Beating Children in Public School in Burao Somalia; Shiikh Ibrahim School next to large mosque in the area of Tawali.
I am complaining to you due illegal beaten of children in public school after they arrived late in school on 07/12/14. On 07/12/2014, I was about to pass the school when I saw a group of young girls age between 11 – 14 years old sitting on the ground. Speaking to them severely was an old gentleman in his 60s holding what appeared from a distance as wood stick. This gentleman was later described as the school’s principal. After he has finished talking , he approached the nearest young female and started to hit her with the stick attacking around the neck, head, shoulders and the chest, giving her a total of around 6-7 blows. This gentleman continued attacking the rest of the girls in exactly the same manner.
This was a peril situation that posed an immediate danger to the safety of the young girls. As the attacker had no regard for body parts like the eyes and the head but only seem to be interested in hitting the girls as hard as he possible could. I shouted at him to stop behind closed gates but he seemed assured that he only posed a little to look at me and then continued attacking the rest of the girls. The last one of the girls was the luckiest as she noticed that he had no energy left and escaped with only about 3 blows. My shouting has prompted the gatekeeper to come to the aid of attacker explaining the attacker’s action with good intention. He said the girls won’t listen to their parents or teacher and that they have neglected their education suggesting that the attack was the only means to encourage them. This idles was also seem to be assured as there were no other options available for their parents or teachers to help their children to arrive on time for their lessons.
This attack was wrong not only in the sense that it will not do any good for the young girls to get educated but more importantly in Islam it is forbade to trouble others with such beaten. It’s reported that the salafist used to beat children only when they swear in Allah’s name as Allah has given us his name for use in difficult times and in private so that we may use if it’s required from us in line with sharia/Islamic law. If you have any question about how wrong the action of the school’s principal was then I would like to refer you to the Quran and Sunna, in it you would find plenty of truth in relation to attack and troubling others. As a head of trusted body in this town,
I hope that my report compel you to take the necessary action as it might send warning signal to others with similar practices in their organization/school or madras’s etc. I am convinced that such practice is pervade throughout the education system in this country and it need to be stamped out for the benefits of all. It is fair to say that whatever systems that are in place to protect children in this country seem to be latent to many organization such as the Shiikh Ibrahim School. To the principal of the school Shiikh Ibrahim School, that no such system was visible for him to adhere to on 7/12/14 and probably the principal regards such system as in active or not important.
Education is concurrent with child abuse and Western way of life at Shiikh Ibraahim School Burao and the Education Minster’s normalization and acceptance of Child Punishment (beaten method) Due to witnessing the incident involving beating children up at Shiikh Ibraahim School,
I have decided to report the incident to the education minster (wakaalada waxa barashadabase) in Burao, Toddheer region. The following is a description of my appointment with him back in January 2015. The attitude of the minster I met at the Education Department (wasaarada wax barashada) was sudden and brazen, that was openly disrespectful. First, he blamed culture for the incident and in doing so he gave an example, that if a mother gets annoyed with her child, the first thing she will do is to hit the child said the Education Minster. On one hand, the minster seemed elated, that is he was very pleased about the use of the beating method while on the other hand, he was very annoyed with me for questioning the beating method. For several times he repeated the sentence, “Who told you to enquire?. Who told you to enquire?”. The minster’s questions are definitely not fair or sensible and I have no idea why he asked me such questions. He said to me “look we are people with culture and religion so do not come to me with what you have adopted from abroad”. He also said that “we will tell the child to say alif, and if the child gets it wrong we will hit him”.
“Alif” is the first Arabic letter of the Arabic alphabet. His inability to be aware of the full facts makes the nation’s expectation to educate the young rather elusive or impossible to achieve. It was shocking to see muslin men in their 70s of age that are reciprocate and explicit in the use of a serious child abuse methods. More than that he has displayed confidence in heading the most rudiment education standard, that is probably the most basic principle of education in the world. As the Education Minster exonerated the principal of Shiikh Ibraahim School from guilt for beating children up in the School or maybe that he is tenuous at his job. The minster also showed a strong dislike in receiving my report about the beating of children at the School.
The minster’s behavior to the child punishment was nothing but gratuitous, that is doing something without a good reason and it’s uncalled for both by pupil and their parent. As his aversion will not help end the child punishment at Shiikh Ibraahim schools. The attitude of head of the most trusted body towards the issue of child abuse was averting, turning a blind eye to the entire concept let along doing something about it. The family is a corner stone of society and if the family goes wrong then society will become breakdown and society will become breakdown because those kids are future. I walk pass the school’s gate regularly and I heard pupil using unthinkable language mention Allah, Diin, mother, father in the most negative way possible. The fact that the pupil uses such language in the school indicates the weakness of the school’s governing body and it negates any rules that are in place.
The school should become a learning organization where children learn the values of our religion and society. At Shiikh Ibraahim School, Girls appear to have dresses that adhere to the Islamic code of female dress whereas boys wear Western garments that are tight trousers and tight shirts. The lessons taught children here is the contradicting that its okay to be a Muslim and wear non Muslims garments (School unit form) and this makes our way of life concurrent with Western way of life and in Islam this amounts to a disbelieve. The children should be encouraged to wear Khamiis and not to cut their hair like a footballer or a Mohegan like (dhoor). In Barshiigo, Burao, its daily occurrence to see youth hitting a stone with dogs sleeping under a vehicle or a tree and when I ask why they are harming an animal?: the replay is that “because its a dog”, suggesting that dogs are forbidden animals and should not be around. The youth’s ignorance are due lack of education and we along are responsible for it. Suggestion and improvement What is needed are strong individuals that can tackle issues like child abuse, dress code, swearing, hair style by removing the concerning individuals from their positions and to replace them with patrons with Islamic virtues, that is a moral goodness and moral advantages gain through tawheed.
They will do a job in preparing our children for the future in contrast to those whose actions are nothing but gratuitous. Their replace should be people with knowledge about Islam as they would be more provident that is wisely providing for the future. A new management that can support an Islamic cause in order to help children throughout their adolescents to obtain knowledge from the Quran and Sunna. In my younger days I had been beaten occasionally and the only thing it taught me was become a liar. This was due to fear that telling the truth would result in being punished again and I did not wanted that to happen. I also used to swear excessively attempting to conceal and persuade others including much older people about whatever I had done and this is the worst relationship between pupil, parents and teachers. The current minster and his staff are assisting our children to become liars and bad mouthed through making education concurrent with child abuse in Burao. The Beating Method With regard to the “Beating Method”, at the very least it needs to be design, defining where the child should be hit if at all and where it should be hit i.e. the backside. Outlining the reasons why the child should hit in the first place.
For example, Salafist used to punish children for swearing without request. Also in such situation, the parents need to be involve as they should take part in the educational development of their children and to guard the safety of their child. The job of the minster should be improving the current education system and not resigning to cultural factors as he stated in the example involving the annoyed mother and her child. The minister should also make sure that the boundaries of the Beating Method is not abused.
Maxaamed ahmed Burco/somaaliland
artehc21@hotmail.co.uk
