Famine and drought have impaired education chances for more than 60 percent of Somali children as families flee their homes to seek assistance, a UNICEF official said Thursday.

War-torn Somalia, alongside Haiti, have the world's lowest education rates, but a severe drought in the Horn of Africa that has caused famine in parts of Somalia has further diminished children's education chances.

In the 2010-2011 school year, some 435,000 children -- only 30 percent -- of school-age children were enrolled. Around 200,000 have recently fled their homes in drought- or famine-hit regions.

"We are anticipating the enrolment will be very reduced once the schools do reopen," said Lisa Doherty, a UNICEF education coordinator.

A new school year begins Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Somalis have in recent months fled to neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya to escape the severe drought.

Somalia is the worst affected country by the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades, with nearly half its 10 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

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