Population (approx.)58 millionLiteracy StatisticsOverall: 35.5%Male: 45.5%Female: 25.3%GNP Per Capita (US Dollars)$500Source: The World Bank Development Indicators, 1996; CIA World Fact Book 1997 |
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Country Report presented by Ayele Anulo Joffe
From 1979 to 1990, the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia developed and implemented a National Literacy Campaign. The objectives of this campaign were to:
- bring literacy classes to communities without interfering with people's day-to-day lives,
- strengthen and upgrade the skills acquired through literacy and provide a strong foundation for further education,
- introduce youth and adults to relevant literature to enable them to pursue reading for their own development, and
- provide participants with mathematics skills and enable them to perform simple and practical calculations, which can be applied in their daily activities.
The campaign was based on a massive social mobilization effort wherein the community provided substantial amounts of financial and material support. Literacy committee members at all levels gave free service, and class instructors taught free of charge. Teaching materials, initially prepared in Amharic, were translated into 15 additional languages to cover the mother-tongue needs of about 90% of the Ethiopian population. A number of primers and supplementary reading materials, in the form of leaflets, posters, and rural newsletters, were also developed, and over 9,000 reading centers were established so that new readers could continue to learn. Post-literacy programs were broadcast over 11 radio stations in 4 national languages reaching over 20 million adults. These radio broadcasts covered such topics as health, agriculture, population, and family education.
During the course of the campaign, several problem areas weakened the effort. For instance, after the initial enthusiasm, the unpaid administrators and trainers were no longer motivated to continue their participation, and the campaign became the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Education. Teachers and trainers were not always properly trained themselves, and not enough attention was paid to the proper sequence of reading materials or the relevance of the materials to the learners. In addition, it was felt that the literacy campaign was imposed on both the providers and the learners and did not effectively solicit their full participation.
However, after the change of government in 1990, new political and administrative structures were introduced, and non-formal education has become an important complement to the basic education offered through formal education. New policy states that the basic education will focus on literacy, numeracy, agriculture, crafts, home science, health services, and civic education. Currently, a decentralization process in the country's education system has shifted responsibility from national to regional and local authorities.
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY
INSTITUTE