Khaem
VIP
The Mass Literacy Campaign (1973-5)
Qore: Axmed Haybe (Axmed Dawlo)
Immediately after the new Script had been introduced, Somali became the sole official language of the state, i.e. the language of administration, education, the press and so forth. This was followed by a mass literacy campaign in urban and rural areas.
The Somali Democratic Republic has launched many diverse campaigns aimed at the interests of the people. The first mass literacy campaign was confined to the cities, towns and certain villages. The Somali civil servants, wherever in the country were taught to read and write the Somali Script within the remarkably six months or even less. The next step was the teaching of the Somali people in the urban centers within year, mainly relying on volunteers, who were offered certificates of honor if their Pupils passed the state literacy test. At the end of this intensified campaign five hundred thousand people were taught to read and write. The new script removed the obstacle to written Communication in which only a small percentage of the population used to communicate with each other in several diverse languages.
There is no doubt that the state administrators had gained valuable experience in the first campaign, such as self-confidence, ability, and cooperation in self-help schemes. These valuable lessons, no doubt, gave the people an immense encouragement to wage a battle against natural disasters and other enemies of mankind.
Before the task of the campaign was undertaken, the president of the SRC Mohamed Siad Barre announced on 7th March that 1974 would be the year of a Rural Development Campaign. It was obvious to the revolution leaders that economical, cultural, social and Political, etc changes could not be overcome, until the life of nomads, who form 80% of the population could be bettered.
On the seventh March 1974, another literacy campaign was launched. This time the problem of facing up to rural literacy was attacked in the fiercest manner. The elimination of illiteracy in the rural areas became imperative if the previous, successful campaign was to have any significance.
The campaign was divided into categories: -
1. Mass literacy campaign
2. Improvement of the health of people and domestic animals.
3. Taking a census of the people and animal population.
The campaign for the development of rural areas was neither the first of its kind to be carried out in Somalia nor the last. The campaigns had become the particular characteristic of the revolution. (Ministry of Information, 1975).
It would be beyond the scopes of this thesis to account for the different campaigns that were going on, and I shall concentrate on the mass literacy campaign. On the Idd Festival in August 1974, the Somalis had committed themselves to wage war on different deadly enemies. Thousands of vehicles had converged on The 21st October Square in Mogadishu in which men and women were packed. The weapons of these forces were pens, chalks, blackboards and medicines. The attack was focused on the farms, the villages, the small towns and the countryside where the deadly enemies lurked furtively. The battle raged fiercely for seven months. The forces who, gallantly and heroically took part on this campaign were composed of students, teachers, the victory pioneers (a youth Organization sponsored by the government), the peace-keepers (rural local government officials who liaise with the central government), a contingent of the armed forces, the civil servants and members of the public. During the campaign all the schools in the Republic were officially closed, as students and teachers, participated in that historic campaign. The civil servants and armed forces who were involved in the campaign were freed from their regular jobs. (Ministry of Information, 1975).
On the day of their departure, the President bid these forces farewell. He gave a speech interspersed with advice, wisdom, encouragement, inspiration and commendation for the forces. He said:
... the battle you engage in with your forces has more honor than the ordinary one, and has more value than anything you have known, and you would be doing your duty and render a service for humanity. Our enemy would get worried by the fierce attack you are about to mount on it, because its result would have untold benefits to us (Ministry of Information, 1975, p.21).
The forces that had to participate in the campaign left the capital, Mogadishu, in accompaniment of songs and poems extolling the work on which they are about to embark and promised to tackle the problems for which they had to find permanent solutions. The central theme of these songs and poems was that they vowed to fulfill their duties in the battle patriotically, heroically and in a revolutionary manner.
Indeed, these forces proved their readiness to serve for the nation. Eventually, they successfully freed their people from the chains of backwardness to a large extent. These can be witnessed by the changes that occurred in the life of Somali nomads and farmers. It is difficult to describe this in a few words or tell to a person who was not in Somalia during that time. The campaign is written in indelible ink in Somali history.
On their return, the inhabitants of the capital welcomed them at a place 30kms away from the centers to which they were returning, garlanded with colored flowers in recognition of their heroic achievements.
Among the various reasons that brought about the victory in the campaign were the strong will of the participants and their thorough preparation, hard work and a good decision making by the healthy leadership of the revolution. Before the campaign was launched, 3% of the people were able to read and write. But after the two mass literacy campaigns, urban and rural, were over, 55% of the population could read and write their native language. This reveals that Somalis to a large extent had uprooted ignorance, which had been prevailing for a long time. Nevertheless, there is not a single nation in the world, which has completely overcome the problems, of ignorance, because in every country, there are people who can neither write nor read, no matter what the reasons for this might be.
A continuation programme at various civic centers throughout the country after it was completed followed the campaign, in order to increase the number of literate people and to prevent relapses into illiteracy.
Nearly seventy governments in a Africa, Asia and Latin America initiated similar programmes, but it appeared that none of them reached the same level of success. The rate of illiteracy increased, and the ways the various countries approached the problem were quite different. The system Somalia had adopted to combat this evil was quite different from all other countries; it had wide scale built-in diversity, for it contained large scale of complementary features all designed to implement the major problem for literacy (Ministry of Information, 1975).
Qore: Axmed Haybe (Axmed Dawlo)
Immediately after the new Script had been introduced, Somali became the sole official language of the state, i.e. the language of administration, education, the press and so forth. This was followed by a mass literacy campaign in urban and rural areas.
The Somali Democratic Republic has launched many diverse campaigns aimed at the interests of the people. The first mass literacy campaign was confined to the cities, towns and certain villages. The Somali civil servants, wherever in the country were taught to read and write the Somali Script within the remarkably six months or even less. The next step was the teaching of the Somali people in the urban centers within year, mainly relying on volunteers, who were offered certificates of honor if their Pupils passed the state literacy test. At the end of this intensified campaign five hundred thousand people were taught to read and write. The new script removed the obstacle to written Communication in which only a small percentage of the population used to communicate with each other in several diverse languages.
There is no doubt that the state administrators had gained valuable experience in the first campaign, such as self-confidence, ability, and cooperation in self-help schemes. These valuable lessons, no doubt, gave the people an immense encouragement to wage a battle against natural disasters and other enemies of mankind.
Before the task of the campaign was undertaken, the president of the SRC Mohamed Siad Barre announced on 7th March that 1974 would be the year of a Rural Development Campaign. It was obvious to the revolution leaders that economical, cultural, social and Political, etc changes could not be overcome, until the life of nomads, who form 80% of the population could be bettered.
On the seventh March 1974, another literacy campaign was launched. This time the problem of facing up to rural literacy was attacked in the fiercest manner. The elimination of illiteracy in the rural areas became imperative if the previous, successful campaign was to have any significance.
The campaign was divided into categories: -
1. Mass literacy campaign
2. Improvement of the health of people and domestic animals.
3. Taking a census of the people and animal population.
The campaign for the development of rural areas was neither the first of its kind to be carried out in Somalia nor the last. The campaigns had become the particular characteristic of the revolution. (Ministry of Information, 1975).
It would be beyond the scopes of this thesis to account for the different campaigns that were going on, and I shall concentrate on the mass literacy campaign. On the Idd Festival in August 1974, the Somalis had committed themselves to wage war on different deadly enemies. Thousands of vehicles had converged on The 21st October Square in Mogadishu in which men and women were packed. The weapons of these forces were pens, chalks, blackboards and medicines. The attack was focused on the farms, the villages, the small towns and the countryside where the deadly enemies lurked furtively. The battle raged fiercely for seven months. The forces who, gallantly and heroically took part on this campaign were composed of students, teachers, the victory pioneers (a youth Organization sponsored by the government), the peace-keepers (rural local government officials who liaise with the central government), a contingent of the armed forces, the civil servants and members of the public. During the campaign all the schools in the Republic were officially closed, as students and teachers, participated in that historic campaign. The civil servants and armed forces who were involved in the campaign were freed from their regular jobs. (Ministry of Information, 1975).
On the day of their departure, the President bid these forces farewell. He gave a speech interspersed with advice, wisdom, encouragement, inspiration and commendation for the forces. He said:
... the battle you engage in with your forces has more honor than the ordinary one, and has more value than anything you have known, and you would be doing your duty and render a service for humanity. Our enemy would get worried by the fierce attack you are about to mount on it, because its result would have untold benefits to us (Ministry of Information, 1975, p.21).
The forces that had to participate in the campaign left the capital, Mogadishu, in accompaniment of songs and poems extolling the work on which they are about to embark and promised to tackle the problems for which they had to find permanent solutions. The central theme of these songs and poems was that they vowed to fulfill their duties in the battle patriotically, heroically and in a revolutionary manner.
Indeed, these forces proved their readiness to serve for the nation. Eventually, they successfully freed their people from the chains of backwardness to a large extent. These can be witnessed by the changes that occurred in the life of Somali nomads and farmers. It is difficult to describe this in a few words or tell to a person who was not in Somalia during that time. The campaign is written in indelible ink in Somali history.
On their return, the inhabitants of the capital welcomed them at a place 30kms away from the centers to which they were returning, garlanded with colored flowers in recognition of their heroic achievements.
Among the various reasons that brought about the victory in the campaign were the strong will of the participants and their thorough preparation, hard work and a good decision making by the healthy leadership of the revolution. Before the campaign was launched, 3% of the people were able to read and write. But after the two mass literacy campaigns, urban and rural, were over, 55% of the population could read and write their native language. This reveals that Somalis to a large extent had uprooted ignorance, which had been prevailing for a long time. Nevertheless, there is not a single nation in the world, which has completely overcome the problems, of ignorance, because in every country, there are people who can neither write nor read, no matter what the reasons for this might be.
A continuation programme at various civic centers throughout the country after it was completed followed the campaign, in order to increase the number of literate people and to prevent relapses into illiteracy.
Nearly seventy governments in a Africa, Asia and Latin America initiated similar programmes, but it appeared that none of them reached the same level of success. The rate of illiteracy increased, and the ways the various countries approached the problem were quite different. The system Somalia had adopted to combat this evil was quite different from all other countries; it had wide scale built-in diversity, for it contained large scale of complementary features all designed to implement the major problem for literacy (Ministry of Information, 1975).
