Secondary education in Somalia lasts four years, Grades 9 to 12, which many people still call Form One to Form Four. It leads to the secondary school certificate, the key to university entry. Secondary school is not compulsory, although the Provisional Constitution promises free education up to secondary level.

Structure and language

• Four years in the public "8-4" model; three years in private Arabic-medium schools that follow a "9-3" pattern.
• Under the federal language policy announced in August 2018, English and Arabic are the languages of instruction at secondary level. Puntland, for example, has taught most secondary subjects in English, with Somali, Arabic and Islamic studies taught in their own languages.
• Puntland's ministry has listed ten subjects for its secondary curriculum.

A mostly non-government sector

Even more than at primary level, secondary schooling is provided by private and community schools. GPE data for 2015–16 showed 91.5% of secondary students in non-government institutions, and the federal ESSP 2018–2020 reported that more than 96% of secondary schools were managed by non-government bodies. Because private schools charge tuition, cost is a major barrier for poorer families. In Somaliland, 44% of secondary students were in public schools in 2018–19; Somaliland had just five secondary schools in 1999 and 84 by 2010.

Governments have recently tried to revive historic public schools. In Mogadishu, Moalim Jama Secondary School reopened in 2014 after rehabilitation, and in May 2026 the federal ministry began rehabilitating General Da'ud School so it can offer free education again after the site had been occupied for more than three decades. In Somaliland, the colonial-era Sheikh Secondary School now operates as a boarding school run by the Pharo Foundation.

National examinations

The federal Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education reintroduced national secondary examinations in 2015, and the number of candidates has grown almost every year:

• 2025: 38,471 students sat the exam and 32,714 passed; results were announced on 24 August 2025.
• 2026: the exams ran from 20 to 25 June in 158 centres across 58 districts. Of 44,330 registered candidates, 42,916 sat the exam and 40,037 passed, according to results released in mid-August 2026.

Puntland administers its own Grade 12 examination through the examination and certification office of its Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Somaliland runs its own national certificate examinations. Because examinations are set by different administrations, students should check which certificate a university programme or scholarship accepts.

A few private schools also offer international qualifications. Türkiye's Maarif schools in Mogadishu, for example, have been accredited by OxfordAQA to offer IGCSE and A-Level examinations.