|
IRIN Web Special on Separated Somali Children
Chapter 4: The dream of education
Introduction
Getting an education is the number one reason given for sending children overseas. The situation in the majority of Somali areas means that for rich and poor alike the compelling need when it comes to education is simply to have one. To many parents the prospect of having no education at all for their children, or being limited to a rudimentary, Koranic one, justifies extreme solutions. But the experience of separated children seems a far cry from the "golden opportunity" the parents perceive it to be.
Very few adults in the homeland appear to appreciate the unique difficulties unaccompanied children face in attempting to realize the dream. In reality, most separated children fail to fulfil even their most basic potential and struggle to cope with daily life in a foreign school. The few who do succeed in the education system and gain the enviable qualifications unavailable at home are often plagued by emotional problems concerning identity, belonging and separation.
Within the diaspora, there is a growing unease over the experiences of these children. Significantly, it is the failure of children in the education system abroad that has been cited as one of the main reason for sending children back to the homeland.
[Somali schools]
Fitting in
The experience of separated children in the education system of the host country is probably one of the most significant factors in terms of quality of life and future adult potential. Even those who succeed find it a lonely experience.
Houdan, who is reading for a degree in Bio-Medical Technology in Stockholm, arrived in Sweden as an unaccompanied child at the age of 13, with the responsibility of a four-year-old and eight-year-old sister. Despite her academic success, she told IRIN she struggled to make friends, "ached" to be back with her family, found her responsibilities for her sisters had made it difficult to study at home, and felt a continued sense of isolation: "I feel however long I have been here, I will never belong …My school work was good because I concentrated hard on my studies to stop myself from thinking about what has happened to me."
Houdan is adamant in her belief that Somali children should not be sent away by their parents, because the problems they suffer outweigh the advantages: "It is tragic; the children cannot handle it well, and they don't make it. They can't take advantage of the opportunities they are sent for because of their circumstances."
Lost in an alien system
The experience of an alien education system is particularly agonizing for a separated child, as it is the most critical socialization and assimilisation process. But the circumstances of separated children - the feeling of rejection, confusion over personal identity and other problems like trauma and anxiety - often means school operates in the reverse, and widens the gap instead of closing it.
Rudimentary education and unrecognised qualifications make it a "dead-end" system for children
Photo: UNICEF
|
"They get lost in school life…they can't make friends because of the communication gap, and the teachers can't understand them, and their guardians can't help them…the child feels a sense of negligence and abandonment by the teachers and school, which develops into a feeling of inferiority…The other children know they have a weaker person in the class, and so they torment and bully them", Somali educationalist Hussein Hassan told IRIN in London.
Education specialists, social workers and government officials pointed out to IRIN that, as a group, Somali refugee children tended to do poorly in the education systems in Western Europe and North America. This is attributed to a number of problems the children face, and should be seen in the wider context of problems faced by all refugee and migrant communities. For example, most Somalis are forced to enter schooling by year group rather than ability, despite the fact that nearly all have enormous gaps in their education because of the circumstances in their homeland. Trauma and separation are also factors in adapting to a new environment and culture. Language and religion can also be significant obstacles in the system.
[Teacher in Sweden, on unaccompanied refugee children learning Swedish]
Continue 
|
