

There will be nine compulsory subjects in primary education.
They are: Arabic, Islamic studies, Somali, mathematics
(including business education), science (health, environmental
education and agriculture), social studies (including history,
geography and civics), English, physical education and art and
crafts. Lower and upper primary pupils will be taught for 36
and 42 lesson periods (each of 35 and 40 minutes) respectively,
per week. The language of instruction will be Somali in
subjects other than Arabic and Islam; English is taught as a
subject from Grades 2 to 8.

The Government will take steps to expand access for all children of primary school age as well as to improve the quality and relevance of the education of the recipients.

The teaching methodology in primary school will incorporate modern approaches that focus on participation, problem solving, active enquiry, creativity and socialization.

The Government encourages the active and effective teaching of arts and crafts in the lower primary grades as a key means of stimulating local culture practices as well as the mental and physical development of the child.

Primary school education will also encourage the physical development of the child through sports and other relevant cultural activities.