Transcript 28. Education for Rural People in Ethiopia

Education for Rural People in
Ethiopia
Ayalew Shibeshi
Associate Professor, Addis Ababa University
Objectives of the Study
 To explore the challenges of education for rural people
 To assess the initiatives supporting education for rural
people
 To assess the prospects/opportunities for rural people
 To explore mechanisms that improve collaboration among
partners and stakeholders and enhance the contribution of
education for rural people
 To assess the capacity of policy makers and managers in
planning and managing education for rural people
Methodology
 The method employed in this study is descriptive
survey
 Relevant documents were reviewed
 Available quantitative data were collected
 Key informant interviews were held with pertinent
officials
 Focus group discussions were conducted with
selected partners
Demographic and economic situation
 Population: over 73 million
 84 percent live in rural areas
 Agriculture




Accounts for about 54% of GDP
Employs about 80% of the population
Provides for about 90% of the exports
Famine and food security have been serious problems
particularly in rural areas


More than 44% of population lives below poverty line
National prevalence of stunting is around 57%
Poverty reduction strategy
 The PRSP identifies four building blocks:




Agricultural Development Led Industrialization
Judiciary and civil service reform
Decentralization and empowerment, and
Capacity Building
Education and Policy
Environment
 A new education and training policy was introduced in 1994
and it is being implemented through a series of education
sector development programs the third of which will
commence as of September 2004/5 The main thrust of ESDP
is to:





Improve quality
Relevance
Equity
Expand access with special emphasis on primary education in rural
and underserved areas as well as promotion of education for girls
To this end the country is committed to realize universal primary
education by 2015
Current Status of Educational
Provision
 Vast studies have been made and encouraging
trends are observable as compared to the past.
However the system is still faced with problems of
prodigious proportions. Among these are:


Low participation rate: with a net enrollment rate of
57.4% universal primary education is a long way to go
Regional disparities: The NER ranges from only 11.0%
in Afar to 94% in Addis Ababa. It is particularly low in
the pastoralist (nomadic) regions of Afar and Somali
Current Status of Educational
Provision
 Gender Disparities: the percentage of female
enrolment is slowly but steadily increasing although
it has not reached parity level. The GPI for the
nation was 0.8
 Rural urban disparities: The rural areas claims
83.8% of the schools and 68.9% of the enrolment.
Progress seems to have been made at this level, but
when one considers the size of the rural population
of the country (84%) fair distribution has not yet
been attained. Whereas 90% of urban children
enroll in grade 1, only 45% of rural children do so.
Current Status of Educational
Provision
 Quality: With less qualified teachers and high
student teacher and student section ratio, quality is
not to the desired level and it is more so in the rural
areas.
 Internal efficiency: is low mainly as a result of high
dropout rates. The survival rate to grade five for
2002/2003 was only 38.8 %. Most of the dropouts
are children from rural areas
Strategies and Initiatives
Supporting ERP
 Expanding supply








Low cost schools
Boarding and mobile schools
Multi-grade school system
Alternative basic education
Adult and non formal education
Community based school construction
Private provision of education
Increasing schools in rural areas
Strategies and Initiatives
Supporting ERP
 Improving quality






Provision of textbooks
Teacher development programs
Mother tongue instruction
Student centered teaching methods
Stakeholder’s participation
Use of educational technology such as radio and
TV
Strategies and Initiatives
Supporting ERP
 Stimulated demand:



Promotion of education for girls
Ensuring school affordability
Making schools attractive
Program and types of education
targeting rural population
 Early childhood education
 Primary education
 Adult and nonformal education
 TVET
 Farmer training centers
 Training of community based animal health
workers
Challenges
 Access and equity issues
 Efficiency and quality issues
 Capacity in planning and managing the
system
 Coordination and collaboration between
partners and government
Prospects for ERP
 Global situation
 Private provision of education
 Political support
 PRSP
 Decentralization policy
Issues of concern






Alternative strategies
Bringing decentralization nearer to schools
Strengthening local initiatives
Monitoring progress
Strengthening institutional capacity
Improving the scope of collaboration and
coordination
 Creating enabling environment
 Adapting the curriculum