Jiru OutcomesChallenges1994 2020

Leuven University Press
Chapter Title: Outcomes and Challenges of the 1994 Ethiopian Education and Training
Policy Reform
Chapter Author(s): Challa Amdissa Jiru
Book Title: Public Administration in Ethiopia

Book Subtitle: Case Studies and Lessons for Sustainable Development
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Terefe Gemechu, Annie Hondeghem, Trui Steen, Steve Troupin
Published by: Leuven University Press. (2020)
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21
Outcomes and Challenges of the 1994
Ethiopian Education and Training
Policy Reform
Challa Amdissa Jiru
Box 1: Key points of this chapter

 The 1994 education policy reform was part of the political, economic, and social
reforms that took place in Ethiopia in 1991.
 The goals of the 1994 education policy were to correct the acute shortage and
inequitable access, inefficiency, low quality, low relevance, and undemocratic
nature of Ethiopian education system.
 This policy was implemented for about twenty-five years and achieved mixed
results.
 Any future education program should focus on improving the quality and
sustaining the current pace of expansion in access to education.
Box 2: Reading this chapter will give you insights in

 The driving forces for the formulation of 1994 Education Policy of Ethiopia;
 The major changes introduced by the 1994 education and training policy reform;
 The achievements in access, equity, efficiency, quality, relevance, and
democratization goals of the education system; and
 The challenges ahead.
Box 3: Abbreviations
EPRDF = Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front
ESDP = Education Sector Development Programs
GER = Gross Enrolment Rate
NIR = Net Intake Ratio
566 Chall a Amdissa Jiru
1. Introduction :Political Context of the 1994 Education

Policy and the Problem Statement
The 1994 Education Policy of Ethiopia was part of the systemic changes in
political, economic, and social order in Ethiopia following the regime change
in 1991 (Demeke, 2011). Therefore, to understand the political environment
within which the education policy was formulated, it is essential to highlight
the country’s macroeconomic policy and the political and institutional reforms
of the 1990s. May 1991 is a turning point in Ethiopian history, as it marked
the end of the two decades of internal war and civil strife that led to the
secession of Eritrea. The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) took control of state power in May 1991 and formed the
Transitional Government in July of the same year. Upon seizing control, the
EPRDF immediately started radically restructuring the political system of
the country to establish a country with a new order that differs significantly
from its predecessors.
The political reform of the 1990s transformed the old centralized unitary
state system into a federal state arrangement, while the economic reform put
into effect privatization, deregulation, denationalization, and other liberaliza-
tion measures. Besides the liberalization of the economy and regionalization
of the state structure, new social sector polices such as women, population,
education, health, and disaster prevention and preparedness were formulated
(Tewodaj, Gezahegn, & Zelekawork, 2008). Among these social policies, the
subject of this chapter is the 1994 Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia.
This policy remained in place until the endorsement of a new education road
map in 2019.
Criticisms of the policy by different stakeholders were often heard ever since
its commencement in 1994. For example, at the HR Development summit,
held at the United Nations Conference center at Addis Ababa from August 30
to 31, 2017, employers’ representatives noted that they were facing challenges
due to the incapability of the education system to produce candidates with
employable skills. According to views reflected at the summit, the graduates
of the Ethiopian education institutions do not have reliable competence
that the employers need; as a result, employers face challenges in finding
skillful candidates in the local labor market to fill their job vacancies. Since
poor labor productivity will make the country uncompetitive in attracting
foreign investments, the participants of this summit warned the government
to rethink its policy (HRD Africa, 2017).
In addition to lack of competence, the current generation of graduates is
also criticized for lacking acceptable moral and ethical behaviors. For instance,
Education and Tr aining Polic y Reform 567
the prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, claimed at a meeting in Assosa

that the Ethiopian education system is unable to produce graduates who could
serve the interest of their family and the interest of their country, particularly
from the moral and ethical perspective. Similar to this view (Demeke, 2011)
indicates that there are groups who conceive of Ethiopians who have passed
through the school system as disrespectful to their society and institutions.
The professionals in the education sector have also been known to criticize
the appropriateness of the existing education policy of Ethiopia. This group
shares the concern over the deterioration of education quality in Ethiopia
and links the problem among other factors with the 1994 reform policy’s
reduction of four-year degree programs to three-years. Meanwhile, students
and parents blame the education policy of the country for poor prospects
injob opportunities for school graduates.
Thus, the appropriateness of the Ethiopian educational policy has been
challenged by many stakeholders from different perspectives. It is true that
the policy has many shortcomings; nevertheless, most of the criticisms of
the education system of Ethiopia were not research based. The few available
studies are incomplete in balancing both the achievements and the failures
of the policy across all aspects of the policy goals. In addition to the scarcity
of research evidence, the neutrality of the critics is also questionable as most
of them are ideologically driven. The author of this chapter argues that the
criticism of education policy has some basis but is mostly not supported
by research evidence and not balanced in revealing both the success and
failures of the policy. Policy analysis requires a good understanding of policy
intentions, adequate analysis of policy environments, and assessment of the
policy outcomes in relation to desired goals. In this regard, research conducted
so far on the 1994 education and training policy of Ethiopia is insufficient to
reveal the lessons to be taken from the past experience.
This study is motivated by such critical limitations in research on education
policy. The objective here is to evaluate the effectiveness of the 1994 education
policy of Ethiopia in terms of its achievement in access, equity, efficiency,
democratization, relevance, and quality goals. More specifically, the study
tries to address the following research questions:
1. What were the driving forces for the formulation of 1994 Education
Policy of Ethiopia?
2. What major changes were introduced by the implementation of the 1994
education policy reform?
3. How well has Ethiopia achieved the education goals established by 1994
education policy and what are the challenges ahead?
Analysis of these questions is important if we are to derive lessons from the

success and failure of the 1994 education policy and to provide policy inputs
for future initiatives. Accordingly, by shedding lights on the policy aspect
of the Ethiopian education system, this chapter identifies the achievements
and failures of the policy and suggests ideas that will help to overcome the
challenges faced by the country’s education system. Furthermore, this research
shows avenues for future research on education policy of Ethiopia. Guided
by these questions, the remaining part of this chapter presents consecutively
data sources and methodology, literature, discussions, and conclusions.
2. Data Sources and Methods of Data Analysis
A mixed research approach was chosen to take advantage of combining

quantitative and qualitative techniques of analysis and to make use of data
of different forms. Different secondary sources, which include the official
data of government, the World Bank database, government education sector
plans and reports and statistical abstracts, were used to analyze policy driving
forces, policy goals, policy outcomes and new challenges. The problems of
the Ethiopian education system prior to 1994 and the policies pursued by
the current government to solve them were analyzed based on a review of
government policy statements and other publications of Ministry of Educa-
tion. Different reform plans and implementation reports were reviewed to
determine the changes introduced in the education system by the government,
so as to identify the major departure of the 1994 policy from the past. The
effectiveness of the education policy was assessed by comparing policy goals
and policy achievements. Finally, new challenges not covered by the exist-
ing policy are explored based on the views of experts as shown in different
statistics, research reports, and media. In order to ensure the reliability and
validity of the research, the study used data from official sources, after careful
inspection of their relevance to the topic. Because of the nature of the data
at hand, the descriptive method of analysis was chosen.
The next part of the chapter presents performance indicators in education
policy analysis, participation in the 1994 education policy formulation process,
the driving force for policy change, and major changes in the 1994 education
policy of Ethiopia. It then analyzes the achievements of education policy in
terms of access, equity, efficiency, relevance, and quality and democratization.
Finally, the discussion part highlights the challenges not properly addressed
by the 1994 Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia.
3. Indicators of Performances in Education Policy

Analysis
As education is a complex social undertaking, analysis of education policy is

also complex; however, it is worth doing as education is also a determinant
of development. Education has become the most powerful tool in providing
solutions to various challenges (Semela, 2011) and it plays a key role in the
globalized world. The many dimensions of social and economic objectives that
education policies aim to achieve are complex to understand, nevertheless,
conducting study on education policy is a necessary task.
One of the important indicators of education policy is its attention to
educational inputs. The better-endowed schools tend to produce better results,
as measured by such indicators as student achievement and schooling careers.
As teachers typically represent the single most important component of
educational inputs, managing the resources they embody warrants especially
close attention (Mingat, Tan, & Sosale, 2003). Achievement on the basis of
input measurement focuses on education expenditures, for example on the
expenditure on primary education as (a) percentage of GNP and (b) as per
pupil, or as a percentage of GNP per capita and as a percentage of total public
expenditure on education (Norelius & Mendes, 2003).
Another element of education policy is the issue of equity and access
that affirms the need to ensure equitable access and participation of all
groups, particularly of vulnerable and disadvantaged children, as well as
adults. Equity may be assessed from the perspective of gender, geography/
region, and place of residence (urban/rural) (Mingat, Tan, & Sosale, 2003).
Equity in education attracts interest in public policy for several reasons. In
most countries the government subsidizes education, so access to education
determines who benefits from the subsidies. Because spending on education
represents a substantial share of government budgets in both industrial and
developing countries, the education system effectively is a major conduit for
the distribution of public subsidies. Furthermore, education affects people’s
life chances as adults in terms of their earning capability as well as social
mobility. Equity in educational opportunity therefore influences the future
distribution of income, wealth, and status in society. Beyond its economic
significance, education is viewed widely as a good in itself, and indeed a basic
human right with regard to the lower levels of education. For this reason too,
equity in education is often a focus of public policy debate.
With regard to methods for analyzing access and equity in education,
several approaches are suggested by the vast literature on the subject (Norelius
& Mendes, 2003). This chapter uses comparison of differences in access to
a specific level or type of education across population groups, using such

indicators as relative rates of entry, transition, and completion. This approach
of equity analysis assumes that education is a good in itself without elaborating
on the specific nature or value of the benefits.
Besides inputs and equity, there are many measurements of achievements in
education policy analysis (Norelius & Mendes, 2003). Achievement in access
to education can be measured along indicators such as: gross enrolment in
early childhood development programs, as a percentage of the official age
group concerned, if any, otherwise in the age group three to five; percentage
of new entrants to primary grade 1 who have attended some form of organized
early childhood development program; apparent (gross) intake rate (new
entrants in primary grade 1 as a percentage of the population of official entry
age); net intake rate (new entrants to primary grade 1 who are of the official
primary school entrance age as a percentage of the corresponding population);
gross enrolment ratio; and net enrolment ratio.
When it comes to assessing quality aspects, indicators like percentage
of primary school teachers having the required academic qualifications;
percentage of primary school teachers certified to teach according to national
standards; and the pupil-teacher ratio are widely used.
Widely used indicators of achievement in relation to efficiency are the
repetition rate; the survival rate to grade 5; the coefficient of efficiency; and
percentage of pupils having reached at least grade 4 of primary schooling
who have mastered a set of nationally defined basic learning competencies.
Literacy rate of fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds; adult literacy rate; and the
Gender Parity Index can also be used as indicators of education achievement
(Norelius & Mendes, 2003).
Indicators are related to goals and targets (Norelius & Mendes, 2003).
For instance, some targets of the UN millennium development goals and
associated indicators are presented in the table below:
Table 1: Millennium development goals and targets
Goals Targets Indicators
Achieve Ensure that, by 2015, children – Net enrollment ratio in primary

universal everywhere, boys and girls alike, education
primary will be able to complete a full – Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who
educa- course of primary schooling reach grade 5
tion – Literacy rate of 15- to 24-year-olds
Goals Targets Indicators
Promote Eliminate gender disparity in – Ratio of girls to boys in primary, second-

gender primary and secondary educa- ary, and tertiary education
equality tion preferably by 2005 and in – Ratio of literate females to males among
and em- all levels of education no later 15- to 24-year-olds
power than 2015 – Share of women in wage employment in
women the nonagricultural sector.
– Proportion of seats held by women in
national parliament.
One of the seventeen goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is
to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learn-
ing opportunities for all. The indicators of this goal among others are to ensure
access to free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education; quality
early childhood development, care and preprimary education; affordable and
quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education; increase the number of
youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational
skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the
global actors agreed by 2030 to eliminate gender disparities; achieve literacy
and numeracy; and substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers.
The Education and Training Policy of 1994 has been the inspiration for five
medium-term Education Sector Development Programs (ESDP). Each ESDP has
its own goals and specific targets. For instance ESDP I aimed at increasing access,
improving quality, increasing effectiveness, achieving equity, and expanding
finance at all levels of education in Ethiopia (Martin, Riitta, & Tuomas, 2000).
The ESDP V is the fifth medium-term plan, which serves as the central strategy
document for educational development in Ethiopia from 2015/16 to 2019/20. Its
major goals are to provide equal opportunities and participation for all; deliver
quality education that meets diverse learning needs; develop competent citizens;
promote effective leadership, management, and governance at all levels; and to
assist citizens to share common values and experiences and to embrace diversity.
4. Participations in the Process of Framing the 1994

Education Policy
The process of policy formulation requires consultations with the stakehold-

ers. Policymakers in education are responsible for developing a vision and
strategy for educational development and mobilizing support and cooperation
for implementing the former from a wide range of stakeholders. The key
stakeholders of the education sector may include ministers in other sec-

tors, nongovernment organizations that provide resources, teachers, and
school administrators; students and their families who are the immediate
beneficiaries of the services provided; and employers and the public at large.
Thus, this section overviews the participation of these stakeholders in the
1994 Education and Training Policy formulation process.
A taskforce composed of eleven members from various institutions was
formed under the coordination of the prime minister’s office to study key
educational issues and come up with policy recommendations. The taskforce
studied six policy issues: teacher training, teaching methods, professional
development, and working conditions; educational measurement and evalu-
ation; language in education; educational organization, management and
finance; and educational materials and support inputs (Martin, Riitta, &
Tuomas, 2000). In order to assess the above issues a technical committee
composed of six study teams from various ministries, research organizations,
the teachers’ association, and institutions of higher learning was formed. All
in all, forty national organizations and three hundred experts participated in
the study. Moreover, public consultation on the draft policy document was
conducted at the central, regional, zonal, Woreda, and school levels throughout
the country. For instance, schools in Addis Ababa were closed for a day to
discuss the Education and Training Policy (Martin, Riitta, & Tuomas, 2000).
In the development of the different educational policy documents, the
MoE and the Social and Administration Sub-Sector of the Office of the Prime
Minister were key players. Additionally, the regional education bureaus,
higher education institutions, and international organizations such as Sida,
UNDP, UNESCO, etc. took part in the policy development process (Martin,
Riitta, & Tuomas, 2000).
Despite the attempt to involve these stakeholders, commentators describe
the government as having a make-or-break role while other stakeholders had
a symbolic role in the policy formulation process. As described by Alemu
& Tekleselassie (2006), though discussions were held with stakeholders,
no input provided by teachers was incorporated in the final policy. Worse,
people who reflected different views on the policy proposal were threatened
by the government. Alemu & Tekleselassie (2006) further found that the
worst outcome of participation in consultations was the split of the Ethiopian
Teachers’ Union into two opposing factions (one pro-EPRDF/government
and the other independent). The level of the government’s involvement in the
Ethiopian higher education system is very high (Yohannes, 2016). The amount
of financial contributions affects the influence of various donor groups.
Additionally, in countries (such as Ethiopia) following macroeconomic
structural adjustment programs, general policy conditionality agreed on

between the government and the World Bank/IMF is significant in framing
educational policy (Martin, Riitta, & Tuomas, 2000).
5. The Driving Forces for Change and the 1994 Education

Policy Goals
As the twentieth century drew to a close, Ethiopia found itself with an

education system that was regimented in its management, conservative in
its intellectual orientation, limited in its autonomy, short of experienced
doctorates among academic staff, concerned about declining educational
quality, weak in its research output, and poorly connected with the intellectual
currents of the international higher education community (Saint, 2004). The
reform pressures that had begun to build in the 1960s were suppressed by
the Dergue in the 1970s and1980s (Saint, 2004). The seizure of state power
by EPRDF in 1991returned the reform of the education system to the fore
of the government’s concerns.
At the time when the education and training policy of Ethiopia was framed,
the Ethiopian government was embarking on establishing a new order to
transform the command economy of the military regime into a market
economy. The new policy direction in the education sector was motivated
by the need to destroy the vestiges of the military regime and replace it
with the new order. For example, the policy study sponsored by Ministry of
Education confirms that it was necessary to replace the educational system
that served the old discarded order with a new one (Ministry of Education,
2002). Similarly, Teshome (2003) also notes that Ethiopia engaged in reform
to realign its higher education system in more direct support of its national
strategy for economic growth and poverty reduction.
As shown in (Ministry of Education, 2002), the government justified
a reform and a new policy direction because of the many problems of the
previous education system. EPRDF held the belief that the past regime never
had a clear policy by which education and training would be guided and
evaluated(Ministry of Education, 2002). EPRDF questioned the objective
of education under the previous regime, which aimed to produce trained
manpower for the emergent government bureaucracy. It also denounced
the ambition of the students, which was securing government employment.
It should be noted that, at a time where the country depended on expatriates
who were working at various levels in public offices and schools, seeking to
produce manpower for the government bureaucracy and replacing expatriates
with Ethiopian nationals should not be criticized as a mistaken objective.

Similarly, in the absence of a private sector that would have provided employ-
ment opportunities for those who left schools without capital and without
necessary entrepreneurial background, students should not be expected to
aspire to anything other than securing employment in the public sector.
Devising a policy reform simply to avoid the heritage of the past regime is
not convincing.
The dismantling of the institutional systems of the Dergue regime was
however not the only motive of the EPRDF government in formulating the
new education and training policy for Ethiopia. A study by the Ministry of
Education (2002) identifies the long-standing problems associated with the
Ethiopian education system, which were related to limited and inequitable
access, lack of quality and relevance, and continuous decline in quality and
standards. These problems are further discussed in detail.
a) Limited Access: While many African countries that are generally con-
sidered to be poor had 60 to70 percent of their school-age children enrolled
in elementary schools, only 20 percent of school-age children had the op-
portunity to attend first- to sixth-grade education in Ethiopia. As (Ministry of
Education, 2002) shows, in 1993 only 277 high schools, 2 universities, 5 junior
colleges, and 16 vocational and technical schools were found in the country.
Similarly, there were only about thirteen teacher training centers and sixteen
technical and vocational schools, with a very limited enrollment capacity
that had never exceeded 2,500 per year. Towards the end of the Dergue
period, enrollment was even declining, which is thought to be attributed
to the prolonged effects of war and instability. Table 2 depicts vividly the
decreasing trend recorded between 1988/89 and 1992/93, particularly at
the primary level (Martin, Riitta, & Tuomas, 2000).
Table 2: Gross enrollment ratio at primary (1-6) level (1985/86 – 1993/94)
Year Gross Enrolment Ratio Year Gross Enrolment Ratio
1985/86 37.4 1990/91 32.7

1986/87 40.8 1991/92 26.5
1987/88 41.9 1992/93 23.1
1988/89 40.3 1993/94 27.5
1989/90 36.5
b) Inequitable Distribution of School Services: The beneficiaries of the limited

educational opportunities were the children of urban dwellers and the rich.
The tuition-free primary, secondary, and higher education created an unfair
benefit, whereby the poor and the rural population was forced to contribute
to the construction of educational facilities to which their own children
had no access. This inequity had also created educational opportunity gaps
between regions, residents of urban and rural areas, and between genders as
well (Ministry of Education, 2002).
c) Problem of Efficiency: In the old system, according to (Ministry of
Education, 2002), the high repetition rate was considered as an indication
of the educational system’s academic rigor and excellence. A high rate of
dropouts and repeaters came to be considered an indicator of the inefficiency
of the educational system.
d) Lack of Quality and Relevance: The other driving forces for the formula-
tion of the 1994 policy were the lack of focus on mathematics, science, and
engineering; insufficient vocational education both at the high school and
college levels; and a poor supply of educational inputs, such as poor laboratory
facilities, poor library service, unmotivated teachers, a shortage of books,
and limited opportunity to involve in practical learning. These constraints
in educational inputs together with lack of focus on the “more important
fields of study,” according to the government, had reduced the quality and
relevance of education (Ministry of Education, 2002). Low employability of
the graduates was also taken as an attribute of the poor quality of the pre-1994
education system of Ethiopia. The government also considered the twelve
years of education necessary to leave high school and four years of university
education as irrelevant and wasteful.
e)Problem of School Language: In Ethiopia before 1991, the principle
that every child should, at least in primary school, learn in the child’s native
language was totally ignored. In addition to being a violation of the right to
language, every aspect of the contents of the old education system glorified
the attributes, contributions, customs, culture, and history of one group and
reinforced its domination over the others(Ministry of Education, 2002).
Together with ideological change, the above problems drove education
policy revisions in Ethiopia in 1994. When critically evaluated, the meager
access to education was well shown by comparing the enrollment with other
African countries, but the study by the Ministry of Education did not clearly
indicate the repetition rate, the dropout rate, and the level of equity in educa-
tion. The low education quality and relevance was indicated by a lack of focus
on mathematics, science, and engineering, as well as by insufficient vocational
education and inadequacy of inputs. Hence progress can be measured by
the proportion of students enrolled in science and in vocational fields, and

improvements in educational inputs. Moreover, since the government associ-
ates a low education quality with the high unemployment of school alumni,
change in employment opportunity is another indicator for measuring the
success of the 1994 education and training policy.
Motivated by radically changing the policies of the preceding regime and
the need to correct the problem of low access, high dropout and repetition,
inequitable access, undemocratic content, and poor quality and relevance,
the government of Ethiopia launched an education and training policy and
began its implementation in 1994. The 1994 Education and Training Policy
of Ethiopia set educational goals as describe below:
– Expanding Educational Opportunity and Ensuring Its Equity: The
government aspired to create access of education to all nations and
nationalities, urban and rural residents, the poor and the rich, male and
female. It intended to ensure equity in order to reduce the gaps that
existed since the introduction of modern education in Ethiopia.
– Democratization of the Administration and Content of Education: The
1994 policy aspires to foster the use of mother-tongue languages in
order to reduce the difficulty of students learning in the lower primary
schools. The decentralized system of government is considered helpful
to materialize the use of different languages as medium of instruction in
different regions and to increase community participation in education.
– Provision of Quality and Relevant Educational Services: Government-
revised curricula were intended to make the education relevant to the
needs of society and to make the curriculum career-oriented. The policy
also established a quality and standards authority to ensure schools and
colleges would provide quality education.
– Ensuring Efficiency: The government intended to increase the completion
rate by keeping repetition and dropout rates at lower levels than they had
been under the previous regime.
6. Major Changes Introduced by the 1994 Education

Policy of Ethiopia
The 1994 policy redefined primary education as grades 1– 8 and eliminated

standardized testing prior to grade 8. It placed new emphasis on the expansion
of technical and vocational education and training and the use of mother
tongue languages for primary instruction (Tewodaj, Gezahegn, & Zelekawork,
2008).
Other initiatives included harmonizing curricula for all of the under-

graduate programs, adopting a modular approach for course delivery so
as to enhance active learning, instituting quality assurance offices at each
university, and trying to equip libraries and laboratories. Bachelor degree
courses were reduced from four to three years in length, with much of the
former “freshman” year subject matter being transferred to the secondary
school level (Yohannes, 2016).
Graduate program enrollments are rising rapidly in an effort to boost
the supply of academic staff for the expanding system. All existing diploma
programs (50 percent of public enrollments in 2003) were transferred to
technical colleges to make universities concentrate on the bachelor level
and above. A revision of university curricula has added courses like civics,
ethics, communication skills, and entrepreneurship, among others. Anew
oversight agency was mandated to monitor both the quality and the relevance
of academic programs. To shore up quality in the classroom, national and
local pedagogical resource centers were set up to encourage instructional
innovation and to assist less experienced lecturers (Saint, 2004).
Education expenditure also increased as a proportion of the overall
government budget, from 9.5 percent to 16.8 per cent. Such increases still
fall short of reaching the general range of 20 percent to 25 percent seen in
most developing countries (Saint, 2004), suggesting the need for further
increasing the financing efforts. Expenditure per student was very low and
seemed likely to be pushed lower by rapid expansion (Saint, 2004).To reduce
the burden on the government budget as a result of expanding the education
sector at all levels, the government introduced user charges through a cost
sharing program in September 2003.
The proclamation of 2003 (No.351/2003) awards some autonomy to
universities. Autonomy is granted in the administration of personnel, fi-
nances, internal organization, and in establishing linkages with internal and
international organizations, etc. All nonacademic staff is classified as civil
servants managed by the national civil service system (Saint, 2004). Strategic
planning, income diversification, and information and communications
technology development are being encouraged to meet the fiscal, space,
and instructional requirements of the on-going expansion (Saint, 2004).
The Higher Education Proclamation No.650/2009 also grants universities
autonomy to administer and govern their core activities. According to this
proclamation, universities are free to set up their organizational structures
and to introduce reform programs and activities that support academic and
research excellence (Yohannes, 2016).
However, in the view of some critics, persistent violations of academic

freedom make effective institutional autonomy a difficult proposition. The
study by Saint (2004) uncovers that the government has sought to inject
political criteria into the academic staff evaluation process and directly ap-
point universities’ presidents and vice presidents. The government ordered
all public higher education institutions to implement BPR, BSC, and other
business model management techniques as part of the nationwide reform
process since 2008 (Kahsay, 2012).
7. The Performance of Education Policy
7.1. Performance in Expansion of Access
As discussed in the previous section, one of the critical problems of the

education system during the formulation of the 1994 education policy was
very low coverage, even in comparison with achievements in other poor
countries. To reverse this situation, the education policy of the EPRDF-led
government has aimed to improve access to education. In line with this
policy goal, the government made tremendous efforts to expand educational
opportunity at all levels and has achieved remarkable success. The government
has implemented five consecutive education sector development plans since
it began implementation of the 1994 education and training policy.
This research relies on the ESDP IV, because the data of ESDP V is expected
to be compiled only after the end of the planning period. At the end of ESDP
IV in 2014, the Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) for preprimary education reach
34 percent, of which around a quarter is in three-year kindergarten and the
remainder one-year O-Class and Child-to-Child instruction (Ministry of
Education, 2015).
In the 1971 to 1972 education review, the year 2000 was set as the year
when Ethiopia would extend universal primary education to all its citizens
(Demeke, 2011). However, Ethiopia was far from achieving universal primary
education in 1994 when the education policy was put to effect. The EPRDF
government has planned to achieve universal primary education in line with
the “Education for All” goals. By the end of ESDP IV, the number of primary
schools had risen from 11,000 to 32,048 and student enrollment at this level
had grown from less than 3 million to over 18 million. In 2015, the supply of
schools allows for full intake of students into Grade 1 when they reach the age
of seven years. As of 2013/14, the Net Intake Ratio (NIR) was 106 percent,
compared to the target of 100 percent.
Rates of more than 100 percent are technically impossible, but happened
in the measure of NIR. Such an irregular measure arises due to imprecise
population figures and challenges in measurement of student age at the point
of entry due to lack of uniform birth registration. Such a situation makes
the precision of educational performance measure less reliable. GER ratios
indicate the capacity of each level of the education system, but a high ratio
may reflect a substantial number of overage children enrolled in each grade
because of repetition or late entry rather than a successful education system.
Table 3 depicts the comparison of primary school enrollment.
Table 3: Primary school enrollment, (% gross)
Countries 1990 2000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Ethiopia 35.3 54.7 91.7 94.3 94.3 99.3 101.0

Sub-Saharan Africa 72.6 82.1 97.4 98.8 99.6 99.8 99.4 98.0
Low income 62.2 75.4 102.8 103.2 104.1 103.4 103.6 102.4
High income 102.4 100.8 101.9 101.6 101.7 102.2 101.9 102.1
World 99.7 98.8 103.2 103.5 104.2 104.0 102.8 102.5
Source: World Development Indicators, 2019
Comparison of educational access in Ethiopia with other countries is one

way of measuring educational achievement. Table 3 compares performance
of Ethiopia in primary school enrollment with Sub-Saharan Africa, with
low income countries, and with the world. As depicted in the table, in 1990
Ethiopia performed the lowest of all groups being presented for comparison.
After twenty-five years of expansion of education service, Ethiopia had able
to exceed the average primary school enrollment of Sub-Saharan African
countries.
Secondary school enrolment has also expanded rapidly, roughly increasing
five-fold, from an enrolled population of 371,000 in 1994/95 to almost 2
million in 2013/14. However, the achievement in secondary school enroll-
ment was lower than the achievement in primary school, due to low primary
completion (flow through the system). The GER in Grades 9–10 has changed
from 39.1 percent to 39.3 percent, against a target of 62 percent. Other factors
that influence low achievement in secondary education were poverty, lack of
transport, the need to work (time and economic restrictions), early marriage,
gender biases, lack of accommodation near schools (financial, cultural and
social), and disability (Ministry of Education, 2015).
Still, the government has demonstrated a continued commitment to

expanding equitable access to higher education. As a result, the number of
public higher education institutions has increased to thirty-six at the end
of ESDP IV (and now reached forty-five), distributed across all regions
of the country. Private higher education institutions have also expanded,
reaching ninety-eight institutions in total, accommodating around 15 percent
of all student enrollment by the end of the ESDP IV period (Ministry of
Education, 2015). This extra capacity has allowed rapid increases in intake.
Undergraduate enrollment (government and private) rose from 447,693
in 2010/11 to 593,571 in 2013/14. Of total enrollment, 57 percent of stu-
dents now participate in regular undergraduate classes and 43 percent in a
combination of distance, summer, and extension courses. Likewise, total
masters’ enrolment in public higher education institutions increased from
7,211 in 2007/08 to 27,643 in 2013/14. Recently private institutions began
enrolling postgraduate students and in 2015 they accommodated 3,000
master’s students.
7.2. Performance of Education Policy in Ensuring Efficiency and

Equity
Despite the dramatic achievement in policy goals pertaining to access

to education, the Ethiopian education policy did not achieve equivalent
success in efficiency and equity goals. Grade 8 completion rate was only
47 percent in 2015.The overall GER and NER in the second cycle stand
at 64 percent(63 percent for girls and 65 percent for boys) and 50 percent
(50 percent for girls and 49 percent for boys) respectively in 2013/14. These
are against targets of 100 percent and 80 percent, respectively. As a result of
inefficiency in primary school education, expansion of secondary school was
constrained to remain below the planned target. For both boys and girls, the
target set in ESDP IV for dropout was 1 percent in all primary grades and the
target set for repetition was 1 percent in all primary grades. But, as ESDP V
begins, repetition rates persist at around 8 percent and dropout remains at
22 percent in grade 1 and 11 percent thereafter. Both repetition and dropout
rates are approximately the same for girls and boys.
Ensuring equity goal in terms of area of residence (between urban and
rural), region, and gender remains unattained. Access to secondary schools
is uneven, with supply favoring urban areas. Enrollment rates vary from less
than 10 percent in Afar to more than 100 percent in Addis Ababa (Ministry
of Education, 2015).
7.3. Performance of Education Policy in Ensuring Quality and

Relevance Goals
The 1994 Education and Training policy outcome was envisioned as the
improvement of education relevance and quality in terms of improving
educational inputs, the achievement of 70 percent of students joining the
science and vocational field, and the increase in job opportunities for the
school and university graduates. This section presents the data and evidence
of education quality in higher education and in general education, while the
next section will discuss job opportunities.
Quality in Higher Education

The effort to improve education quality by increasing educational inputs
has been challenged by the rapid expansion of higher education institutions.
Arega (2016) argues the rapid expansion in the number of higher education
institutions and student population, with inadequate human and invest-
ment capital, negatively affected education quality of in Ethiopia. This view
was shared by the World Bank (2005), which warned that rapid enrollment
expansion in Ethiopia is inevitably bringing progressively less qualified
student into the system. A similar view was reflected by Negash (2006),
who stated that the most fundamental cause for the decline of education
is the uncontrolled expansion of the sector in relation to available material
resources and job opportunities.
According to Arega (2016), the poor and declining quality of education
is likely not a misperception by the public or the media; rather it is a real
phenomenon occurring in the education system of Ethiopia. He strongly
argued that rapid expansion of schools for the sake of opening access to
education despite inadequate infrastructure and resources has negatively
affected the quality of education in Ethiopia. Arega (2016) calls for action,
as he believed that the quality of education should be a real concern both for
the institutions involved and for the nation at large.
Contrary to the objective of the education policy, the poor quality in higher
education is still caused by a low inputs system. Arega (2016) identified some
of inputs-related shortcomings as follows:
(a) Serious academic staff shortages with quality implications, such as huge
teaching loads, eventually leading to the discontinuation of tutorials
(The teacher-regular student ratio was 1:16 in 2014 [when students of
regular and non-regular classes are considered, the ratio rises to 1:23]).
This is against the international standards of a 1:19 ratio and without
consideration of excessive moonlighting.
(b) Employment of unqualified personnel. Given the target of 0:70:30

(Bachelor: Master’s: Doctorate degree holders, respectively), so far only
a ratio of 27:58:15 has been achieved.
Bolton and Foster (2014) observe quality constraints due to poor infra-
structure. In their assessment, universities still report insufficient supplies
of text and reference books, laboratory and workshop equipment, and access
to information and communications technology facilities. The country has
suffered from regular rolling blackouts, and few universities have generators to
keep technical infrastructure operational during power cuts. The construction
of classroom space, expansion of library collections, addition of computer
labs, and the development of electronic networks lag behind enrollment
expansion (Bolton & Foste, 2014).
Many students have joined higher education institutions with results below
the 50 percent threshold in the higher education entrance examinations. Stu-
dents’ behaviors and attributes, such as poor communication skills, resistance
to active learning, and absenteeism, were seen as major challenges by internal
leadership. Another serious challenge was associated with negative behavior
and attributes of instructors, such as low levels of academic qualification, lack of
dedication, excessive moonlighting, and lack of pedagogical skills (Arega, 2016).
Financial support for research is low. In 2011/12, the research allocation of all
universities accounted for only 1 percent of their total budget. In addition, there
are limited numbers of personnel available to conduct high quality research and
higher education research is conducted predominantly by postgraduate students.
The government has achieved its goal of increasing the ratio of students
studying in the science fields but has been unable to provide resources to
achieve quality education. Apart from input aspects, the competence of
graduates is also an indicator of education quality. Measuring quality of educa-
tion in this aspect, Arega (2016) argues there is stakeholders dissatisfaction
with the quality of graduates, which can be explained by a large number of
graduates who cannot be productive without being retrained to meet applied
technical skill and communication skill requirements.
Quality in General Education

The performance of education and training policy in ensuring quality is assessed
using the results of students at different grades. Examinations were adminis-
tered by the government in order to get feedback on the quality of education.
Table 4 shows baselines for oral reading fluency in seven languages, at grade
2, and table 5 shows the targeted and achieved examination results. The data
in both tables clearly show the poor quality of general education in Ethiopia.
Table 4: Baselines for oral reading fluency in seven languages, at grade 2 (%)
Proficiency level
Language
Proficient Basic Below basic None
Afan Oromo 5 20 21 54
Af-Somali 34 27 13 26
Amharic 6 21 48 25
Hadiyyisa 4 7 13 76
Sidaamu Afoo 3 13 15 69
Tigrinya 2 33 34 31
Wolayttatto 12 20 18 50
“Proficient”: Reading fluently with full comprehension

“Basic”: Reading with some fluency and comprehension
“Below Basic”: Reading slowly with limited comprehension
None: Non-reader
Source: National Learning Assessments (Ministry of Education, 2017)
Table 4 shows that students with proficient and basic oral reading fluency
constitute more than half of the students only among those who use the Somali
language. In all the rest, students who are proficient and basic in their oral
reading fluency comprise less than 35 percent. Surprisingly, students who
cannot read at grade 2 are as high as 76 percent in Hadiya and 69 percent
in Sidamu. The figure is a good warning signal for the government to take
appropriate measures to improve education quality in the lower grades.
Every four years a National Learning Assessment is conducted in grades 4,
8, 10 and 12. For ESDP IV, the shares of students scoring at least 50 percent
and 75 percent in National Learning Assessments were set as targets. But
the gaps between what was planned and what was achieved at all levels were
huge (see table 5).
The data in table 4 and in table 5 show similar results with other research
findings. Modern education in Ethiopia has been criticized for failing to
provide students with depth of understanding, an ability to interpret and
apply information, the habit of critical thinking-reflection, the ability to form
opinions and to value the expression of diverse opinions, and the ability to
apply school knowledge to realities of personal experiences and the problems
of everyday life (Demeke, 2011).
At the outset, the 1994 education policy masked quality with what it calls
relevance (allocation of students in different fields). It attempted to improve
the investment of resources but the resources supply was challenged by rapid
expansions. Tewodaj et al.(2008) argue that the improvement in coverage of
education in Ethiopia has been accompanied by a sustained deterioration in
quality of education. As evidence to support their argument, the Pupil-to-
Teacher Ratio, which was thirty-two in rural areas and thirty-four in urban
areas in 1994, had reached seventy-three in rural areas and forty-eight in
urban areas by the year 2001. This chapter concludes that quality never get
due attention in the Ethiopian education sector reform programs of the period.
Table 5: National Learning Assessment results against targets set in ESDP IV (%)
Grade
4 8 10 12
(Assessment
(2012) (2012) (2014) (2014)
Year)
Benchmark Target Achieved Target Achieved Target Achieved Target Achieved
Scoring 50%
75 25 70 7.5 70 23 70 34
or above
Scoring 75%
25 2.3 25 0.1 25 3 25 4
or above
Source: (Education Statistics Annual Abstract, 2008 E.C. (2015/16), 2017)
7.4. Performance in Correcting the Undemocratic Content of

the Previous Education System
In the political context of Ethiopia, the issue of language as a medium of

instruction in schools is hotly debated. Studies on language policy (Ra-
machandran, 2012; Trudell, 2016) unanimously confirm that using a language
spoken by the pupil has comparative advantage over using one that is not.
Trudell (2016) indicates that the language of instruction has positive impacts
on students’ learning outcomes, their overall learning experience, as well as on
the wider community as well. A study by Ramachandran (2012) shows that the
provision of mother tongue instruction could increase the percentage of the
population completing primary schooling by as much as 15 percentage points.
Beyond its effect on educational attainment, the mother tongue is important
for effective transmission of knowledge, participation, and division of power
in society (Ramachandran, 2012). On the other hand, choosing a language
that the learners do not master has high costs in terms of poor uptake of the
curriculum content, poor performance on examinations, increased dropout
rates, and the marginalization of populations that do not control the language
of instruction (Trudell, 2016).
Providing education in mother tongues has been considered as part of
democratizing the education system of Ethiopia (Ministry of Education,
2002). In this regard, the government has seen are markable achievement in
protecting and fulfilling language rights of Ethiopian nations and nationalities.
By the year 2013, the number of languages used as a medium of instruction
in primary schools reached thirteen in the most ethnically diversified region
of SNNP. While the Amhara region provides education in four alternative
languages, Harari, Dire Dawa, and Gambela use three mediums of instruction,
as shown in table 6. Similarly, Somali, Afar, and Oromia are offering primary
education using two languages. In 2013 Tigray, Benishangul, and Addis
Ababa were using a single language as medium of instruction in schools,
but more recently Benishangula Gumz and Addis Ababa started providing
education in Afan Oromo. Further study is required to know the level of
representation of values, cultures, and history of nations and nationalities
in the education curriculum.
Table 6: Number of local languages used in primary education in 2007 and percentage
of people with mother tongue other than the official language in 2007
% of people with mother

No. of local languages used
Regions /City Admin tongue other than the official
in primary education in 2007
language
1. Addis Ababa 1 29%

2. Afar 2 -
3. Amhara 4 7
4. Benishangul Gumuz 1 -
5. Dire Dawa 3 -
6. Gambela 3 -
7. Harari 3 -
8. Oromia 2 13
9. SNNP 13 -
10. Somali 2 3
11. Tigray 1 5
Total 35
Source: compiled from (Vujcich, 2013 )
7.5. Limited Job Opportunity Remain a Challenge
Toward the end of the imperial regime, the public sector could no longer
absorb secondary school graduates produced by a continuously growing
number of schools. Hence, as early as 1973, up to 25 percent of the second-
ary school graduates were unemployed (Demeke, 2011). This huge level
of unemployment continued to be a problem during the Dergue and the
EPRDF regimes. Though EPRDF associated the problem of low employment
opportunity for students who leave high school with the quality of education
in the past, in the end this government itself produced even larger number
of graduates who cannot find job.
The EPRDF-led government criticized the past regime due to a high
number of youths that completed grade 12 and could not be employed by
the government. However, the problems of unemployment have become
worsen and now even university graduates are challenged to find jobs. Saint
(2004) correctly understood the problem of limited job opportunity for
university graduates as early as the problem became apparent. He states that
the Ethiopian labor market for university graduates will remain limited in an
economy where 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in agriculture and
in which the civil service appears amply staffed.
Only steady economic growth will provide the financing required to
improve opportunities for gainful employment for the rising numbers of
graduates (Saint, 2004). Furthermore, he notes that roughly a century ago,
many of Europe’s industrialized countries had tertiary enrolment ratios
similar to those of Ethiopia today. In contrast to Ethiopia, however, they (with
the exceptions of Italy and Russia) already had less than 50 percent of their
labor force engaged in agriculture and had all achieved universal primary
education (Fredriksen, 1984). The implication is that a rapid expansion of
access to education at all levels may not by itself stimulate economic growth
unless it is accompanied by productivity-driven structural changes in the
economy. The latter is yet to occur in Ethiopia (Saint, 2004).
At present the government has accepted the fact that the existing job
opportunities will not absorb all graduates of universities. In its ESDP V,
the government has planned to increase the share of graduates with degree-
relevant employment within twelvemonths after graduation to 80 percent.
This means that even if the plan will be 100percent successful, 20 percent of
the graduates will not find a job within a period of one year. Improving the
quality of education and expanding job opportunities will continue to be on
the agenda in future education policy change initiatives.
8. Conclusions and Implication for Future Research
The education policy of Ethiopia was developed as part of the impetus to

replace past legacies with a new order and as a response to acute shortage in
equitable access to education, inefficiency in using limited supply of resources
due to high repetition and dropout rates, low quality, low relevance, and
limitation in upholding democratic values. The 1994 education policy did
not receive wide acceptance among stakeholders due to the unbalanced
power of the ruling party in the formulation process, but implemented for
about 25 years regard less of those criticism. This analysis shows the policy
has achieved mixed results. Above all, Ethiopia has been most successful in
addressing the problem of low access to education while still struggling to
address the problem of inequity and inefficiency. The promotion of the use
of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in schools has been successful,
while other attempts to democratize the education system as stipulated in the
policy goals need further studies. Likewise, the education policy under the
EPRDF regime has completely failed in improving the quality of education,
particularly from the perspective of the competence of graduates. All the
assessed evidence suggests the challenge of low quality is valid at all levels
of education, from preprimary to higher education. This chapter argues that
whatever reform programs may be introduced, if they have no positive effect
on quality of education, then they have little relevance.
Unbalanced growth in the job market with the supply of graduates has
been a persistent problem for about half a century. The government severely
criticized its predecessor on the basis of the failure of education system to
provide adequate job opportunity to those who leave schools, but has ended
by exacerbating the problem of unemployment. Whether related to the quality
of education or other socioeconomic factors, the shortage of job opportunities
for those who leave school has only become worse. Based on these conclusions,
the author recommends the central focus of education program should be
on achieving quality and the employability of graduates, while sustaining
the current pace of expansion and creating equitable access to education.
Though the chapter discusses relevant policy issues using secondary data,
there are a number of limitations that must be considered in future research.
In a bid to cover achievements in all policy goals, this research has compro-
mised elements of depth. Thus, future researchers will benefit in producing
further insights by concentrating on one goal of the education policy and
one level of education instead of covering the whole education policy at a
glance. For example it is essential to study in depth the educational inputs,
competence and motivations of teachers, school facilities, and pedagogical
issues. Furthermore, future study is required to know the level of the repre-
sentation of values, cultures, and the history of nations and nationalities in
the educational curriculum.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Worku Negash and Mihret Ayenew for initiat-
ing me to undertake this policy analysis, reviewers and editors for comments
on earlier drafts and assistance in improving the final version, and Bacha
Kebede Debela for facilitating the presentation of the paper at the Ethiopian
Public Administration Professional Association annual conference.
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Book Title: Public Administration in Ethiopia

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Box 1: Key points of this chapter

Box 2: Reading this chapter will give you insights in

1. Introduction :Political Context of the 1994 Education

the prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, claimed at a meeting in Assosa

Analysis of these questions is important if we are to derive lessons from the

2. Data Sources and Methods of Data Analysis

A mixed research approach was chosen to take advantage of combining

3. Indicators of Performances in Education Policy

As education is a complex social undertaking, analysis of education policy is

a specific level or type of education across population groups, using such

Table 1: Millennium development goals and targets

Goals Targets Indicators

Achieve Ensure that, by 2015, children – Net enrollment ratio in primary

Goals Targets Indicators

Promote Eliminate gender disparity in – Ratio of girls to boys in primary, second-

4. Participations in the Process of Framing the 1994

The process of policy formulation requires consultations with the stakehold-

stakeholders of the education sector may include ministers in other sec-

structural adjustment programs, general policy conditionality agreed on

5. The Driving Forces for Change and the 1994 Education

As the twentieth century drew to a close, Ethiopia found itself with an

with Ethiopian nationals should not be criticized as a mistaken objective.

Table 2: Gross enrollment ratio at primary (1-6) level (1985/86 – 1993/94)

Year Gross Enrolment Ratio Year Gross Enrolment Ratio

1985/86 37.4 1990/91 32.7

b) Inequitable Distribution of School Services: The beneficiaries of the limited

the proportion of students enrolled in science and in vocational fields, and

6. Major Changes Introduced by the 1994 Education

The 1994 policy redefined primary education as grades 1– 8 and eliminated

Other initiatives included harmonizing curricula for all of the under-

However, in the view of some critics, persistent violations of academic

7. The Performance of Education Policy

7.1. Performance in Expansion of Access

As discussed in the previous section, one of the critical problems of the

Table 3: Primary school enrollment, (% gross)

Countries 1990 2000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Ethiopia 35.3 54.7 91.7 94.3 94.3 99.3 101.0

Source: World Development Indicators, 2019

Comparison of educational access in Ethiopia with other countries is one

Still, the government has demonstrated a continued commitment to

7.2. Performance of Education Policy in Ensuring Efficiency and

Despite the dramatic achievement in policy goals pertaining to access

7.3. Performance of Education Policy in Ensuring Quality and

Quality in Higher Education

(b) Employment of unqualified personnel. Given the target of 0:70:30

Quality in General Education

“Proficient”: Reading fluently with full comprehension

Benchmark Target Achieved Target Achieved Target Achieved Target Achieved

Source: (Education Statistics Annual Abstract, 2008 E.C. (2015/16), 2017)

7.4. Performance in Correcting the Undemocratic Content of

In the political context of Ethiopia, the issue of language as a medium of

% of people with mother

1. Addis Ababa 1 29%

Source: compiled from (Vujcich, 2013 )

7.5. Limited Job Opportunity Remain a Challenge

8. Conclusions and Implication for Future Research