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08 May, 2007
The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany has announced this week that after the signing a Memorandum of Understanding concluded by the Ethiopian and the German Governments, access for Ethiopian pupils to study at the German Embassy School in Addis Ababa will be created from the beginning of the school year 2007/08 on.
The Memorandum was signed by Minister of Education, Dr. Sintayehu Wolde-Michael, and the German Ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr. Class Dieter Knoop, on 2 May in the premises of the Ministry of Education.
The German Embassy said that the School in Addis Ababa was founded in 1955. It was open to pupils of all nationalities including Ethiopians who constituted up to two-third of the student body in its best days. The School was regarded as the United Nations of smaller size as it comprised so many nationalities amongst its 600 pupils.
School-leavers of this German School received an excellent training. Many of them have become very successful in their future professional life. They are in the best sense ambassadors and bridge builders between the two countries. It might be recalled that the present Ethiopian Ambassador to USA, Dr. Samuel Assefa, or the renowned author of books in German language, Dr. Asfa-Wossen Asserate, were trained at the German School in Addis Ababa like many others who contributed to the development of Ethiopia, the embassy said.
The decline of the German School started with the Derg who confiscated the school building near Ammist Kilo at the end of 1977. The German school survived as a mere community school on the German Embassy compound in Kebena. In 2000 the school was given new premises in Aware. Yet Ethiopian pupils were not allowed to attend classes.
At the beginning of 2004, the former German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroder visited Ethiopia and agreed with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to reopen the German Embassy School to Ethiopian pupils. After long negotiations, the Ethiopian and German government succeeded in finalizing the Memorandum of Understanding which will give Ethiopian pupils the chance to gain access to the German Embassy School under defined terms.