Somaliland remains unrecognized internationally but one school is placing the country on the world map.

Elms School, a privately run institution in Hargeisa will this week be feted among the best schools offering the British system of education in the world.

The school has been invited to the Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities{ASIC} international conference in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on November 13-14 where they will be awarded as one of the best performing schools. Elms School, the first international school in Somaliland capital, Hargeisa.

Elm School is considered to be in the same league as international private institutions in terms of education quality and status. It was established in April 2007, the school has more than two thousand students.

The school has a seal of approval for quality education, and is accredited by the British Accreditation Service for International Colleges and schools (ASIC) and is cleared to offer international British system of education.

The institution also provides the Kenya’s 8-4-4 system, which is slowly being phased out to be replaced by the Competency-Based Curriculum, that is being rolled out making it the first school in Somaliland to implement it.

It has a kindergarten, lower and upper primary and a secondary school. These units are dotted across the fast-growing city of Hargeisa.

“It is a great honour to be feted by ASIC. It is proof that we are giving our children the best education,” said Benson Samia, a senior administrator in the school.

Over 70 Kenyans are working in the school as teachers.

“Kenyan teachers have offered us quality education both the 8-4-4 system and the international system. We also have teachers who we have absorbed locally from Somaliland. It’s a multicultural institution,” adds Samia.