Education in Ethiopia

Utmost efforts underway to send all school age children to school: Ministry

26 November, 2007

Addis Ababa - The Ministry of Education said utmost efforts are underway to send all school age children to school with a view to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). more >>

Ethiopia expands university education

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 03/29 - Efforts by the Ethiopian government to expand and improve higher education have enabled 36,500 students to enter state universities this academic year, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi disclosed Tuesday.

He told the House of Peoples` Representatives (parliament) that the figure was 14 percent over the admissions of last year.

Currently, the regular student population in Ethiopian state-run universities stands at 99,560.

Meles said the government had designed a programme to speed up the ongoing construction of 13 new universities so that each of them would be able to receive up to 2,000 students in the next academic year.

He admitted that it was difficult to implement the university education expansion plan because of the extensive involvement of all stakeholders in these institutions.

"The necessity to convince the lecturers and the management about the benefits of the exercise as well as the need to recruit expatriate professionals contributed to the delay," he explained.

Ethiopia`s plan, Meles explained, includes equipping higher education institutions with modern information and communication technology.

"All of our universities are in the process of having access to broadband Internet service.

"Efforts will be made to network our universities with some of the best universities around the world with a view to enhancing the scope and quality of education," he said.

With the help of the Indian government, preparations are underway for Ethiopia to start distance university education by utilising the IT network.

Noting as a cardinal role of the system of education to create skilled and ethical citizens, Meles admitted that education in the country had been saddled with problems of quality and coverage accumulated over the years.

"Various political forces, which were benefiting from the malaise of the educational system, have been laying obstacles on the path of reforming the system.

"Solving the problems around the education system, particularly those relating to quality and management, will require a coordinated and intensified effort," he added.

Source: Angop

Addis Ababa Education Bureau to abolish shifts next year

Addis Ababa, March 15, 2006 (WIC) - The Addis Ababa Education Bureau announced that the construction of 90 percent of the classrooms underway in the capital with a view to abolishing shifts in schools is finalized.

Civil Service Reform and Public Relations Head with the Bureau, Cherinet Belachew, said a total of 5,000 classrooms have been under construction in different schools since the beginning of the last Ethiopian year. The plan consists of constructing new buildings and expansion of existing classrooms in different schools.

Cherinet said so far about 3,837 of the classrooms, which account for the 90 percent of the total have been finalized.

Most of the budget for the construction works has been allocated by the government, while the public and NGOs also contributed to the total sum of 100 million birr.

According to Cherinet, the Bureau couldn't stop the shift system this semester as the construction works were delayed due to various factors.

He added that construction of the classrooms will be completed at the end of the current Ethiopian fiscal year and the shift system would be abolished at the beginning of the next academic year.