About 23,000 secondary school students in Somalia will sit for their national examinations from Saturday May 20, this year.
According to Somalia’s Ministry of Education, the exams will be conducted in 77 centres across five federal states – Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Southwest, Jubaland and Benadir.
The Information minister Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow, making the announcement in Mogadishu, noted that the Horn of Africa nation has been making steady progress in its education system.
“Thousands of students are ready to take the examinations,” Mr Yarisow said.
“This is the highest number of students in southern Somalia sitting for the General Secondary Certificate,” he said, adding that “It shows the progress being made.”
Somalia first administered centralised national examinations to over 7,000 high school students in 2015; 25 years since the collapse of government in 1991.
Last year, about 20,000 students sat for the exams.
Over 900 security agents will be manning the examination centres.
