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Ahmed Haybe (Ahmed
Dawlo)
Haybe2000@yahoo.com
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).
At a reception
held in a big Stadium in Mogadishu on seventh March 1975, medals
were distributed to the participants of the campaign on various
merits. These medals were the largest number given out at one
time. The people who participated in the campaign numbered not less
than 125,000 falling into various categories. The vehicles which
had been working in that campaign were no less than five hundred and
the people who passed the final examination in reading and writing
the Somali language at the rural areas were 1,257,779. The expenses
incurred for the first year of the campaign were estimated at 305
million Somali Shillings, but later when the public contributed
towards this cause and had assumed responsibility for the housing
and feeding of the teachers and other expenses the budget of the
campaign plummeted to 78 million Somali Shillings. The most
paramount benefit gained during that period was experience. This
campaign largely depended on voluntary teachers and a slogan, which
referred to a national orthography said: "Haddaad taqaan bar,
haddaanad aqoon baro. If you know it, teach it- if you don't know
it, learn it" (Andrzejewski, 1974a, p.201). The most important
feature of the programme, which gripped the minds. And hearts of the
population was learning to read and write the Somali language. It
was their dreams, which came true, for they have always had hopes to
be able to see their dreams translated into realities one day.
Benefits accured from the
Campaign
There is no doubt
that the writing of the mother tongue was in the forefront of the
historical decisions taken in the revolutionary era. Concrete
victories had emerged from the steps of the revolutionary government
on 21st October 1969, concerning the writing of the mother tongue.
The hard work of the government, the heavy emphasis and importance
it placed on the campaign and series of successive steps taken in
connection with this programme all showed the ultimate beneficial
aims that would follow from the uprooting of ignorance, and the
benefits that come from having education. The steps, which were to
lead the elimination of illiteracy, were:
1.)
Elimination of
ignorance, which had constituted insurmountable problems to millions
of Somalis.
2.)
To create a
society, which puts a high degree of importance on education and the
role, it plays on national development.
Widespread
literacy has created great social changes. It has made education
and participation in public life open to the majority of the people,
and enabled men and women of the requisite ability to hold
responsible positions without first acquiring the knowledge of a
foreign language. In particular, the accessibility of education
through the medium of the mother tongue has had a great impact on
the emancipation of women, many of who now participate in public
life on terms of equality with men. Those citizens who are
acquainted with foreign languages may still find them useful in
their lives, if they are in contact with foreigners, or need to read
professional books and journals from abroad, but they no longer form
an exclusive elite, set apart from the general public. The business
of inequality between the town and countryside depends on factors in
addition to the medium of instruction. Schools and teachers access
to general culture.
What had greatly
surprised the foreign journalists who visited the areas of Rural
Development Campaign was the iron will of the young students and how
easily they managed to cope with rural life. Moreover, the
relationship between the students and the people whom they were
living with during the campaign remained strong and eventually
resulted in good relations and visits.
The Campaign and the Mass
Media
It would be
impossible to state here in detail the role of the mass media in the
campaign, but it is worth mentioning some of the important factors.
The Ministry of
Information and National Guidance administers:-
1.) The
State Printing Agency
2.) Radio
Mogadishu and Radio Hargeisa
3.) The
National Theatre
4.) The
National Film Agency
These were the
agencies that had largely contributed to the campaign and enabled it
to reach its full potential.
There was never a
single day when the mass media did not carry major news items and
features on the literacy campaign beginning on 21st October, 1972,
when the writing of Somali was announced. Of the categories of
activity in which mass media were engaged were the following:
Publications in press, radio broadcasts, films and stage shows.
A) The Newspapers
When the writing
of the Somali language was announced, all the papers mounted a
fierce attack on ignorance, the illustrations of its evils, the
hardships it created for the Somali people, and had heavily
underlined that the only way this problem could be eliminated was
through education. However, the newspapers could not reach the
communities in remote places, because of the lack of roads and the
transportation facilities, as is the case in many third world
countries.
The major things
that local papers had done for the campaign were:
1.) Explaining the
pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet, which included
pictures.
2.) The rousing of
the people in regard to health improvements.
3.) Orientation
4.) Increase of
general knowledge
5.) The
dissemination of news
(Ministry of
Information, 1975)
The announcement
of the new script was followed by its appearance in Somali
language. The October Star (Xiddigta Oktoobar) had become the
emblem of change in the Somali press, which brought tangible
achievements and every individual could see as a result of these the
dissemination of the Somali language in a written form. It was not
only the local papers, which wrote about the Somali Campaign; the
foreign press (West and East) had also given it extensive coverage.
Some Somalis who were impressed by the campaign had paid serious
attention to it and wrote reports, which appeared in the
international press, which was of high importance.
B) The Radio
The Radio
broadcasts in Somalia (Radio Mogadishu and Radio Hargeisa) devoted
much of their time imparting the knowledge of written Somali.
During that period the radio played the role of teacher,
orientator, newscaster, linker, companion and entertainer. In
addition to that, there had been a roving car moving through the
regions and districts reporting the daily events. The radio had
also served to enable students and teachers to be in touch with
their parents and friends, to talk to each other directly. The
Radio Programme Officers, who consisted of messages of good will,
had set up this program known as “the Students requests” and general
reports and enquires about health and well being of friends and
relatives. In addition, the reporters were sending the news
coverage through this radio (Ministry Of Information, 1975).
The programme
"Learn from the Radio,' was also established, and continued
throughout the whole campaign. The Somali Language Section of Radio
Mogadishu was on the air for 63 hours a week, of which 14.37% hours
were devoted to the campaign.
The following tables clearly
show the amount of time spent on Rural Development Campaign (RDC) in
radio programmes. (see Page 9 and 10)
Radio Programme
for the Rural
Development Campaign
Morning
Noon
Afternoon Evening New Program
Time
Saturday:
7-7.20 13.07-13.30 16.40- 16.45
19.45-20.00 21.00-21.20 = 6 1.52
Sunday
6.40-7.20 13.07-13.30 16.40 16.00 19.45-20.00
22.00-22.15 = 6 2.12
Monday -do- -do- 16.48-16.45
-do- -do- = 6 2.12
Tuesday -do-
-do- -do-
-do- =6 2.12
Wednesday
-do- -do- -do- -do- -do- = 6 2.12
Thursday -do- -do-
-do- -do- -do- =6 2.12
17.15-17.30 -do- -do- =1 15
Friday 8.10
-do- 16.40- 16.45 19.30-19.45
= 4 1.35
9.00 -do- 17.13-17.30
19,45-20.00
Saturday
7.00 13.07-13.30 16.40- 16.45
19.45-20.00 21.00-21.20 =
7.20
6.40
7.20
Week
7 6 8 8
12
= 41 14-3 7
Month
28 24 32 32
48 =
164 14.37
3
Months84 72 96 96
144 =
492 175.20
Year
336 288 384 384
576 = 1968
701.37 Source:
Ministry of information, 1975, p.40
I can report as a
participant observer, that I and some of my friends learned the new
script through the radio; and perhaps it is the means by which most
people learn it.
The following table of
statistics shows the songs, poems and other programmes, which the
Radio released for the year 1974.
Start
Programmes Programmes
Songs Poems
January
52
60 18 2
February
52
52 14 3
March
52
52 20 4
April
52
52 12 -
May
52
52 20 1
June
52 52
16 -
July
52 52
22 3
August
108 52
102 9
September
108 52
87 8
October
112 52
60 5
November
108
52 75 6
December
110 52
62 2
Total
1.) Songs 448
2.) Poems 43
3.) Teachings 720
4.) Campaign
programs 910
(Ministry of
Information, 1975, p.44)
C) The National
Theatre
The Somali theatre
contributed to the spread of literacy. Committed in the last four
decades to the cause of progress and reform, Somali playwrights
introduced into their works didactic themes, which strongly
supported the new scripts and attacked, through satire or direct
invective those who secretly opposed it.
President Siad,
who had given the Ministry unstinted praise, underlined the role,
which the Ministry of Information had played in the campaign. The
Ministry's role was a sensitive one, and it had fulfilled its duty
with flying colours.
The Somali
government had made great efforts in carrying out the campaign, but
ability was another question. The energies and resources the
government had spent on the literacy campaign could not be fully
expressed in prose, for they placed heavy emphasis on the success of
that campaign. Both the foreign and local communities have been
witnesses to this effort.
REFERENCES
ANDREZEJEWISKI, B.
W., 1977a “The Development of National Orthography in Somalia
And the
Modernization of Somali Language.” Horn of
Africa,
1,3
39-45
-----------------------------1977 “Five years of written Somali. A
report on progress and
prospects” IAI
Bulletin, 47, 4: 4-5
-----------------------------1980, “The implementation of language
planning in Somalia:
A Record of
Achievement” In: Language Planning Newsletter, 6
I: 1, 4-5
MINISTRY OF
INFORMATION AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE, 1974, The writing of Somali
A Great Land Mark in our
Revolutionary History.
State Printing Agency, Mogadishu, Somalia.
---------------------------- 1975, Ololaha Horumarinta Reer
Miyiga [ Rural Development
Campaign.]
State Printing Agency. Mogadishu, Somalia.
MOHAMED, O.O,
1975, From Written Somali to a Rural Development Campaign.
Somali
Institute of
Development Administration and Management.
Mogadishu, Somalia.
-------------------------1976, Administrative Efficiency and
Administrative Language in
Somalia.
Somali Institute of Development and
Management.
Mogadishu,
Somalia.
MOHAMED & WEHRMANN, 1976, The
Rural Development Campaign in
Somalia
(1974/1975)
Paper presented at a seminar on determination
on learning
needs in rural areas,
held 29 November
– 3 December, 1976, Nairobi, Kenya
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