Gov't education policy condemned

The Ethiopian government is a “barrier” to quality education under its current strategy, the president of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA) said on Thursday. Dr Taye Wolde Semayat said the country was being condemned to “illiteracy, unemployment and disease” under the current education policy. He argued that teachers held the key to “liberating” the impoverished nation and getting millions of children into school. “Our country is already sinking into the marshes of poverty and destitution,” he told an international and Ethiopian audience of teaching experts. The former professor of political science at Addis Ababa University said the government had not consulted teachers in drawing up the country’s education policy. Although Ethiopia has made strides in boosting school enrolment – around half of school age children now attend classes - experts argue that the country has a long way to go. Mary Hatwood Futrell, president of Education International which is an international trade union of teaching personnel, warned that Ethiopia was still one of 28 “non-achievers”. “Investing in the well-being of the children of Ethiopia is investing in and strengthening the future of every Ethiopian,” she said. Futrell also argued that teachers should be at the frontline of any education policies or guidelines if the 2015 Millennium Development Goal targets are going to be met. Dr Taye was jailed in June 1996 for 15 years on charges of forming an illegal political party and conspiring against the state – charges he denies. He was freed in May last year after serving six years, after the intervention of human rights groups.