Education and Training in Ethiopia An Evaluation of Approaching EFA Goals

empowerment. However, in Ethiopia an emphasis on developing TVET and skills wasintroduced only at the turn of the 21 st century.The analysis is based on secondary and primary data. The secondary data comprisedocuments concerning education and gender policy received from the Finnish Ministry ofForeign Affairs, from Finnish implementing agencies, from the Finnish Embassy in AddisAbeba, from other donor organizations present in Ethiopia, and from Ethiopian executingagencies, policy makers and educational administrators. The primary data was collectedthrough structured in-depth and focus-group interviews with different stakeholders inFinland and Ethiopia. The educational projects supported by the Finnish governmentpromoted capacity building with a view to enabling Ethiopia to provide young peopleaccess to education and literacy. Finland has concentrated on the development of specialeducation.The study found that Ethiopia has made some progress towards the Dakar EFA goals.Access to primary education has expanded (EFA Goal 2). The primary-school enrolmenttripled during the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, according to NER Ethiopia was in2000 among the countries with the lowest enrolment rates. Nearly half of the childrenremain out of schools in Ethiopia. Although children are taught in Amharic, the linguafranca, in the early grades, the use of English increases in the upper grades. English isused in secondary, post-secondary, and higher educationGirls’ access to primary education lags significantly behind boys’ access. The gendergap in primary-school enrolment remains at the level of about 20 per cent. Female studentnumbers should be drastically increased if Ethiopia is to reach the goal of all childrenhaving access to primary education by 2015 (EFA Goal 2). The same trend is observed inthe goal of gender parity and equality. Both in primary and secondary education, Ethiopiais at risk of not reaching the goal of gender parity even by 2015 (EFA Goal 5). Improvinggender parity is the best predicator of achieving the EFA goals in general. Female teachersmay encourage female students to stay in school through positive role models. However,the increase of female teachers has been fairly slow.Quality of education (EFA Goal 6) can be measured by several indicators. Ethiopia hashigh teacher qualifications only in the first cycle of primary-level education. The studentteacherratios are high and increasing. The shortage of teachers is likely to grow withHIV/AIDS taking its toll among teachers. There is also a shortage of teachers in rural andremote areas, and quality varies between the regions. Ethiopian schools operate with verymodest facilities. Only about 60 per cent of students in Ethiopia survive to Grade 5, whichmakes it impossible to achieve measurable outcomes for all children in literacy, numeracyand essential life skills (EFA Goal 6).Technical and Vocational Training is one of the main components of ESDP policy.Increasing the trained labour force relates to the development of the country as a whole.Improving coherence of the quantity and the quality of technical and vocational training isa challenge in Ethiopia. Education has neither shaped nor corresponded to labour forceneeds or the requirements of industry and trade. On all levels of the educational system,education and training has little relevance to practice and context and to preparation forthe workforce and employability. The main problems facing the current TVET programmes10