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Ethiopia Education During Imperial Rule
Until the early 1900s, formal education was confined to a
system of religious instruction organized and presented
under the aegis of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Church
schools prepared individuals for the clergy and for other
religious duties and positions. In the process, these
schools also provided religious education to the children of
the nobility and to the sons of limited numbers of tenant
farmers and servants associated with elite families. Such
schools mainly served Amhara and Tigray inhabitants of the
central highlands. Toward the end of the nineteenth century,
Menelik II had also permitted the establishment of European
missionary schools. At the same time, Islamic schools
provided some education for a small part of the Muslim
population.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the education
system's failure to meet the needs of people involved in
statecraft, diplomacy, commerce, and industry led to the
introduction of government-sponsored secular education. The
first public school was established in Addis Ababa in 1907,
and a year later a primary school opened in Harer. Foreign
languages, elementary mathematics, and rudimentary science
were taught in French to a limited number of students, along
with Amharic and religious subjects.
In 1925 the government adopted a plan to expand secular
education, but ten years later there were only 8,000
students enrolled in twenty public schools. A few students
also studied abroad on government scholarships. Schools
closed during the Italian occupation of 1936-41. After the
restoration of Ethiopian independence, schools reopened, but
the system faced shortages of teachers, textbooks, and
facilities. The government recruited foreign teachers for
primary and secondary schools to offset the teacher
shortage. By 1952 a total of 60,000 students were enrolled
in 400 primary schools, eleven secondary schools, and three
institutions offering college-level courses. In the 1960s,
310 mission and privately operated schools with an
enrollment of 52,000 supplemented the country's public
school system.
In May 1961, Ethiopia hosted the United Nations-sponsored
Conference of African States on the Development of
Education. Among other things, the conference highlighted
Ethiopia's educational deficiencies. The Ethiopian education
system, especially in primary and secondary education, was
ranked the bottom among African nations. There were school
and teacher shortages, a high dropout rate, and low overall
attendance rates (about 10 percent among all school-age
children in the country), especially among females, nonChristians , and rural children. Embarrassed by this record,
the Ministry of Education developed a new education policy,
which was in effect until 1974. Designed in conjunction with
the objectives of the government's second and third fiveyear development plans, extending from 1962 to 1973, the
policy gave precedence to the establishment of technical
training schools, although academic education also was
expanded. Curriculum revisions introduced a mix of academic
and nonacademic subjects. But Amharic became the language of
instruction for the entire primary cycle, which handicapped
any child who had a different primary language.
Under the revised system, the two-year junior secondary
schools offered a general academic program for individuals
who wished to continue their education. A number of
vocational subjects prepared others to enter technical or
vocational schools. Some practical experience in the use of
tools was provided, which qualified graduates as semiskilled
workers. The curriculum in the four-year senior secondary
schools prepared students for higher education in Ethiopia
or abroad. Successful completion of the cycle also qualified
some for specialized agricultural or industrial institutes.
Others were qualified for intermediate positions in the
civil service, the armed forces, or private enterprises.
There were two institutions of higher education: Haile
Selassie I University in Addis Ababa, formed by imperial
charter in 1961, and the private University of Asmera,
founded by a Roman Catholic religious order based in Italy.
Between 1961 and 1971, the government expanded the public
school system more than fourfold, and it declared universal
primary education a long-range objective. In 1971 there were
1,300 primary and secondary schools and 13,000 teachers, and
enrollment had reached 600,000. In addition, many families
sent their children to schools operated by missionary groups
and private agencies. But the system suffered from a
shortage of qualified personnel, a lack of funds, and
overcrowded facilities. Often financed with foreign aid,
school construction usually proceeded faster than the
training and certification of teachers. Moreover, many
teachers did not stay long in the profession. Sources such
as the United States Peace Corps and teachers from the
National Service program (university students who taught for
one year after completing their junior year) served only as
stopgaps. In addition, most schools were in the major towns.
Crowded and understaffed, those schools in small towns and
rural areas provided a poor education.
The inadequacies of public education before the mid-1970s
resulted partly from the school financing system. To finance
primary education, the government levied a special tax on
agricultural land. Local boards of education supervised the
disbursement of tax receipts. (The central government
financed secondary and higher education.) The system's
inequities fostered the expansion of primary education in
wealthier regions rather than in poorer ones. Moreover,
urban inhabitants, who did not have to pay the tax but who
were predominantly represented in the schools, sent their
children at the expense of the taxpaying rural landowners
and poor peasants. The government attempted to rectify this
imbalance in 1970 by imposing an education tax on urban
landowners and a 2 percent tax on the personal income of
urban residents. But the Ministry of Finance treated the
funds collected as part of the general revenue and never
spent the money for its intended purpose.
Despite the fact that money spent on education increased
from 10 percent of total government expenditures in 1968 to
20 percent in the early 1970s, funding remained inadequate.
Expenditure on education was only 1.4 to 3 percent of the
gross national product (
GNP
--see Glossary) between 1968 and
1974, compared with 2.5 to 6 percent for other African
countries during the same period.
Under the pressure of growing public dissatisfaction and
mounting student activism in the university and secondary
schools, the imperial government initiated a comprehensive
study of the education system. Completed in July 1972, the
Education Sector Review (ESR) recommended attaining
universal primary education as quickly and inexpensively as
possible, ruralizing the curricula through the inclusion of
informal training, equalizing educational opportunities, and
relating the entire system to the national development
process.
The ESR criticized the education system's focus on
preparing students for the next level of academic study and
on the completion of rigid qualifying examinations. Also
criticized was the government's lack of concern for the
young people who dropped out before learning marketable
skills, a situation that contributed to unemployment. The
report stated that, by contrast, "The recommended system
would provide a self-contained program at each level that
would be terminal for most students."
The report was not published until February 1974, which
gave time for rumors to generate opposition among students,
parents, and the teachers' union to the ESR recommendations.
Most resented what they considered the removal of education
from its elite position. Many teachers also feared salary
reductions. Strikes and widespread disturbances ensued, and
the education crisis became a contributing factor in the
imperial regime's fall later that year.
Data as of 1991
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