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The newly tabled draft roadmap, aimed at reforming the current educational system, is to be implemented soon with the splitting of the current Ministry of Education into three separate entities.
Stakeholders of the education sector including senior government officials held a three day-long, first round National Consultation of Educational Development Roadmap meeting this week on the newly proposed roadmap by the Office of the Prime Minister.
The roadmap, which is currently being reviewed by relevant stakeholders, has come as part of the ongoing reform structure of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) who first announced the swift changes to the current education system.
At the end of the consultation forum, Minister of Education, Tilaye Gete (PhD) said at a press conference that his Ministry has prepared the educational roadmap to reform the sector in accordance with the national vision and development goals.
According to the minister, the reform aims at curbing the shortfalls that have been identified in the current system while it proposes major changes in the overall implementation of the sector and restructuring of the ministry as well.
He further indicated that the future 15-year roadmap is expected to reform the structure, governance and managerial systems in higher education and human resource development by increasing access to higher education.
Hence, the new draft roadmap has also proposed the formation of three ministries that would replace the current Ministry of Education. The three proposed institutions are the Ministry of Higher Education and Training, Ministry of General Education and Training and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
On the opening day of the consultation forum [August 20, 2018], PM Abiy spoke underscoring the decisive juncture Ethiopia is at and to bring structural changes in the education system to enable the country resolve multiple shortfalls in the sector.
Abiy further stated that the education policy that the country has tried to implement is “riddled with visible crisis”.
According to the premier, the education policy that was implemented over the past two decades and the achievements envisaged were not in line with the planned level.
Though the country is endowed with abundant natural resources including water and arable land; it has often failed to produce skilled manpower that could develop these resources, he noted.
He added that the education policy has also brought challenges in the areas of construction, justice, finance and leadership culminating in the workforces’ lack of moral values and their failure to implement social contracts they received from the public.
As a result, it is imperative to figure out the hurdles in the policy structure that hindered the nation to produce and mobilize productive and efficient citizens, the Prime Minister said.
