Education and Training in Ethiopia An Evaluation of Approaching EFA Goals

1 HISTORY AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF ETIOPIAEthiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world and the oldest independent country inAfrica. Unlike most African countries, Ethiopia was not colonized—but occupied by Italyin the late 1930s for five years. Haile Selassie was the last emperor of Ethiopia, whobecame emperor in 1930 and who was driven to exile in 1936 with the invasion by thefascist Italy. After Ethiopian liberation from the fascist power, Haile Selassie returned andruled until 1974 when he was overthrown by a coup of army officers.The military government proclaimed Ethiopia a socialist state in 1974. By 1977, ColonelMengistu Haile Mariam established full control of the Derg or the Provisional MilitaryAdministrative Council (PMAC). The Marxist military government stayed in power until1991. During this time period the country experienced a revolutionary turmoil, civil war,war with Somalia and a devastating experience of agrarian socialism. All land, manyhouses and private enterprises were nationalized. State-sponsored cooperatives wereestablished and whole and retail sales and industrial products were controlled byparastatals. The military regime introduced a “villagization” and resettlement programme,which facilitated political control. With the villagization scheme 12 million people wereresettled by 1988.The “Red Terror” ended in 1991, when the Tigrayans together with the Eritreansdefeated Derg and Colonel Mengistu fled the country. Ethiopian People’s RevolutionaryDemocratic Front (EPRDF) took control and endorsed a transitional charter of Ethiopia.The charter became the legal basis for four years of interim rule under the EPRDFdominatedlegislature and the Transitional Government, headed by the leader of Tigray’sPeople’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia wasproclaimed in 1995. Eritrea received de jure independence in 1993. Currently Ethiopia is ademocratic federation of nine regions, governed by a bicameral legislature, a primeminister and a president. The EPRDF has been the ruling political party since 1991. Sixother major parties and several smaller parties participate in the political system. (Tervo,Hailu, Huvio, Kirjavainen, Lasonen, Ovaskainen, & Puotiainen, 2002).Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria. Thepopulation is estimated at about 64 million, with a projected annual growth rate of 2.8 percent, the population would reach 129.8 million by 2020. However, the impact of AIDS islikely to reduce the actual growth as the infection rate in Ethiopia is an alarming 10.6 percent of adults aged 15 to 49, and the figure is rising (FDRE, 2001a). The Ethiopians areyoung, around 30 million people are under 16 years of age. Life expectancy is 43 years,compared with 49 years of the population of the whole Sub-Saharan Africa. The14