It is widely recognized that childhood learning, which is the foundational level for primary education, is a critical time for learning and development, as it nurtures productive citizenship and lays the foundation for future success.
Taking this concrete fact into account, The Ethiopian Herald approached Musa Salehadin, an education expert who graduated from Kotebe University of Education, to get a piece of information about the significance of primary education and the related factors.
He said, “In the Ethiopian education system, it is known that primary education lasts 8 years, which itself is divided into a basic education cycle covering grade (first cycle,1–4) and a general primary cycle (second cycle, 5-8). It is a critical education level to shape the education quality of the nation and is basic for later education and economic growth. The first cycle of primary school is mainly to attain basic literacy, numeracy, and awareness about oneself and the surrounding environment. The second cycle of primary school and first cycle of secondary school is designed to give graded general education.”
Correspondingly, to maintain education equity, it is assumed that primary schools have the responsibility to provide equal access for students with special needs education. As poor school infrastructure facilities and weak pedagogical skills of teachers have been identified as a challenge, this matter has to be well addressed, he stated.
Musa said in Ethiopia, primary education focuses on providing a foundational education to prepare students for further school work and enhance active participation in society. The curriculum emphasizes core subjects like languages, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences, with a growing focus on childhood education and foundational skills. While access to primary education has significantly improved, challenges remain in quality, retention, and addressing factors like poverty and gender disparities.
“Providing children with quality childhood education, including early childhood, fosters high cognitive, language, physical, and socio- emotional development, and paves the way for higher educational attainment. It has far-reaching long-term impacts on the lives of individuals, and the countries in which they live, and is an integral piece of developing better human capital and a strong economy for a country.”
The level is the most notable step of education among the various educational undertakings, as it is of paramount importance in sowing viable seeds in the country. The Ethiopian government has shown strong commitment to ensure that all Ethiopian children have access to pre-primary and primary education regardless of social status or any other attributes, indeed, he said.
There are a number of modalities to increase access to primary education, including for marginalized groups—the urban poor and children in rural areas, he added.
It was found that schools have made progress in expanding access. However, much work is expected to be done by the school leaders, non-governmental organizations, partners, parents, regional and federal governments to meet the nationally expected targets of access to primary education without compromising its quality, he underlined.
Besides, he said policymakers’ commitment and community engagement have resulted in the rapid construction of primary schools in all regional states and opened doors for all to partake in the education scenario. True, this success would not have been possible without the active participation of the community, which provided material, financial, and professional support for the construction and furnishing of the classrooms.
Yes, Musa said there is a commitment starting from the federal government, and the primary education issue is one of the agendas to be well embarked on with a view to ensuring commitment of the leadership at all levels.
According to Musa, community engagement is key to the success and sustainability of the program and its long-term outcomes. As a result, communities began demanding access to primary education. Additionally, the availability of a school feeding program further drove demand for primary education services and the regional governments have responded towards expanding access.
Since primary schools’ performance is influenced by access, teachers’ qualifications, school facilities and leadership capacities, all these matters need to be urgently addressed, he said.
Abebe Feysa is a primary school principal around Zenebe Worq. He took pedagogical courses in school leadership and supervision at Bahir Dar University.
He said, “Well organized primary level of education is a comprehensive program aimed at improving core efficiency, equitable access, quality, and system strengthening in general education. Through quality enhancement and assurance approaches, the level has played a significant role in scaling up and enhancing the quality of primary level across the nation. Many youngsters have benefited from the stream/primary level by gaining core skills before going to middle level or junior school levels.
According to Abebe, support has been provided through school grants, training of primary level teachers in age-appropriate, play-based teaching methodologies, developing and implementing school inspection standards.
Innovative approaches of training primary education diploma holders can be easily replicated in other regions facing a shortage of trained teachers. By adopting these strategies, other regions can potentially repeat the successes achieved in some states like that of Oromia.
As financial incapability, low students’ learning interest, poor school infrastructure, insufficient salary and incentives to keep in and attract talented teachers have been identified as major challenges affecting the performance. The government is now working diligently to address such daunting hurdles.
Here, policy makers and educational institution leaders have to design inclusive policy and financial reform of primary schools with critical implementation and monitoring to come out of these vicious circles, he opined.
In many countries of the globe, general education is taken and implemented as a part of fundamental human rights provisions since the endorsement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948). Particularly, primary education is considered compulsory to help the development of human personality. For this matter, almost all nations across the world structurally allocate budgets, provide political support, and regularly supervise, evaluate, and recommend its implementation.
According to Abebe, Ethiopia has endorsed relevant international conventions and commitments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Education for All (EFA), among others.
As to him, the country has used access, efficiency, equity, and quality as major performance indicators of primary education. However, while significant progress has been made in expanding access to education, there is a gap between the target set and the actual performance, mainly in meeting quality standards. To fully address issues related to equitable access to primary education, reducing repetition and dropout rates, and improving students’ achievement, the combined effort of all is badly needed.
“Obviously, the Ethiopian education policy stipulated that primary schools shall be exempted from education fees to lessen the financial burden on parents. Despite challenges posed by the ever-increasing number of school-age children and the financial constraints, the government has been taking the issue seriously with a strong commitment to improving quality and making a difference,” he said.
In sum, serious intervention is needed at the policy level which may include making inclusive policy reform, critical implementation, monitoring, and evaluation regarding standardizing the number of students that each school should enroll, setting the quality and quantities of teachers needed.
Equally, ensuring minimum school facility standards, diversifying the funding system and giving due attention to the overall teaching and learning packages of primary schools is essential to significantly reduce all the aforesaid problems. Besides, creating shared responsibility among the school leadership, local administrators and the community is key to systematically avert problems and enhance educational efficiency.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 24 JULY 2025
