Education Best Practices
Education, The Basis for Development
The economic and social development of any nation depends on education. Education in Ethiopia dates back to the fourth century. For about 1,500 years the church controlled most of the education institutions. However, education in Ethiopia has undergone tremendous change since the 19th century because the government has made an attempt to improve basic education.
Formal education began in 1908. Because of misguided policies and low levels of educational standards even when compared to other African countries, it could not bring about the expected changes. Many people agree that the education system suffered shortcomings in quality, quantity, efficiency and relevance because of four key problems.
Firstly, education and training policies that has been in place for many decades focused only on solving immediate problems, rather than tackling major challenges at the national level.
Secondly, children - especially girls - were not encouraged to attend school.
Thirdly, since there were no specific profiles set for students at different levels, neither the student nor the teacher had a clear vision of what they were learning or teaching, or why.
Fourthly, the number of subjects taught both at primary and secondary level was too great (up to 15 in some cases), which resulted in lessons being too fragmented to develop necessary skills, attitudes and behaviour.
Because of these and other bottlenecks, the educational system was unable to contribute to solving the problems of the country, and so education in this period was marred by high drop-out rates.
The same hypothesis holds true for institutions of further education. Further education teaching started 50 years ago, entrusted with the task of producing capable, problem solving and responsible citizens. Nevertheless, the reality prevailing in higher institutions was far from encouraging. This was especially true in the time of Haile Selassie.
When the regime of Emperor Haile Selassie was removed from power in 1974, the number of elementary schools (1-6) was only 2,754 and the number of students was 859,831. The number of secondary schools and students was 420 and 31,296 respectively. During the time of the Derg, in 1989/90 academic year the number of elementary school students was 2,855,800.
Because of the militaristic policy of the Derg regime, not only were children denied access to basic education in their thousands (if not millions), but also a number of schools were demolished because of the war that was raging in different parts of the country. One of the characteristics of the Derg was its spending spree on armaments, rather than schools and books. In the period between 1987 and 1991, only 8.94% of the annual budget was allocated for education.
After the fall of the Derg, the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in addition to stabilising the country, facilitated the construction of 1,500 new schools in Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somalia and Tigray states.
Within three years of coming to power, the number of elementary students increased by more than ten million.
As shown in the following table, student participation increased at a ground breaking level of 4.2%.
|
Academic Year Ethiopian Calendar |
Institutions |
Student numbers |
||||
|
Urban |
Rural |
Total |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
|
1988 |
8,367 |
1,496 |
9,863 |
2,394,424 |
1,393,495 |
3,787,919 |
|
1989 |
8,815 |
1,579 |
10,394 |
2,842,391 |
1,625,903 |
4,468,294 |
|
1990 |
9,115 |
1,637 |
10,752 |
3,224,065 |
1,866,605 |
5,090,670 |
|
1991 |
9,404 |
1,647 |
11,051 |
3,544,323 |
2,157,910 |
5,702,233 |
|
1992 |
9,745 |
1,745 |
11,490 |
3,927,270 |
2,535,233 |
6,462,503 |
|
1993 |
9,987 |
1,793 |
11,780 |
4,416,189 |
2,985,284 |
7,401,473 |
|
1994 |
10,159 |
1,930 |
12,089 |
4,813,855 |
3,330,482 |
8,144,337 |
|
1995 |
10,473 |
1,998 |
12,471 |
5,142,922 |
3,600,343 |
8,743,265 |
|
1996 |
11,047 |
2,134 |
13,181 |
5,478,121 |
4,064,517 |
9,542,638 |
With all the promising developments registered in the education sector, the Ethiopian government in 1993/94 introduced a National Education and Training Policy strategy (NETP) to gradually overcome the aforementioned problems of quality, quantity and efficiency.
One of the priority areas addressed in the policy was the development and implementation of reforms, on a stage by stage basis from 1994/5 to 2002/2003, in Ethiopian primary and secondary schools.
As part of the reformed education system, a new strategy called 8-4 became practical, which introduced 8 years of primary and 4 years of secondary education. Both levels were divided into two cycles - 1st and 2nd cycles.
According to Birhanu Alebachew, Public Relation Head with the Ministry of Education (MoE), after the issuance of NETP, a stark improvement was witnessed in the education system and specifically the rate of enrolment. For instance, the number of elementary schools built and student enrolment levels in the past 10 years, grew by three fold, dwarfing the growth achieved over the course of a century.
The secondary cycle of education, aimed at enabling students to acquire skills and develop interests and decide on an area of specialisation, has also resulted in dramatic changes in the vocational stream of the education sector. The construction, expansion and renovation of schools, has greatly contributed to the success achieved.Student participation at secondary schools - which was 6.6% in 1994 - rose to more than 22% last academic year.
The basic notion of rapid economic development is hardly imaginable without skilled manpower.
Before the NETP was issued a mere 2368 students were receiving technical training in 14 ill-equipped government technical schools. There are now a number of technical training centres in all regional states. The number of training institutions and trainees have shown marked growth within a short space of time.
Vocational Training
|
Academic Year Ethiopian Calendar |
Number of Institutions |
Student Numbers |
||
|
Male |
Female |
Total |
||
|
1987 |
17 |
2,209 |
425 |
2,634 |
|
1988 |
17 |
2,264 |
474 |
2,738 |
|
1989 |
17 |
2,509 |
415 |
2,924 |
|
1990 |
15 |
2,215 |
597 |
2,811 |
|
1991 |
17 |
2,649 |
725 |
3,374 |
|
1992 |
25 |
4,334 |
930 |
5,264 |
|
1993 |
2 |
3,382 |
779 |
4,564 |
|
1994 |
141 |
20,243 |
17,933 |
38,176 |
|
1995 |
153 |
37,377 |
34,785 |
72,162 |
|
1996 |
159 |
45,798 |
41,360 |
87,158 |
In the past, institutions of higher learning were given the least attention. The distribution of institutions and the preparation of curriculi was not carried out in line with the political and economic needs of Ethiopia. The old training policy failed to encourage research and innovation.
There were only two universities until very recently; their number has now risen to eight.
Ten years ago, student intake at universities under the Ministry of Education stood at 3,000. This academic year it is now 32,000 - a staggering increase.
The government is exerting efforts remove the discriminatory distribution of higher institutions.
According to Ato Birhanu, the government, as part of its plan to increase the distribution of higher learning institutions over the next five years, will construct 11 new universities and upgrade 2 existing universities, to enable student enrolment to expand by at least a further 10,000.
The government is working to use every resource at its disposal to improve national infrastructure to bring about a nationwide transformation.
The government of Ethiopia believes that capacity building and infrastructural improvement is vital for the implementation of the ongoing development programme, which will help promote peace and democracy. An emphasis is also given to solving the problems that could undermine the expansion and modernisation of the education system, which is crucial for rapid and sustainable development.