OPINION By Samuel Getachew –
As Ethiopia continues to produce a record number of university and college graduates like never before, what is becoming alarming is the quality, not the quantity, of these graduates.
Since the Ethiopian government decided to revitalize the old educational system via its Growth and Transformation Plan at the beginning of the Ethiopian millennium 16 years ago, the country has been hell bent in trying to provide educational opportunities to its citizens at all cost.
From having just handful public universities, it has now progressed to have over 30 universities across the country in less than two decades. In addition to these universities, there are many private institutions that have been created, catering to almost all the desires of the country’s 90 million plus population. It seems access and choice have become the norm, while quality is becoming a rare commodity.
Even Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has described the new graduates as “half-cooked”. He has promised to look at the shortcomings of the system and report back. He should.
No education is good enough, when the foundation and quality of it is being doubted and questioned in the open. In its graduates, it seems, Ethiopia has managed to create an easy path to qualification while compromising the reputation of quality education found within the country.
In the process, it has constructed a mill-factory like environment in its sacred educational system, where an easy entrance and graduation is a guarantee no matter what, with little success in the arena of employment. This is no longer healthy as Ethiopia moves to a status of respectability in the world.
Read more at: Addis Fortune
No comments:
Post a Comment