Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the oldest independent nation in Africa. The current Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located on a massive rugged mountainous plateau in Eastern Africa. Ethiopia is a large country, twice the size of Texas or about the size of Spain and France combined. It covers 435,071 kilometers or 1,127,127 square miles in area and is the tenth largest of Africa's 53 countries. Ethiopia's mountainous terrain discouraged many foreign invaders; however, this natural fortress posed difficulties for communication and travel, thus contributing to the slow spread of education.

Ethiopia has Africa's fourth largest population at 58,733,000. This number is despite millions who die periodically from some of the world's most devastating famines caused by prolonged cycles of drought. Millions of Ethiopians have fled natural and man-made disasters and live as refugees in Sudan, Kenya, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States. The population is increasing at an annual rate of about 3 percent, and is expected to double in the next 14 years. Almost 73 percent of the population is under 18 years of age. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city, has 2,431,000 inhabitants and is growing rapidly. The need for new schools increases with the rising youthful population. Ethiopia has a high infant mortality rate of approximately 121 infant deaths per 1,000 births. There is only 1 doctor for every 36,000 Ethiopians. Access to modern medicine outside of the major cities is a problem. Consequently, many people depend upon traditional ethnic medicine. The life expectancy for males is only 45, and for females it is 48 years. High death rates have moderated a massive population explosion. Because they depend on their children to support them in their old age, and, because there is no social security system, Ethiopians typically have large families.

Ethiopia has an ethnically diverse population. Some 40 percent of its population is Oromo, the Christian Amhara and their Tigre allies are 35 percent of the population, 9 percent are of Sidamo descent, and the remaining 19 percent come from small indigenous groups, such as the Mursi, Hamar, Konso, Karo, Surma, and Bumi. A wide variety of physical types are evident, along with many very different languages, religious affiliations, and beliefs. Some observers believe that this diversity holds back modernization and threatens to plunge the nation into divisive conflict. Other observers believe that this diversity is Ethiopia's strength and has enabled it to resist onslaughts from Europe and Asia. For millennia, the monarchy united Ethiopians in loyalty to the emperor, just as it has held Great Britain together.

Amharic (Amarigna) is the language of the dominant Amhara ethnic group. It was the language of the imperial rulers for many centuries and is still widely spoken throughout Ethiopia. This is the principal language of instruction in most Ethiopian schools today. Millions of Ethiopians also speak Tigrinya, Oromo, Somali, Arabic, Italian, or English. The English language is growing in importance as the main language of instruction, especially in universities. Arabic is widely spoken in the north and east, and 40 to 45 percent of the Ethiopian population is Muslim. These people must learn Arabic to read their holy book, the Koran, which is written in ancient Arabic. The latter is very different from modern spoken Arabic, thus many Ethiopians cannot speak modern Arabic fluently. Approximately 35 to 40 percent of Ethiopia's population is Coptic Christian.

For many centuries Muslims refused to attack or invade Christian Ethiopia. Today Muslims are converting four new converts for every one converted to Christianity. They are zealous in their pursuit of converts all over Africa. By contrast, Christians seem to have lost their missionary zeal. Muslims traditionally attend Koran school, rather than state sponsored schools. This puts them at a disadvantage on national examinations for civil service jobs, as well as exams used to select government workers. These national examinations are often written in either English or Amharic. Christian schools use either Amharic or English as the language of instruction. This gives Christians a decisive advantage and helps explain their continued domination of Ethiopia's institutions, despite their minority status. Emperor Yohannes IV (1871-89) sought national unity through religious conformity, while Menelik II (1889-1913) sought centralization of government functions, creation of government health centers, financing of small industries, and spreading education as a means of creating that unity for Ethiopia. Both used church schools to educate Ethiopians.

For several thousand years religion controlled education in Ethiopia. The ancient Axumites created a system of writing that evolved from a Sabean script believed to have been introduced from Arabia. Similar to written Hebrew and related to Phoenician, the system is phonetic. The ancient Ge'ez language descended from such origins. Stone monoliths record the daring feats of ancient kings in Ge'ez, which has been the liturgical language of Ethiopia's Jews for 3,000 years and the Ethiopian Coptic Christian church since A.D. 400. This language was developed by a sophisticated ancient civilization and used not only by priests, but also by rulers who created impressive stone palaces, temples, and tombs, like the obelisks found at Aksum. Writings in Ge'ez, as well as Greek and Sabean, inscribed on these monuments describe military campaigns, the victories of Ethiopian kings, and trade with Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Greece, and India. Gold and silver coins were minted to facilitate commerce and trade.

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and indigenous African religions have long peacefully co-existed in Ethiopia, but tensions have occasionally erupted in violence. Each major religion created schools for children of its adherents. Christianity is dominant in the north, northwest, and central states. Judaism is limited to the Lake Tana region. Islam is strong in the east, south, and west. Indigenous religions are strong in the southern, eastern, and western regions.

By far, the greatest traditional schools were constructed and managed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church. King Erzana started church schools to perpetuate Christianity, but church schools achieved their "golden age" of expansion between A.D. 1200 and 1500. Church education has changed little since that time. Its primary mission has been to train individuals for the priesthood, but the secondary mission has been to spread the faith through Christian culture. Church schools trained not only priests, but monks and debtera (cantors), who were often better educated than the priests they served. The debteras were church scholars, custodians of education, and a privileged elite who helped decide who held power. Many were children of the elite and sought to keep the elite in power. Teachers were also trained in church schools, along with civil servants, such as judges, governors, scribes, treasurers, and administrators of all sorts. Religious schools were the only source of trained personnel.

Prompted by Italy, which militarily occupied Eritrea between 1885 and 1892, Emperor Menelik II began the modernization and secularization of Ethiopian education. The church did not challenge his opening of competing secular schools from 1905 onward. The government was modernized by creating 10 ministries, and the administration of education was left in the hands of the church, which satisfied its leaders. Secular curriculums included the study of French, English, Arabic, Italian, Amharic, Ge'ez, mathematics, physical training, and sports. Tuition, as well as room and board, were paid for by the emperor. From 1905 on, Ethiopians began to associate secular education with national progress. The elite began to discuss the need for universal education and literacy.

Empress Zewditu Menelik declared in 1921:

Every parent is hereby required to teach his child reading and writing through which the child may learn the difference between good and evil. . . . Any parent refusing to do so will be fined 50 dollars. . . . Those of you who are leaders of parishes in rural as well as urban areas, in addition to your regular responsibilities in the churches, teach the children of your respective communities how to read and write. . . . If you fail to teach, you will be deprived of your positions entrusted to you. . . . Every parent, after you have taught your child how to read and write, make him attend your choice of any of the local trade schools, lest your child will be faced with difficulty earning a livelihood. If you fail to do so, you will be considered as one who has deprived another of limbs, and accordingly you will be fined 50 dollars, which money will be used for the education of the poor. This proclamation applies to those between the ages of 7 and 21 years. A parent will not be held responsible for any child of his who is over 21 years old.

In effect, Ethiopia declared war against ignorance and illiteracy with the aim of transforming the country into a literate industrial society.

The evolution of education in Ethiopia can be logically divided into five periods. The first is the Pre-European traditional educational system, which was followed by the initial period of Secular education from 1900-1936, during which Ethiopian monarchs attempted to modernize education. The Italian Colonial educational system began in 1936 and lasted until 1941. The Independence era, which lasted from 1941 to 1974, was characterized by the efforts of a restored Emperor, Haile Selassie, to revive and develop Ethiopia's educational system. Finally, there was the post-Selassie Afro-Marxist and post-Marxist modern educational reform period which continues into 2001.