Southwest state tightens the security of the examination centres

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Ahmed Mohamed
Email; [email protected]

The Security of examination centres across Southwest state has been beefed up amid fears of Al-Shabaab attacks emerge.

Southwest Disarmament minister Hassan Hussein Mohamed said that they deployed hundreds of security forces at the exam centers to prevent any possible security threat by militants.

“Our forces are alert and they manning all the examination centres. We have deployed the security forces to all centres,” said Hussein.

On Saturday, more than 23,000 Somali students started their final Secondary School exams.

The examinations are taking place at 77 centers across five federal states – Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Southwest, Jubaland and Benadir, according to Somalia’s minister of education, Abdurahman Dahir Osman.

This is the third centralized examination in which the Federal government administered for students who completed secondary schools in an effort to reform the education system since the collapse of central government in 1991.

Somalia’s education has been controlled by private institutions with different curriculum mainly derived from the Arab countries, since the collapse of the government of President Siad Barre.

Last month, Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants threatened to punish parents who send their children to Western-style schools and universities.

In a 26-minute audio recording aired by Radio Andalus, al-Shabab’s mouthpiece in Somalia, group spokesman Ali Dhere said Western-style schools serve the interests of what he called “infidels” and aim to pull children away from Islam.