# Lafoole University (Lafoole College), Somalia's teacher training college

> Lafoole College near Afgooye: Somalia's teacher training college from the 1960s to 1991, its programmes, students, and the gap its closure left.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/institutions/lafoole-university/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## In short

Lafoole University, often called Lafoole College, was a teaching college at Lafoole in Afgooye district, [Lower Shabelle](/en/infrastructure/k50-airstrip/) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)). It lies 22 km west of Mogadishu on the road to Afgooye (same source). It was Somalia's main teacher training college and part of the Somali National University (same source).

## History

- **Start:** a two-year technical college teaching agricultural science, livestock and civil service skills ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)).
- **1965:** it became a stand-alone college (same source).
- **1972:** the Somali National University added a faculty of education ([SNU, history](https://snu.edu.so/about/history/)).
- **1973:** it was renamed Lafoole University ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)).
- **1984:** SNU added technical teacher training ([SNU, history](https://snu.edu.so/about/history/)).

## The college's own account

The Somali National University's Faculty of Education, which calls itself the former Lafoole College of Education, gives this history ([SNU Faculty of Education](https://education.snu.edu.so/the-faculty/)):

- **1963:** founded as the National Teacher Education Center, with 60 students.
- **1970s:** the four-year programme was cut to two years to train more teachers faster.
- **1983:** back to four years, with a new curriculum that added practical teaching.
- **1991:** it stopped working because of the civil war.
- **2014:** it reopened as part of the Somali National University, after 25 years.
- **Today:** more than 1,000 students in five departments: educational sciences, science and mathematics, English, social studies, and teacher training.

Sources differ on the founding year: 1963 in the faculty's account, 1965 in Wikipedia's.

## Students

In the 1983 to 1984 school year Lafoole had 13 main programmes and 1,344 students, 24% of them women ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)). Its main purpose was teacher training, but it also turned out thousands of graduates with other degrees (same source).

## Two names, two schools

The name "Lafoole College" was sometimes used for the Lafoole Orphanage Boys College, across the Mogadishu to Afgooye road ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)). That college had two secondary schools: an ordinary one and a technical school supported by West Germany (same source).

## Closure and the teacher gap

The college closed in 1991 ([SNU Faculty of Education](https://education.snu.edu.so/the-faculty/)). In 2004 the University of Burao noted that Lafoole, the only college that trained teachers, had been closed for 13 years ([Wikipedia, University of Burao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burao_University)). It linked this to the low number of graduate teachers: in the education ministry figures it quoted for 2003/04, only 241 of 2,590 teachers had degrees (same source).

Former students keep an alumni association website ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafoole_University)).

## Read more

- [Somali universities one by one](/en/institutions/main-universities/)
- [University of Burao](/en/institutions/university-of-burao/)
- [Lower Shabelle region](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/)

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