Poverty is a topic that keeps coming back; in the news, in documentaries, in politics and in school. Even though the world keeps developing, poverty still is a big problem for a lot of people. One sixth of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty, nowadays (Millennium Project n.d.). We might not always be aware of this. In 2000 the UN adopted the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the world’s poorest. These goals are subdivided in targets. Its main aim is to reduce extreme poverty (Millennium Project 2006). To achieve this dimensions like hunger, education, gender, children, mothers, disease, environment and partnership are accounted for (The World Bank n.d.a). The target date is 2015 (UN n.d.). An example of a specific goal is to achieve universal primary education. In this essay the progress towards its achievement in Ethiopia will be assessed. Ethiopia is one of the least developed countries in the world (Wikipedia n.d.). Ethiopia is a country in Sub-Saharan Africa. With regard to the MDGs, the country already shows good progress. Two goals are achieved, namely: the goal to reduce child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, and to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, by 2015 (Millennium Project 2006; The World Bank 2016). So, in this essay the progress being made since 1990 will be assessed and different programs implemented aimed at achieving the goal will be addressed. In the end I will come to a conclusion.
There are four indicators that measure the progress being made, namely: the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) in primary education, the proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who
reach grade 5, the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds and the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, p. 28). As starting point, it is important to have a few statistics clear. Millennium Development Goals Report (2004, p. 37) shows us that the literacy rate was 25,8 per cent in 1996, this increased to 26,6 per cent in 1998 and 29,2 per cent in 2000. There exists a big gap between rural and urban areas. The literacy rate in rural areas in 2000 is only 21,7 per cent, while in urban areas it is almost 70 per cent. There is also a big gender gap, the literacy rate among men, on national level, in 2000, is 39,7 per cent, respectively 19,4 per cent for women. In 1996, the GER is 37,4 per cent, increasing to 61,1 per cent in 2000. This means the GER increased with 13 per cent a year. So the prospects for Ethiopia are really good. However, the GER shows way more men than women are enrolled and the enrolment rate in urban areas is way higher than in rural areas (Millennium development goals report 2004, p. 37).
If Ethiopia will keep developing like it did between 1995 and 2000 the goal might even be reached before 2015 (Millennium development goals report 2004, p. 37). The NER increased from 17,2 per cent in 1993/94 to 52,2 per cent in 2001/02. Looking at the quality of the education, we see that the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) increased from 30:1 in 1993/94 to 63:1 in 2001/02 (Millennium development goals report 2004, p. 39). This means there are 63 students per every one teacher. So the enrolment rates show good prospects, but focus is needed on the quality of education. This is important because without good quality students probably are tended to drop-out earlier.
In 1994 Ethiopia’s Education and Training policy was developed. From this initiative four Education Sector Development Programs (ESDPs) were implemented (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, p. 38). This program is aimed at improving the quality of education and increasing access to educational opportunities, while achieving greater social equality. Things that are focused on, are, for example, renovating primary schools and upgrading of teachers. This is done in order to increase access and enrolment and to improve teacher quality (The World Bank n.d.b). The first ESDP was implemented in 1997-1998 (Millennium development goals report 2004, p. 28). Another measure the government took was abolishing the school fees in 1994, this led immediately to an increase in school attendance (Abolishing School Fees in Africa 2009, p. 32). Between 2005-2010 the average spending on regional level was the highest on education, namely 35 per cent of what was spend in total (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, p. 28).
In 2009/10 the GER increased to 95,9 per cent and the NER was 87,9 per cent. There are now only slightly more boys enrolled than girls. In 2004/05 this gap between boys and girls was way bigger (Ethiopia: 2010 MDGs report 2010, p. 13). Unfortunately, gender gaps across regions still exist (Assessing progress towards the millennium development goals 2012, p. 12). The completion rate is not satisfying yet: 46 per cent in 2009/10 (Ethiopia: 2010 MDGs report 2010, p. 15). However, there is progress compared to previous years. In 2004/05 the completion rate was 34,3 per cent (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, p. 32). The literacy rate is not improving that well either, it shows a rise from 29,2 per cent in 2004/05 to 36 per cent in 2009/10 (Ethiopia: 2010 MDGs report 2010, p. 14).
According to Ethiopia: 2010 MDGs Report (2010, p. 14) more and more schools were built in the last few years. There were 16.000 primary schools in 2004/05, this increased to more than 25.000 in 2008/09. Especially in the rural areas schools were funded. Despite this, some regions still lag behind other parts of Ethiopia. The government focused on these regions and implemented a few programs. They developed, for example, national programs of Alternative Basic Education (ABE). Especially directed at pastoral areas (UNICEF n.d.). People in pastoral areas depend on domestic animals for food supply, they travel and migrate a lot (Winnick 1956, p. 403). The program is adapted to the urgent necessity for an education that fits the needs and restrictions of pastoral life. This means providing flexible school hours and the children are allowed to finish their responsibilities they have in their household (UNICEF n.d.). By implementing this program, more children have the chance of getting an education. This chance they probably would not have had otherwise. To get children to achieve something and not drop out of school, they cannot be hungry. The government has implemented a program to support households that are food insecure with food security (Ethiopia: 2010 MDGs report 2010, p. 15).
The report of Assessing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (2012, p. 10) shows that the government invested a lot in education in 2009/10. 25,9 per cent of the total government budget was meant for the education sector. This dropped slightly to 23,9 per cent in 2011/12. The number of primary schools kept increasing, just like the gross and net enrolment rate. In 2014 there were 32.048 primary schools and the NER increased to 93 per cent, while this was only 21 per cent in 1996. This means that the NER increased approximately 18 per cent per year. Indicating that when Ethiopia keeps developing like this, the goal of 100 per cent will be reached in 2015. Since 1996 the gender gap has almost been closed. In 1996 24 per cent of the boys and 17,9 per cent of the girls enrolled in primary education, in 2014 this is respectively 95,1 and 90,1 per cent. Regarding the urban-rural differences, they still exist. But except one region, Afar, all regions are on track (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, pp. 18-19). However, the problem remains the school drop-out. Only 46,7 per cent in 2013/14 finished primary education. Reasons for dropping out have to do with children having to work to earn money for their family, an ill family member the child has to take care of, transport to school is difficult, the parents have a low level of education or the child or parent is not able to pay for school expenses. Despite this, the literacy rate has increased significantly since 1996, in both rural and urban areas and for both boys and girls. Nonetheless, there remains a gender gap and a gap between rural and urban areas. In 2010 the literacy rate on national level, average of women and men, is 46,7 per cent, respectively 25,8 per cent in 1996. While this rate is only 30 per cent for women in rural areas, in 2010 (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, pp. 32-34).
There are a few factors that strongly contributed to the progress Ethiopia made regarding universal primary education. MDG report 2014 Ethiopia (2015, p. 31) shows the government kept spending a lot on education all these years. With this money a lot is done: there are better teacher development agendas, the curriculum is revised, planning is made more efficient, resources are used more adequate and a lot of interventions have been implemented to increase the access of girls to primary education. Also donors have played a big role in the attempt to achieve universal primary education in Ethiopia. So did they work together with the government in a project called Teacher’s Development Program (TDP) (MDG report 2014 Ethiopia 2015, p. 81). The program started in 1992. Teaching professionals, administrators and college professors were placed in serval sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia. The teachers had several tasks, like teaching classes and assisting in the development of improved methods of school curriculum, this was partly done by teacher training. They also helped to strengthen the administration and management capabilities (IFESH/Ethiopia n.d.).
In short, huge progress has been made regarding achieving universal primary education. The NER increased with 18 per cent per year and the gender gap and gap between rural and urban areas are way smaller than before, in every aspect. The literacy rate increased significantly too. However, a few dimensions still need focus: in rural areas women still show a relatively low literacy rate, the school drop-out in primary school is quite high and even though the gap between rural and urban areas is smaller than before, rural areas still show lower literacy rates and a lower NER and GER. But Ethiopia is on the right track achieving universal primary education.