Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Somaliland: A Good News Education Story

CBS 60 Minutes ran a program on 30 April 2017 titled "Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Founds School in Somaliland" with Anderson Cooper.

American Jonathan Starr, a former hedge fund manager in Boston, decided in 2008 to do something different with his time and money--found the Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Somaliland. An American-style boarding school outside Hargeisa, it has been a huge success in spite of numerous obstacles. Nearly 90 percent of the first graduating class was accepted at colleges around the world. Some 40 graduates are now in American universities on academic scholarships. Students are attending, for example, Oberlin, Rochester, Yale, MIT, and Harvard.

If the Trump administration's ban on travel to the United States from Somalia, which includes Somaliland, stands, the next group of graduates may never make it to an American university.