The Minister of Education, Professor Birhanu Nega, stated that it is becoming known that the current education system is not something to be taken lightly. He also mentioned that various reforms have been undertaken to rectify the education system.
The Minister, who stated that education was no longer a place where knowledge is developed and results are achieved through hard work, but rather a place where degrees and diplomas could be obtained easily, said that the government is undertaking assessment work to correct this.
He also pointed out that the reform undertaken at the level of changing the education system is to enable students to be nurtured in ethics. He added that personality development subjects that had been left out have been reintroduced.
The Minister, who said that all citizens living in a country deserve a good education, pointed out that one of the biggest tasks of the education reform is to ensure that all Ethiopian children receive equitable and quality education as much as possible.
He stated that since the problem of education quality is related to infrastructure, the teaching capacity of teachers, and the curriculum, they are working to bring about change in these areas. The Minister also mentioned that the process of building schools has begun, not only based on geographical location but also focusing on the number of students.
He mentioned that significant work is being done with lower-level schools to improve the quality of education. He also stated that, for the first time in the country on a nationwide scale, almost all children have been able to access Grade 0 or pre-primary education.
He also said that children in both rural and urban areas have been given the opportunity to have a school readiness age.
He also raised the issue of quality deficiencies in the Ethiopian education system and stated that they are working on it with special focus to improve it. He mentioned that the work of empowering teachers is a major indicator of this, and training is being provided to ensure the competence of teachers.
The Minister also pointed out that there is ongoing work to ensure the well-being of teachers, starting with providing housing.