History and Background
Burao is the second largest city in the Somaliland region of Somalia. It has a population between 300,000 and 350,000 people. It is an important commercial centre. It has the largest livestock market in the region, and brings together traders from as far as Bossaso in the northeastern Somalia, Luq, on the boundary with Kenya, in the South, and Djibouti in the West.
Like many other cities in the region, it suffered from destruction and internal displacement due to a prolonged civil war in the 1980s. In 1988, almost all its residents were forced to flee for their lives, the majority of its inhabitants ending up in refugee camps in Ethiopia.
Reconstruction started in earnest as soon as people returned to the city in 1991. Primary and pre-primary schools were first repaired. Unfortunately, the process of rehabilitation was twice interrupted by local conflict: first in 1992, and then in 1994. The situation was worsened by the ban on livestock exports to the Middle East in 2000. As the principle livestock market in the country, this had a disproportionate effect on the economy of Burao, and caused its recovery to lag behind that of other main cities.
The city has now enjoyed almost nine years of fairly uninterrupted peace. There is a strong sense of community and a determination to rebuild what has been destroyed, which has created an environment conducive to investment and regeneration. As a result, the city is now going through a fervent period of renewal, rebuilding, and unprecedented expansion. The majority of the city’s primary and secondary schools have been already rebuilt, renovated or restored. According to the statistics of the Somaliland Ministry of Education, there were 31 public and private primary schools in Burao, in which 11,627 students were enrolled in the scholastic year 2003/4. The region as whole had 73 primary schools in which nearly 16,000 students were enrolled. The expansion of secondary education has been equally impressive. The city has now six secondary schools, and a seventh secondary school is under construction.
The first class graduated from Burao secondary schools in 2003, and many more will do so in the coming years. The question facing parents and educators in Burao and the region was ‘What to do with these young secondary school leavers?’ That question was answered with the establishment of the Burao University, which was set up to offer them and others an opportunity for higher education without leaving home.
Read more about this topic: Burao University
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