Somali Teacher’s Day is a moment to honor lecturers whose reach stretches far beyond classrooms — educators who guide, inspire and shape generations. For me, this year carries a deeply personal weight: it marks 10 years since I first stood at a chalkboard and began the work that would define my voice, my discipline and my purpose.
My path into education began as a teenage girl helping young learners and unfolded across primary schools, secondary schools, universities and, eventually, a graduate program in Japan. A decade later, I have come home to Somalia with a broader perspective and a deeper belief in what teaching can do for a student, a community and a nation.
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2015: Primary school beginnings, while finishing high school
I started teaching in 2015 while completing my final year of high school. My first classroom was a primary school, full of very young children just beginning their learning journeys. I was young, too, and the responsibility felt overwhelming and electrifying all at once.
In those humble rooms — a swirl of curious eyes and eager smiles — I learned lessons that no textbook could offer. Teaching children demanded patience and gentleness. It required me to meet each student exactly where they were, to explain and re-explain without losing faith, to notice the quiet child who needed more time and the confident one who needed a challenge. I began building a quiet confidence of my own, one lesson, one day at a time. Those early years became the foundation of a vocation I didn’t yet know I was choosing.
2018: Secondary school, while in my fifth semester of university
By 2018, I was balancing my own coursework with morning classes as a secondary school teacher. Teenagers arrive with questions, emotion and ambition — and they expect an adult who can keep up. This phase demanded emotional intelligence, leadership, communication and empathy. I learned to read a room, to hear what silence means, to respond with equal parts firmness and kindness.
Juggling university lectures in the afternoon and classroom teaching in the morning taught me discipline and time management that still anchor my days. It was the moment I shifted from “someone who teaches” to someone steadily becoming an educator.
2020-22: Joining university staff and teaching undergraduates
As I advanced academically, I joined the university staff and began teaching undergraduates. Standing in a lecture hall for the first time before future professionals, researchers, economists and statisticians was a milestone I will never forget.
Here, preparation became everything. I designed lectures and materials, created assignments and delivered feedback with care, aware that it could change how a student understood a concept or saw themselves. In these years, I learned to speak confidently to large groups, to translate complex ideas into practical language and to mentor students through real academic hurdles. I began building my academic voice — and with it, a professional identity rooted in service.
2023-24: Graduate teaching assistant in Japan
During my master’s studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Japan, I served as a graduate teaching assistant. Teaching at the graduate level in an international, multicultural classroom transformed me. I witnessed how students from different countries approach learning, how they interpret knowledge, use silence, show respect for time and connect with their lecturers.
Japan sharpened my attention to detail — in writing, research and presentation — and deepened my respect for disciplined processes. The role strengthened my ability to offer advanced academic support, advise students and guide classroom discussions that honored multiple perspectives. It did more than improve my teaching. It elevated my identity as a global educator.
2025: Returning home with a global perspective
After completing my studies in Japan, I returned to Somalia with renewed purpose and a widened lens. Today, I teach full university courses and supervise undergraduate theses, guiding students through their first real research journeys. I mentor with the awareness that skill, confidence and clarity are built gradually, with steady support.
Every lecture I deliver and every thesis I supervise carry lessons from Somali classrooms and Japanese ones. The habits I built over ten years — listening closely, preparing deeply, respecting time, honoring different learning styles — shape each decision I make in front of my students.
Teaching, for me, is not just a profession. It is an identity I carry with pride.
The lessons of a decade
- Responsibility shapes character: Teaching young taught me to mature early, lead early and build discipline early.
- Emotional intelligence is essential: Teenagers taught me to understand feelings as carefully as facts.
- Leadership is service: Teaching is one of the purest forms of serving others.
- Patience transforms learning: Growth takes time — students bloom at different paces.
- Cultural differences enrich the classroom: Diverse approaches to learning deepen understanding for everyone.
- Teaching builds lifelong confidence: A steady confidence you carry into every room.
Teaching did not just shape my career. It shaped my character, my worldview and my voice.
On Somali Teacher’s Day, I celebrate the people and places that made this decade possible:
- The primary students who taught me compassion
- The teenagers who taught me emotional intelligence
- The undergraduates who trusted my guidance
- The graduate classrooms in Japan that refined my discipline
- The colleagues and mentors who supported me
- The many students whose lives touched mine
Ten years later, the work still feels new because each class is different, each student brings a story and each day asks for care. I teach with gratitude — for the schools that opened their doors, the families that placed their trust and the communities that value learning even when conditions are hard.
Somali Teacher’s Day honors those who keep showing up in front of a whiteboard, on a Zoom screen, or in a crowded classroom to help someone else grow. I celebrate this day with renewed purpose. A decade in, I know teaching is not only what I do — it is who I am.
Happy Somali Teacher’s Day — and cheers to a decade of teaching, transformation and service.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
