It was the responsibility of the government to maintain the health sector, and when the government failed, so did the health sector. That is why health, education, water and sanitation, environment is in alarming condition and requires urgent support. Some of them never went to any formal schools. This is a reality for the youth and young children growing mainly in small cities, and rural areas. Even those in big cities like Hargeysa or Bosasso, have no equal access to education because of limited schools.
Bigger cities have at least few elementary schools, which accommodate over thousand students.
Even this hardly meets the needs of the students. Another acute problem across regions is youth's neglect of attending schools after the age of eight. They strongly believe that they miss that opportunity, and feel embarrassed to sit with younger groups. There are no schools or counseling services that are able to facilitate the hardship they are in. Some of them are at the age of thirteen and yet feel too old to go back to school.