By Mohamed Abdi - Reporter
Somalia, 23 April 2026 Somalia’s Education Minister defended adopting Somali for teaching, saying mother-tongue education boosts learning and national identity.
Education Minister Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir said the policy is based on the role of the native language in supporting cognitive, social and intellectual development.
Speaking in an interview with Dawan Media’s Miizaan Podcast aired on Sunday, the minister said learning in one’s mother tongue allows students to better understand lessons and express themselves more effectively.
“The mother tongue is extremely important for a person’s social, intellectual and mental development… it enables individuals to express their feelings more easily and is part of their heritage,” he said.
He added that students taught in their native language tend to grasp concepts more quickly and develop stronger critical thinking skills, making education more effective.
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Abdulkadir said education also plays a central role in preserving the Somali language, noting that global efforts to protect native languages underscore the importance of using them in early education.
“The debate over the language of instruction is not new; it has existed even before the official writing of the Somali language,” he said.
He also pointed to examples of smaller countries that have achieved progress through education in their native languages, arguing that population size does not limit the quality of education.
The minister said Somalis can learn foreign languages with relative ease but stressed the need to strengthen Somali to safeguard the country’s identity, culture and heritage.