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Hard Courses in Gunfire -- Somalia's First College Students to Graduate Since 1991
Over 500 Mogadishu University students Monday sat for their yearly examinations, a rare scene in the war-torn country, and some 152 of them are expected to get their graduation diploma -- for the first time since 1991.
Silence dominated the classrooms, where sweating students and their professors seemed to constitute another world, a world among piles of books and in sharp contrast with the one out of the windows.
"The exams remind me of my old school days, but the regret is that they are only confined to a few places in the country," said a professor administrating the tests.
The students at the university are varied -- in different majors including History, Languages, Law and Islamic Studies, and in different age and sex.
Over 80 percent of the students are boys, said a university official, adding the few girls are attending their classes in Jilabibre, the Islamic gowns, all the time.
"The university is happy about the exams going on, which at least proves we can manage to turn out our 'product' in the middle of anarchy," he said.
But since the institute is private and has to be paid for to enter, it can not attract as many students as it wants, he added.
According to Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abukar, the university's president, his institute charges each student an equivalent of 300 U.S. dollars every academic year in all faculties except the faculty of law, which charges 400 dollars per year for tuition.
To cope with the financial constraints, Ali Sheikh said his men have been making great efforts to solicit aid from both the Islamic and non-Islamic countries and universities in the United Sates and Canada as well.
"My head is blank and I have no plan in mind on what I should do next after getting my diploma," said Yusuf Mohamed Abdi, an exam taker, who is expected to graduate from the university's Faculty of Languages soon.
"This has been a serious burden on me and my family," he added, saying "but afterwards I will have to think about ways I could reward my family and people."
Faduma Abukar Mohamed, a student to graduate from the Faculty of History soon, said she hopes to further her education after obtaining her Bachelor degree. She said she is now a teacher at an intermediate school. "When I get my diploma, I will be in an even better position," she said.
Despite the happiness they have shown for an impending graduation, the students were startled when they were asked to recall what a risky course they have covered to get their hardly- earned degrees.
It was really terrified when the former premises of the university came under attacks and the whole building was looted and taken over by the clannish gunmen, said Yussuf Mohamed Abdi.
"The university has itself been among the displaced and we had to move to this new place," he said.
He said the first day the university moved to its current place, a fighting broke out between different warlords at Sinai junction which is only 40 meters away.
"The people are dying any way for many reasons. So if we die while learning, it would not be any worse than dying while wandering around," said Faduma.
She said she is going to continue teaching even after marrying. "I now have women colleagues with children who still teach, so I may just become one of them," she said.
Despite the difficulties, the work done by the university is highly valuated by the government. Monday, top officials from the Somali transitional government, including Minister of Higher Education Mohamed Ali Kalay, visited the university to inspect how the exams were going on and extend thankfulness to the professors.
The professors, most of whom have recently returned from outside the country, are mainly former teachers of the Somali National University, which collapsed with the late government in 1991.
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