ABUDWAQ HIGH SCHOOL PROPOSAL

Brief Background

Abudwaq is a small city located in the region of Galgudud, central Somalia, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Dhuusamarreeb and 15km (9 miles) east of the Ethiopian and the Somali border line. Abudwaq is a relatively smal city with an estimated population of 40-50,000 people residing in and around the city. It provides services to a larger nomadic population living in the surrounding areas. Like any other urban town in Somalia, Abudwaq’s population swells during the day as people from the surrounding areas come into the city for trade and services. It is possible to find a mixture of people and activities in the city center on a daily basis—from herders watering their camels to locals managing their general stores.

The District of Abudwaq was founded by nomadic communities in the earlier part of the 20th century. It started out as a place with a water well that nomad families frequently visited for their water needs and slowly transformed into a permanent settlement. To this day, a significant majority of the region’s population are nomads though urbanization seems to be taking place a pace putting an ever increasing demand on the city. Abudwaq is a border town that serves the populations on both sides of the border because there is even less service available across the border in Ethiopian side.

About 10 years ago, in 1999, an elementary school opened its doors in Abudwaq, It's first since 1998 when public schools in the city ceased operation. Crude "Cariish" building served as class rooms at first. In fact, some classes were held outside under a tree with the blackboard leaning against the trunk of tree. Students brought their own “seats”, anything they could find really – ganbar, darin and all. Many simply sat on the sandy ground. Today that school, with such a humble beginnings, is the city's premier educational institution. True, it is far from being the best it can be or the best in the country but it at least addresses Abudwaq's most basic education needs - elementary education. The school was financially sponsored by Somali Relief Fund (SRF) with some limited contribution coming from the community members in Columbus, Ohio. HIRDA managed the construction of the building and eventually assumed management responsibilities for the school. Three years ago, Somali Development Foundation (SDF) based in the US, provided seed money for a high school pilot program aimed at laying the foundation for an eventual full-fledged high school for the city of Abudwaq and the northern part of the Galgadud province. Today, this program has 80 high school students, grade 9 - 11. This year, another 40 are expected to join their ranks, and in 2011, Abudwaq will graduate its first high school student in more in 22 years! This is exciting and sad at the same time. Exciting because it is a step forward; sad because it took us this long to be where we are today and so far from where Abudwaq’s education institutions should be!

While the High School Pilot project has succeeded beyond expectation, it’s a limited program in every sense of the word. It's limited in the number of students it can accommodate; limited in the number of teachers currently available; limited in educational material and it is limited because it has no building facility of its own. The program is currently housed within the elementary/middle school, which is no longer tenable situation. As the elementary/middle school is the city’should s main school, it should normally take two new first grade classes every year. With the high school students taking up classroom spaces, However, the elementary school’s ability to discharge its mission is severely limited leaving students who would otherwise be in school out in the streets.

The lack of high school building facility also means the quality of the high school program is significantly compromised and is severely under par, even for Somali standards, due to lack of proper education material, shortage of space and the limited number of qualified teachers available.

Abudwaq High Schools - Current Students and Projected Growth( Dashboard)

PROPOSED HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING FOR ABDUDWAQ

As the need for high school building is obvious and self-evident, the only question is the form and size of it and whether the Abudwaq Diaspora community is cohesive enough to fill this critical educational need.

This high school proposal takes a longer view by taking into account the city’s secondary level educational needs into the next decade. This mean a high school facility should not only accommodate the city’s current high school student body but, equally import, must allow for future growth in order to avoid overcrowding few years into the future. It also views the high school as an integral part of the community in that certain parts of the high school facility will be a dual use space – serving both students and the larger public.

Land acquisition and Building Site

The high school build should be located an equidistant location of the city’s east-west axis. Since the city’s growth tends to be primarily east-west, the school should be aligned with the center of the city so that students from either edge of the city would travel approximately the same distance to it.

The size of the land for the proposed high school is expected to be around 200x200 meters, which will allow a central courtyards and an open area that could be used for future expansion. Although some research has been done locating a site, location has not yet been selected and will be the first item action as funding and resources become available.

Use and Size of the facility

Class Building

* Not a classroom

Classroom Building view

Library

The library will be a dual use facility serving both the high school and the public at large. A good example of this is the computer lab which may be used as a classroom during the day but will also be open to the general public after school hours, and can be used to offer computer literacy classes for the public.

Administration Building

The administration building will house administrative office such principal’s office. It’s also where the public interacts with school.

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Multipurpose Hall – the multipurpose build will be a dual use facility. It will be used by the high school as a cafeteria or for general school meetings, for example. It will also be used for community events such as meetings and holiday celebrations.

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For More Information Please Contact: Abdinur Aw Ali - Phone: (816) 729-7295 Email: AbudwaqForum@gmail.com

BARDHEERE HIGH SCHOOL

UNIVERSITY OF GEDO