What it costs to build schools in Somalia

Where Xidig members may contribute

These are learning and collaboration opportunities, not confirmed jobs or contracts.

• Engineering and architecture: low-cost, durable school designs that suit the climate, with shade, ventilation, water and latrines.
• Cost estimating: independent unit costs for classrooms, labs and training centres, which Xidig could not find published.
• Education planning: using school-census data to decide where new classrooms are most needed.
• Teaching and school leadership: a new classroom only helps if a trained teacher is in it.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• An open cost benchmark for Somali school construction, updated each year from published project documents.
• Standard designs for two-, four- and eight-classroom schools, with bills of quantities.
• Construction-quality checks and community maintenance guides for schools already built.
• Solar lighting and water systems for rural schools. See Solar installer and technician skills in Somalia.

Who may find this useful

• Civil engineers, architects and quantity surveyors.
• Education planners and researchers.
• Teachers and school leaders.
• Education NGOs and community school committees.

What schools cost, and how many are needed

What one current project estimates.

• About US$280,000 per school: the mid-term review of the World Bank's Somalia Education for Human Capital Development project (November 2024) says the "unit cost of building a school (currently estimated at approximately $280,000) has more than doubled compared to design stage (about $110,000)".
• Why it rose: the same review lists cost inflation for materials, higher labour costs, eight classrooms per school instead of four, bigger classrooms, a concrete and block fence of nearly 400 metres "costing an extra $72,000 USD", and solar lighting.
• Fewer schools: "the number of schools to be constructed will be reduced from 180 to 68", with a budgeted "unit cost per newly constructed school" of US$220,588.
• Slow start: at the time of the review, "bidding has not yet begun for any of the 180 schools initially planned for construction". The project was due to close in June 2026. Xidig found no later count of schools completed.

What smaller projects have budgeted.

• Classrooms without cost figures: GPE reports that a programme run with the federal government and two NGOs between 2020 and 2023 built "400 new classrooms across 147 schools" and rehabilitated 394. Its report gives no cost.
• A small classroom block: a Japanese grant signed in 2017 provided US$82,991 for "six (6) permanent classrooms and eight (8) latrines", with furniture, extending an existing private primary school in Dayniile, Mogadishu.
• Small rural schools: in 2021 Somaliland's education ministry announced a government-funded programme of US$1.1M for rural schools of "2 to 4 classrooms" each.
• Temporary classrooms: a 2016 humanitarian proposal budgeted about US$2,500 for each temporary classroom and US$1,000 for its furniture.

These costs are from different years, places and building standards, so they are not directly comparable. What they show is that the answer to "what does a school cost?" depends mostly on the design chosen.

How many schools and classrooms exist, and how many are needed.

• Schools today: "According to the 2022 EMIS data, a total of 1,710 primary schools with around 14,296 classrooms exist across the country". These figures cover the Federal Member States. The same document says "on average, there are 48 students per classroom", and that 89% of schools are in urban areas.
• The need: "the government is required to construct an additional 60,000 classrooms (assuming 40 student per classrooms in a double shift arrangement)" (GPE programme document, 2024).
• Teachers per pupil: the education sector plan reports pupil–teacher ratios ranging "from a low of 32:1 to 60:1", and "1 qualified teacher present per 133 students in primary schools under public authority".

Who is building now.

• GPE: the system transformation grant, a 36-month programme approved in 2024, plans "1,000 new classrooms in locations with limited education infrastructure", using a standard school of eight classrooms, an administrative block and two latrine blocks. Its programme document gives no unit cost.
• The education ministry: in May 2026 it launched the rehabilitation of General Da'ud School in Mogadishu, which Dawan reports has 30 classrooms. No cost or funder was given.
• TVET centres: a German development bank (KfW) grant of €13M funds a wider programme that includes two TVET schools. Xidig found no cost for the buildings alone.

Teachers and running costs.

• Pay: "both primary and secondary teachers receive US$ 330 per month", but "About 59% of female and 49% of male primary teachers earn below US$ 100 per month" (GPE programme document, 2024).
• Teacher training: the World Bank project said it would stop its support to teacher training colleges from January 2025.
• Maintenance: the GPE programme relies on local communities "ensuring long term maintenance of the schools". Xidig found no maintenance budget.
• The whole sector's plan: the education sector strategic plan for 2022–2026 costs the whole sector at "US$387.9 million over the five-year period", about three-quarters of it recurrent costs.

What this means (Xidig's interpretation). Classrooms are badly needed, but a building programme costed without teachers, maintenance or a published unit cost is hard to judge. Current project costs suggest roughly 8,500 to 10,800 classrooms, not thousands of schools, for about US$300M. Cheaper designs could stretch the money further, if they are durable and staffed.

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• Teachers: new classrooms need trained, paid teachers. That is a recurring cost the building budget does not cover.
• Sites and land: school sites need clear ownership and community agreement.
• Security and access: contractors must be able to reach rural sites safely.
• Maintenance: someone must pay to keep roofs, latrines and water systems working.
• Coordination with the GPE and World Bank programmes already building classrooms.

Risks and unknowns

• Cost overruns: the World Bank project's unit cost more than doubled between design and 2024.
• Buildings without teachers, or without water and latrines.
• Low-cost designs that do not last, which cost more over time.
• Missing data: there is no published school census after 2022 in the sources Xidig found, and no figures for secondary or early-childhood schools.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. How many schools would the US$298.0M build, and at what unit cost?
2. How is the money split between schools, TVET centres, labs, teacher-training facilities and campuses?
3. Who pays for the teachers and for maintenance once the buildings are finished?
4. How many of the World Bank project's 68 schools have been built, and at what final cost?

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• The World Bank project's 2024 unit-cost estimate, its reasons, and the cut from 180 to 68 schools.
• The 2022 school-census figures and the estimated need for 60,000 more classrooms.
• Official teacher pay and the share of primary teachers paid under US$100 (2024 document).
• The GPE plan for 1,000 new classrooms.

Our interpretation

• At current project costs, US$298.0M would pay for far fewer schools than the proposal describes.
• Teachers and maintenance are the missing parts of the costing.

Not yet verified

• Any published unit cost for labs, TVET centres, teacher-training colleges or university campuses in Somalia.
• Progress on classroom construction in 2025–2026.
• Any ministry comment on the US$298.0M proposal.

Relevant next steps

• Ask the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education for the breakdown and unit costs behind the US$298.0M figure.
• Engineers and quantity surveyors: compare the published project costs above and share a transparent cost model.
• Education planners: follow the ministry's school-census (EMIS) releases.