Ahmed Haybe: Improving Education in Ethiopia

Ahmed Haybe: Improving Education in Ethiopia
San Diego City Schools (SDCS) employees continuously work to improve the lives of our students through our efforts in the field of education. However, there are always individuals who strive to go above and beyond, volunteering their time outside of work to have a more positive impact on our community and the world.Ahmed Haybe of the (SDCS) Translation Services Unit is one such person. A native to Kabridahare, Ethiopia, Ahmed has lived in San Diego for seven years, and recently started a program to improve the quality of education in his hometown, half a world away.A Day in the Life of an Ethiopian StudentEach day in the town of Kabridahare, Ethiopia, over 5,200 students (Grades 1-10) sit with their legs crossed and hands on their books, ready to learn. This is a familiar scene, expected in classrooms across the world, but some items are absent here: student desks, chairs and a sufficient number of books.In addition to sitting on the floor, some without reading materials, these children typically do not have access to drinking water, and classrooms hold 120-150 students each. In comparison, a second-grade class in San Diego City Schools holds no more than 20 students. According to a study in Ethiopia done in April 2004 by San Diego Police Department Community Service Officer (CSO) Asad Mohamed, other issues include a no formal teacher count, low pay, lack of teaching materials, and a teacher population with little or no training in high-quality teaching skills.How does a situation like this arise? Asad’s research points to a population boom in recent years, lack of funding and limited training resources for administrators.Kabridahare, an urban town in eastern Ethiopia in the Somali region of Ogaden, has a total of five schools: three elementary, one middle and one high school. The nearest college preparatory school (Grades 11-12) is located in the town of Jijiga. Both the distance to Jijiga and the lack of quality instruction in Kabridahare ensure that students rarely attend past Grade 10. The Kabridahare District Education Project is BornAhmed and his friends, Mohamed Haybe and Abdulahi Aidid, have been working with CSO Asad Mohamed for more than a year to solve Kabridahare’s educational challenges. All four men grew up in Kabridahare and have mobilized a movement to implement positive change in their hometown.The research they conducted led to two priorities: providing educational materials and raising teaching standards.To gain support for their efforts, Ahmed, Mohamed and Asad organized meetings in San Diego, Denver, Minneapolis and Johannesburg, South Africa, inviting other immigrants from Kabridahare to join their cause. More than 700 people (total) attended these meetings.Overwhelming community support and the desire to provide more to these under-served students has led the “Kabridahare District Education Project” (led by Ahmed, Mohamed, Abdulahi and Asad) to pursue non-profit status. Their next goal is to set up a regular donation service of $20/month to support teachers in Kabridahare. Their hope is that this supplemental pay increase will encourage more high-quality teachers to work in Kabridahare.If you have any questions or would like to know how you can get involved, please contact Ahmed Haybe at haybe2000@yahoo.com or (619) 516-1245. In his “day-job” in Translation Services, Ahmed is responsible for translating communications materials such as documents, fact sheets and videos and interprets school site meetings for families in our district whose home language is Somali.Is someone in your school or department making a positive impact? Tell us! Stories will be published in the Staff Bulletin on a space-available basis.