| Home | Politics | Human Rights | Water | Economy | Education | Sci & Tech | Culture | Sport |
By Eskinder Michael - Capital
30 November 2006
With the Ministry of Education poised on seeing to it that every school in Ethiopia would have a plasma TV screens, the Education Communication Agency under the Addis Ababa City Adminstration Education office purchased 885 Plasna TV Screens for shcools that did't have any before.
The Plasma TVs are to be installed in schools that did not have any before. The introduction of Plasma TVs in schools was introduced so that students all over Ethiopia could follow the same curriculum and benefit all the materials and teaching methods that students in towns enjoy.
The agency spent 47.94 million birr on this acquisition to add up to the 597 Plasma TVs it has already installed in 22 schools at a cost of over 32 million birr since the beginning of the past fiscal year.
These schools were never fitted with the new technology which allows students all over the country get access to the same level of education.
Newly built schools and those that underwent expansion systems in Addis Ababa were also fitted with 555 Plasma TVs at a cost of 30.06 million birr. It was learnt that out of the 555 TVs fitted in these schools, about 330 costing 17.87 million birr were provided by the Ministry of Education.
As the plan to equip every high school with a plasma screen gains momentum, it is believed that the Ministry of Education (MoE) still needs 1,482 Plasma TVs to ensure that every class in every school in Addis Ababa has one.
The agency believes that these new Plasma TVs will be fitted and ready for use by the beginning of the second semester this school year.
When the screens start giving service, they will be transmitting live education courses in the fields of English, Biology, Civics, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
Though the idea of fitting Plasma TVs in school has been a much debated scheme in terms of its efficiency and with regards to rendering teachers redundant in classrooms as they are much less involved with students, the MoE has stuck to its plans so far.
During the disturbances in the country (June, November 2005) following the last elections several high school students' rioting had resulted in schools' furniture and windows destruction including the Plasma TVs. The Addis Ababa Education Bureau had at the time stipulated to the dismay of the parents with little income that they would have to pay for the damage so as to replace the Plasma TVs. However, nothing has been resolved so far and the newly acquired Plasma TVs will not be installed in these schools.