Ethiopia: quality, access to education diverges

In recent years, Ethiopian children have benefited from better accessibility of schools within a radius of three to four kilometers from their home, the ideal coverage of schools primary exceeding 100pc. This expansion, however, does not seem to serve the purpose in creating the future, end up being the mark of thirst for quality. Experts say that with little attention to basic skills, creative elements and paradoxical study programs, it will become harder to see the fruits in the coming days, reports Yared Tsegaye. , FORTUNE STAFF WRITER

Tesfamichael Zewdu is a 24 year old English graduate. Language and literature of the University of Addis Ababa. Graduated last year, he found a teaching job in one of the private schools in the capital, where he teaches English to fifth and sixth graders.

Already, he is disillusioned by the educational system. He believes that most of his students are not trained and that they do not serve the education system.

"It's hard to say that students were properly educated before reaching these levels," he says. "I may be new to the teaching profession, but it has not been difficult to badess that creativity and learning have not been instilled in them."

The opinions of Tesfamichael echo the findings of a recent report released by the Global Partnership for Education at the World Bank Group. Focused on the first cycle of primary education, which goes up to the fourth year, in which students should have functional literacy skills, the report finds that there is a weak transition level to the next education cycle

. students entering first grade, only 60pc were able to enter secondary education. Ministry of Education figures also show a low enrollment rate which is 30pc, according to data from 2017.

The culprits are absent and unskilled teachers and a lack of learning badisted by data, says the report. About 22pc of teachers intentionally miss clbades, and the understanding of mathematics in grade eight is below the required levels, the report adds.

The World Bank report shows that enrollments in primary and secondary education have quadrupled in the last two decades. quality remains an issue to be addressed.

The figure of the government tells a similar story. The repetition rate in primary schools – grades 1-8 – increased from 4.9% in 2009 to 7.2% in 2016/17. Dropout rates have also increased, reaching 11.65pc in primary schools

This despite better accessibility to education. There are 28 million children in about 38,000 schools and half a million teachers and support staff. The gross primary enrollment rate (GER) – the number of children enrolled regardless of age as a proportion of the official school age, which in Ethiopia is between seven and 14 years old – It is rose from 83pc there is almost a decade to 140.8pc last year

"We have made huge investments to improve the accessibility of education up to Now, but now we should take a closer look at the quality at each level of the system. " PhD), Minister of Education, said at a meeting at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) two weeks ago.

The Ministry is on its fifth edition of the Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) 2020. The share of the education sector in the current federal budget represents about Fr. 43 billion [19659012] About 18pc of students drop out at an early age with only about 60pc attending high schools, according to a report, "These dropouts are worrisome, with developing regions lagging behind," says Birhanu Moreda, general manager of development of the school. 39, general education in the ministry. "It's a problem regarding pre-primary enrollment."

For an education expert, Belay Hagos (PhD), director of the Institute for Pedagogical Research at the University of Addis Ababa, the quality issue is a symptom of. an education

"The system does not differentiate between" learning to read "and" learning to read "The system has been unable to produce students with a reading culture," he says

. Although the World Bank report has focused on the situation of the primary education system, it recognizes that there are similar problems at the secondary level.

Samuel Workneh, 31, Senior Geography Professor at Dagmawi Menelik II School, attests "

" I have been in this profession for about ten years and I still have difficult to understand the education system – it's not coordinated, "he says. "For example, the geography textbook contains data that has not been updated since 2009."

Students like Nardos Elias, a 12th grad student at Hill Side School, one of the top 1 631 private schools in Addis Ababa, of which 919 are private "The curriculum is not inviting, and it hardly encourages us to want to enter college," says Nardos

The Bureau Education in the Oromia region is also facing such challenges. This year, it evaluated 3,348 schools in 336 districts and found that 85.5% of them were below minimum standards of quality, including teacher competency, educational materials and modality. peer learning, according to Ephrem Tessema. from the office. These were part of the 16,500 schools, 14,000 of which are primary, which the region accounts for about 10 million people.

At the national level, only 0.064 pc of schools scored more than 90 points.

Birr 60 billion to deploy the quality packages that schools need, "said Ephrem to Fortune

A national road map of quality education for a 15-year strategy is being prepared and should be completed in two years.This has also been accompanied by the revision of current curricula.

"There will be mandatory reviews of current curricula Research should guide gaps in the delivery of basic education of quality ", says Birhanu." Quality is a political issue for us. "

In trying to solve these problems, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) introduced a virtual library for teaching secondary according to the physics programs of the Ministry of Education, Chemistry and Biology recently.

Similarly, last month, a total of 454 million dollars was pledged to Eth iopie to improve the quality of education. It was done by six donors, including $ 300 million from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank.

He was part of a support to the Quality Improvement Program of General Education for Equity (GEQIP-P) "

" Studies should be changed to the primary cycle of education to make less subjects and focus on basic skills such as reading and writing, "says Belay. "It should also be necessary for teachers to have educational training."