Righting the Wrong (Education in Ethiopia)

Many educational expatriates and foreign experts blame historical, cultural, social, and political obstacles that obstructed the progress of education in Ethiopia for many centuries. However, the experts ignored the bright part of history and culture in that part of the world: The unmatchable naval force of the Sheba times, the wonder of the Axumite obelisk , the advanced Oromo democratic gadaa system of the time, the magnificent rock-cut monolithic churches of Lalibela, the engineering wonders of the Castle of Gonder, the miracles of Dirre Sheik Hussein of Bale, and many others unregistered historical artifacts narrate the significant contribution of the people of Ethiopic to world civilization (people of Ethiopic because Ethiopia as an organized and united nation did not exist at the time). Although few modernizations originated from the people of Ethiopic, developed nation denied the fact, and substituted ownership without consent to patent their name on products of African innovations in general. Ethiopia has never been colonized, but Ethiopia as a nation was never far away from the mindset and ambition of the colonizers. Therefore, when discussing the education of Ethiopia, one should consider the influence of colonialism in Africa. Colonialism is the foundation of modern education in Africa as the whole. The colonial masters explored the weakness of traditional education and utilized the opportunity to advance a system of education, supporting their interest in Africa. Colonialism not only seized and exploited the precious resources of Africa; it rooted out and destroyed the indigenous knowledge and culture and replaced it by the colonial order. In other words, the colonial culture and education brainwashed the youth of the colony and highly propagated the inferiority of the indigenous and superiority of the colonial culture.

Colonialism never left Africa. It transitioned from absolute control to neo-colonialism as demonstrated in: dependency confirmed through the name of independence; replacement of the foreign master by native one; mercantilism confirmed in the economic relationship; leaving behind the superiority nature and work of the colonizer as a miracle from God. Md. Shafiqur Rahaman, Md. Rawshan Yeazdani, Rashed Mahmud (2017) stated, "When the Europeans left, the Africans got political freedom. However, the foul practice of imperialism did not end. It appeared in a new form, namely neocolonialism, which the scholars had branded as the worst form of imperialism. This camouflaged imperialist practice is turning Africa into a museum of acute poverty, hunger, corruption, and famine." Of course, modern-day neo-colonialism as the system is less intrusive but more controlling than colonialism. It is invisible and plans and operates using hands and mindset of the native. Joe Ushie (2008) stated, "After the independence, the men who attained power were simply the agents of their colonial masters. They became tax agents and court messengers, and, armored by the new laws and authority; they treated the community without the usual African fellow feeling: their powers and positions had come from elsewhere outside the clan, not from within it".  Furthermore, the cyclic nature of the colonial mechanism remained the same during the present neo-colonialism, demonstrated through more demonization and destruction of the independent indigenous knowledge; by implanting and encouraging more dependent skill and knowledge (economic, social, political, educational, and defense) on the ex-colonizers; eroding and belittling the confidence of natives who stood up against subjugation; and sparingly, advancing protection for native-born compatriots as needed. As Nkrumah stated, we are still trying to free self as "Black Man in the white man's shoe, "to be more inclusive, I added women in the mix. Let us try to free the black man off of his shiny shoe and put his feet in “barabaso” (locally used sandal made out of goatskin.)

One of the latest UNESCO reports stated most people in Ethiopia feel that work is more critical than education. Most children in Ethiopia start working at a very early age with little to no training. And the report concluded children in rural areas are less likely to go to school than children in urban areas. The 2005 Ethiopian Ministry of Labor stated that the unemployment rate for the urban estimated 20.6% and the rural regions (2.6%). The incidence of unemployment among urban females registered at 27.2% compared to 13.7% among males, respectively 4.6% male and 0.9% female in the rural area. UNICEF, through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4) reported that the world community set a deadline of 2030 for inclusive and equitable quality education for all. I agreed with the partial conclusion of UNESCO and hope that the world is ready to fulfill the prediction of UNICEF. However, comparing the variable provided by the Ministry of Labor, keeping children out of school proved to be more effective than sending children to school, a more realistic approach in achieving SDG 4.

Furthermore, rural families prefer training children in trades useful and essential to survive and thrive in life. The significant distinction in the unemployment rate of the urban and rural population demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the neo-colonial educational system in teaching children and adults with the skill and knowledge required to improve and advance the local life. Crossley and Tikly (2004) stated that for some societies, the postcolonial legacy has resulted in elitist educational systems. The system lack relevance to local realities and it is often at variance with indigenous knowledge systems, values, and beliefs. Furthermore, the bottle naked neo-colonial educational arrangement filters graduates to fit in the cycle of the neo-colonialist global system. Lucky one gets hired, and the rest heads back home. Graduates heading home are considered failed adults, stripped of early childhood gained skill and knowledge. A few of them stay in the category of unemployed for the rest of their life. Rose and Mackenzie (1991) reminded us of the danger of adopting miscalculated education policies across cultures without recognizing distinctive social and cultural dimensions results in the risk of false universalism.

In current Ethiopia, unemployment is high and is one of the chronic socio-economic problems in the country, giving rise to different types of revolt against the government. The basis for the problem can be traced back to so many factors like administrative, political, military, and social problems. However, we can trace back the root causes of the entire issue mainly to the non-alignment of the neo-colonial educational system. Thus, we should evaluate the Ethiopian education as a system for effectiveness. I also suggested initial steps for discussion from my observation so far: 1. We should research and integrate the success of rural training of youth in reducing unemployment into the modern educational curricula; 2. Education curricula should support problem or project-based approach; 3. We should apply indigenous sampling to every aspect of education; 4. We should adopt unbiased instructional and science language selected on a fact-based scientific approach, 5. We should offer functional grade level vocational training in schools based on the local needs, 6. We should encourage full participation of the stakeholders, and time-specific evaluation of programs at all levels, 7. Universities, colleges, and institutions must participate in the research and evaluation of the progress of education 8. The linear administrative and educational approach helps maintain continuity of the process nonstop, disruption, and division of the system into defined parts creates confusion and unnecessary bureaucracy.

To be continued.

Crossley, M., and L. Tikly. 2004. Postcolonial perspectives and comparative and international research in education: A critical introduction. Comparative Education 40, no. 2: 147–156.

Gardner, 2017. Ethiopia’s Remarkable Education Statistics Mask a System in Crisis. https://qz.com/africa/1163797/ethiopias-remarkable-education-statistics-mask-a-system-in-crisis/

Joe Ushie (2008). “Two Africas in One: Neo-colonialism and the African Writer.” https://www.africaresearch.org/ncol.htm

Md. Shafiqur Rahaman, Md. Rawshan Yeazdani, Rashed Mahmud. The Untold History of Neocolonialism in Africa (1960-2011). History Research. Vol. 5, No. 1, 2017, pp. 9-16. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20170501.12

Rose, R., and W.J.M. Mackenzie. 1991. Comparing forms of comparative analysis. Political

Studies 39, no. 3: 446–462.

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