ADDIS ABABA- While Ethiopia has significantly expanded access to education; there have been questions on the issue of quality. Some scholars are also seeing the ongoing problems and complications in the country as a consequence of poor education quality.
They also argue that the lesser the investment in quality education, the more it threatens the unity of the country. As to them, the current problems in the country are, directly or indirectly, the reflections of low level awareness, which in turn is the outcome of the poor education quality and unsound education policy.
Sisay Assemrie, Assistance Professor of Political Philosophy at Gondar University told The Ethiopian Herald that quality education is among the best options to shape the posterity in a good manner and save the country from a downward trajectory.
“These days, a large number of the youth population has been organized under the guise of ethnicity, clan, and religion and demanding and claiming sole ownership of other limited resources.” This is a dangerous trend. “Thus, if the country fails to equip the youth with proper knowledge and skills, they would turn out to be a devastating force.”
Other than increasing access to education, the current education policy has not promoted innovation among the youth. “If education goes wrong, nothing can go right,” he added. Sisay further recommended the government to refrain from politicizing education.
“It is imperative to guarantee academic freedom.” The Ministry of Education, on the other hand, said that the attempt to apply the learner-centered method including problem-solving approach, cooperative learning, continuous assessment, and continuous professional development programs (CPD) for teachers is among the encouraging steps taken to improve education quality.
In addition, it is also devising Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap. As it is indicated in a draft executive summary, Education Strategy Centre under the Ministry of Education has developed a concept note to reform the education sector in accordance with the national vision and national development goals. The new road map, which is devised with the involvement of various Universities, is expected to transform the education sector.
The Ethiopian Herald April 11, 2019
BY LAKACHEW ATINAFU
