Somalia’s parliament grills education minister over scholarship disceptations
MOGADISHU Monday August 10, 2015—-Somalia’s parliament has grilled the country’s education minister Sunday amid calls for education reform as concerns about countrywide scholarship allocations are being raised.
The minister Ms. Khadra Bashir’s questioning comes following days she’s been evading to come before the legislators to answer ‘important’ questions related to Somalia’s education improvement despite pressure from lawmakers.
Somalia’s deputy parliament speaker emphasized that grilling the minister was constitutional with reference to clauses from the constitution to keep tabs on the country’s education scheme.
Speaking at the parliament, Ms. Khadra who read out a written speech said that during her six months tenure, her ministry focused on assembling education law as well as the prohibition of using educational institutions as residential purposes.
The legislators who assertively questioned the minister demanded a comprehensive explanation on how the ministry dealt out the scholarships for the country’s regions, a contentious subject as some regions criticized the ministry of disproportion.
Answering series of questions, the minister has reassured that despite criticism her ministry has assigned the scholarship opportunities to all regions in equal amounts.
The legislative body, the most outspoken government institution in Somalia has picked 32 MPs to grill the minister; however, the minister who answered questions from seven legislators will have to return to the parliament on Monday to complete answering the outstanding questions.
Somalia which is recovering from decades of war has implemented one of the most encouraging initiatives in 2013, Go to School, a program that offers free education for the poor students – however, the program has virtually ceased its operations since late last year as critics, noting the country’s lack of strong institutions the program may be derailed by official corruption.
Source: HOL