Turkey to open school in Somalia

MOGADISHU (A.A) - Turkish Religious Foundation will open a school in Somalia to educate 300 students every year. The foundation signed a protocol with Somali Education Ministry on Friday to open a school and operate it for 10 years. The school will educate 300 students between 5 and 14 every year.  The foundation will restore a school that has not been used for almost 8 years in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. "There are around 3 million children at school age in Somalia, and only 5 percent of them can receive education," Somali Education Minister Ahmed Aydiid Ibrahim told AA correspondent. Ibrahim said there was no state-run school in Somalia, and all schools had a private status, and there was serious lack of school. "Those who can afford can get private education in the capital or some other cities, and there is need for schools in Somalia," Ibrahim also said. Moreover, Veysi Kaya, the coordinator of Turkish Religious Foundation in Somalia, said the restoration would probably take three months.  "We will start admitting students as soon as the building is restored, and there will be dormitory on the ground floor and classrooms on the first floor of the two-storey building," Kaya said. Kaya said the foundation would also prepare the curriculum, and there would also be Turkish language courses in the curriculum. (Reporting Tahir Turan Eroglu/Anil Bagrik)