In 1944, after completing Koranic studies, he joined the Hirgigo Charity School (Changed to Emperor Haile Sellassie I School in 1950) built by Pasha Kikia that in 1950 sent him as a scholarship student to Addis Abeba where he joined The Medhane Alem School. He attracted the attention of his teachers as a very bright and forward looking student that would go very far in both Hirgigo and Medhane Alem School whose director in the early 1950s Dr. Fletcher wrote him saying � I am still to see a student of your caliber�. He took the eighth grade exam in June 1953, and obtained, over and above passing the exam very successfully, the highest grade in English from all over Ethiopia . However, Pasha Kikia pressed him to take over the administration of Hirgigo school as the foreign teachers were not taking care of it as they should. Hence, on the advice of his teachers, in order to have a basic idea of teaching methodology, he joined the one-year teachers training course that was started in September, 1953 at The Haile Sillassie I Day School. In September, 1954 he joined Hirgigo School as a teacher, and in September, 1955 he became the director of the school. All of this time, he never forgot his studies, and in June, 1956 he took the General Certificate of Education Exam of the University of London that he passed with flying colors in five subjects including English and Mathematics. With this, he continued his education by correspondence until he obtained his B.A.degree in History and Political Science in 1959.

Coming to his political activism, he was lucky enough to find himself in the Hirgigo of the 1940s and 1950s that was a hot bed of political activities, and by the side of Kadi Hassan and Pasha Kikia whose houses were frequently visited by the elderly and the youth for the exchange of political ideas and information. From these encounters, he learned that the area of Hirgigo and its surroundings or rather coastal Samhar for that matter, according to the earliest living memory, were 1-the home of the Kushitic Ankala Afars who gave the town�s vicinity its name of Dakhano(Dakani);  2-the Asawirtas came later and subdued the Ankalas until a Sudanese came, and got married to an Asawirta woman of whom he fathered  3-the Iddas who in turn subdued their maternal uncles the Asawirtas. Then, the Iddas were subdued by  4-the Degdeges from the Sahel who were in turn subdued by their brother 5-Tsawras. Finally, the Tsawras were subdued by  6-the Belew who were in their turn also overtaken by  7-the Turks. However, Hirgigo as a town was founded by the Belew about 450 years ago.

The informal historical education of Osman Sabbe also covered the formation of Eritrea as a political entity by the Italians who consulted non of its major components, namely 1-Samhar and Dankalia that have been under foreign control since 702 A.D. when the Arabs imposed their control over them after razing Adulis to the ground; 2-most of western Eritrea including Barka, Gash Setit, Senheet, and the Sahel that used to constitute the southern half of the Bija Kingdom that was partitioned by the Italians and the British who took the northern part forming present Eastern Sudan; and 3- Highland Eritrea including Hamasein, Seraye, and Akale Guzai that was closely related to Abyssinia including Tigrai, Begemedr, and Gojjam. From the attempts of the British and the Italians ( Beven-Sforza Project ) to partition Eritrea by returning western Eritrea and the Sahel to their formal half in the Sudan,  putting the highlands with Ethiopia, and making Samhar and Dankalia an international zone after cutting a strip for giving Ethiopia access to the sea, he understood that Eritrea was made up of three major parts that have never been ruled together before, and has two major cultures, namely Arab Islamic Culture that has been predominant in Samhar, Dankalia, Western Eritrea, and Sahel; and Abyssinian Christian culture that has been predominant in the highlands. The justification of the British and the Italians in attempting to partition Eritrea was that it was too difficult for the two cultures to co-exist as the Muslims believed that Arabic was part and parcel of their cultural heritage and religious education while the Christians detested it, and would rather avoid making it a fixture of social and political Eritrea.. They were openly telling Muslims that they were making a grievous mistake in opting for a united Eritrea as the Christians will never accept their insistence on having Arabic. But the giants around Osman including Kadi Hassan, Pasha Kikia and the Naibs believed that Eritreans could coexist, and that it was a matter of time for them to accept their reality. And so he grew up believing in the oneness, unity, and independence of Eritrea. Regarding independence of Eritrea, even Pasha Kikia who was officially a unionist, objected strongly to Eritrea�s union with Ethiopia. Osman always remembered an allegory that Pasha Kikia passed to some young men of Hirgigo in 1946 when they came to him to seek his advice as to whether they should opt for union with Ethiopia or independence. He told them that they should not follow a thing because Saleh Kikia did it or did not do it; and that he would like to tell them a story that would give them an idea about what was involved in their choice making. He said �In 1937, while driving from Dessie to Mekele, I came to a bridge that was being repaired, and when I wanted to return to where I came from, I was told that I would be able to drive over the bridge after two hours. So I waited, and crossed the bridge after two hours. But today, if a bridge gets broken, let alone two hours, it won�t be repaired in two years. So make up your mind on basis of this, and not on basis of what Saleh Kikia does or does not.� Consequently, they went and joined the Rabbita Party to fight for independence.

On being told that scholarships came for him and nine of his classmates, Osman was not that much happy to go to Ethiopia. However, the Kadi and the Pasha told him that if he wanted to work for Eritrean independence, he should educate himself wherever he finds the opportunity. So he went to Addis. On seeing Addis, his conviction that Eritrea should not join Ethiopia was reinforced, and from that day on he never stopped saying that it was detrimental for Eritrea to join such a backward people whose administrative modus operandi and political philosophy did not recognize the right of citizens to walk with an erect head without fear or hesitation, and whose life style was no better than that of cattle. He was shocked to see people urinating like cattle in every corner of the city, and eating chat leaves like goats. In contrast, whenever he saw proud Eritreans in the streets walking with confidence and defiance, he used to say �how can these people be under Ethiopia?� and whenever he saw Eritreans engaging in any technical activities that were developmental in nature he used to say  �would it have not been better to carry such activities for the development of Eritrea?� After some thinking and planning, he convinced his friends to enter into a pact to do their utmost to make independent Eritrea a reality. So, in August, 1953 while staying in the Wingate School during the summer vacation, twenty three (23) of them signed their pact with their blood, and since then their mutual care, concern, support and love never wavered even under the strain of testing circumstances until his departure for eternal rest. People who knew them were really touched in 1975 when Osman and Hassan Kikia who seemed to give their backs to one another for good, due to the split of the PLF, jumped at the first chance to patch their differences when another member of the group Mohammed Hassan Kikia came to Khartoum while Osman was there and asked them to have supper together.The group always regarded Osman as its leader, and was always ready to support him. But when- ever a member thought that he was erring, he would be the first to tell him so, as Hassan Kikia did in 1975. He always received their criticism with a good heart, because he was certain that they would never tell him anything that they thought would harm him or the cause although when tempers went out of control it was difficult to see clearly across.

On resuming school in September, 1953, the group started publishing a hand-written Newsletter that they called � Al-Nahdha � as they were doing in Hirgigo under the supervision of their great teacher and their spiritual leader since then, Ustaaz Mohammed Ahmed Al-Hadi  from the Sudan. The Pasha was really very happy with it on receiving his first copy, and showered them with more encouragement. A few months before leaving Addis, Osman came up with the idea of celebrating the eve of Id Al-Fitr    ( the Muslim Easter ) among the Muslim students in all the boarding schools of Addis at the time. But he did not tell his friends from Semhar, and without telling them too he took their monthly allowances of two months from the Pasha�s cashier, Ato Abraha Hagos. When the colleagues went for their allowances to get hair cuts, etc. in preparation for the Id, Ato Abraha told them what Osman did. Well, there was nothing to do except joining him for making the necessary preparations for the occasion. Mohammed Hassan Kikia was the first one to volunteer by going to the Pasha�s wife Weizero Butli God bless her soul to give them her china, cutlery, aprons, and table covers, and the great lady that she was, gave them all that they asked for and more. For the occasion, Osman prepared a good speech with a smattering of political tinges which he could not resist. Unfortunately for him, the director of Minelik School, in whose dining hall the celebration was being held , Mr. Zaki Theodros surprised them by inviting himself and coming to join them. All of them roared with laughter when Osman held his head, and said � ZAMMATNA  --WOE IS US !!�. All the same, he went to the kitchen and wrote another speech which the gathering found very impressive and to the point. Since then, Muslim students in Addis celebrate Id Al-Fitr eve together, and I am almost 100% sure that they do not know how it was started. He left Addis and his friends in early June, 1954 telling one of them to receive his usual year end prize for him.

Taking his teaching job in Hirgigo as a teacher in the first year, and the school�s directorship a year later brought him headlong in a collision course with bitter reality. The students were in no mood to follow the Ethiopian School curriculum that did not include Arabic language and religious studies as the school had a tradition to teach using Arabic as a medium of instruction, and teaching English and Amharic as language subjects. He saw that was not going to enable the students to prepare for the 8^th. Grade general examination, because it requires solid 30 hours per week preparation, under well qualified and experienced teachers, and with good science laboratory and geography room equipment none of which Hirgigo School had. To make it worse, traditionally, the school used at least 6 of the 30 weekly periods for Arabic and religious studies. He could have at least tried had it been possible to secure teachers who completed grade 12 at least. But the Ministry of Education office in Asmara was not cooperative, and the school did not have enough income of its own to cover such an outlay on its own. So while trying to solve the problem locally, he started planning for sending as many students as possible to Egypt; but that also needed money. So he brought the problem to the Pasha who knew in his heart of hearts that he would not be around with them for long as he was suffering from heart trouble and acute blood pressure. So they created an association under a religious cover, and called it Al-Orwat Al-Wuthka ( The Tight Knot ). A lot of people who were in the know rushed to help as much as they could. But the Pasha was desperate for ideas and confidence; and alas non could fill for him the place of his best friend and confidant the Kadi who passed away in 1950. The second best choice for advice and financial cooperation was his best friend of youth ( Mazzai Tikkat ) Mohammed Ali Budduho who was abroad. So, he had him called from across the Red Sea in Hudaida, Yemen. Of course Budduho came running knowing that he would not have been called had it not been very important. They put him into their secret as soon as he came, and a fund of E$60,000( sixty thousand Ethiopian Dollars ) was created, and  put it under Osman�s trust. To make it work, they created a big shop, and entrusted it to an experienced shopkeeper from Ginda�e, Saleh Salmaan, God bless his soul. As the project started growing, they took over the flour mill that was nearby, and opened a tea shop, a kiosk, and a barber shop. Unfortunately, as the project of their dreams started growing, the Pasha fell sick and died. All the active members of the Kikia family came from far and near, and took over everything. So, Osman , in the hope that it would cover something, started borrowing documentary films from AID, and showing it for E$0.10 per entry ticket. But he was told to hand over even that. So in June, 1957 Osman and his students became orphans without their spiritual father, Pasha Kikia. But the association created by the Pasha carried on with the help of Budduho, and to make preparation for sending the first student group to Cairo, Osman went clandestinely to see his teacher in Khartoum, Mohammed Ahmed Al-Hadi who assured him of his readiness to take care of their needs in the Sudan, as well as for their trip across the Egyptian boarder. He came back and resumed his work, but with a slower pace as they had very little money. Anyhow, the first group was sent around May, 1958; and with their departure he prepared a comprehensive report for Mohammed Ali Budduho who became their mentor after the Pasha.

While looking for someone to send it with, he came to know that Mohammed Ali Saleh Dafla, the EPLF veteran, was going toYemen. So he looked for him, and gave him the letter. Dafla�s trip to Yemen came also to the attention of Ahmed Abdulkadir Bashir, another Budduho friend who gave Dafla a salutations letter too. But Ahmed Bashir was being followed by Tedla Okbit�s security. So, when he gave Dafla his letter for Budduho, the security people searched Dafla�s pockets for the letter, and in the process found Osman�s letter to Budduho unexpectedly. So, Osman was arrested, and severely beaten by the security, and had it not been for the intervention of General Zer�e Mariam Azazi, Osman might have not seen light. He had him released with bail under his own responsibility, because the bail was not enough for Tedla and company. He passed the summer of 1958 sick in bed convalescing; but he did not stop his work. At the end of July, 1958 he received a letter from Mohammed Ali Oumaru and his friends saying that they could not continue their trip to Cairo, because they ran out of funds. So, he had called one of his Addis cosignatories who happened to be around, and sent him to an Egyptian moneychanger in Asmara to whom he was introduced by the Pasha sometime back. His friend went to the Egyptian who gave him the money saying � You should prove that you are people who deserve help�. Well, whoever came in contact with Osman was getting burnt financially, because he was always bubbling with ideas, and implementing ideas costs money. But of all people his family was paying the heaviest price. In the summer of 1957, after his return from his clandestine trip to the Sudan, his mother was so distressed that she had to call a cousin to speak to him to ease on his brother. She said to the cousin � He made us give up on his salary; and we were somehow managing with his brother�s salary. But now he started also taking from his brother�s salary. This is making it impossible for us to manage as we are a big family of ten with his brother�s family�. When his cousin spoke to him, he told him that if he were sentimental he would not be able to realize much in this world.

His entanglement in politics compelled the school manager, Idris Kikia , to bring a replacement for him as a director, and so he spent academic year 1958-1959 as a simple teacher which gave him time to prepare for his B.A. final exams that, as I said already, he passed very successfully. From then on he started thinking of ways and means for going fulltime into political activism although he knew that it was premature without preparing cadres. His earlier plans were to prepare for it while at home; but by mid 1959 that seemed  to be  easier said than done. Finally, he decided to leave home, and launch the struggle from abroad. Thus, in August, 1959 he boarded ship for Assab where he joined the Paul Ries shipping company as an assistant director, and worked with them until the end of January 1960 when he crossed the Red Sea for Yemen. By then Mohammed Ali Budduho who is a second cousin to Osman was dead, and so Osman stayed with another second cousin Mohammed Ali Idris Dafla. After a few weeks, he found a truck owner from Sanafe, and a Mine Fre like himself Mohammed Asmerawi who smuggled him into Saudi Arabia where he found two of his co-signatories of Addis, namely Osman Idris Khiar and AbdoYassin Jumeil who were overjoyed to see him.