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Education Policy
Education Policy
Ethiopia’s revised Education and Training Policy addresses long-standing shortcomings in the previous 1986 curriculum by focusing on practical, demand-driven education. It overhauls the structure from an 8-2-2 to a 6-2-4 format, grants autonomy to public universities, and modernizes national assessments. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Pillars of the Policy
- New Educational Structure: The system now consists of 6 years of primary, 2 years of junior, and 4 years of secondary education. National exams are administered at the 8th and 12th-grade levels, replacing older exam structures. [1]
- University Autonomy: The government is shifting public universities to an autonomous system. Institutions like Addis Ababa University have gained independent board management, enabling them to generate their own income and tailor academic programs to the job market. [1, 2, 3]
- Practical & Multilingual Learning: The policy aims to reduce rote memorization by integrating technical and vocational streams earlier. It also introduces multilingual capabilities—offering English instruction starting in grade 1, while keeping regional and federal languages based on parental preference. [1, 2, 3]
- Quality Assurance: Reversing a historical decline in educational quality, the framework introduces stringent teacher training, mandatory continuous assessments, and a push for digital instruction through the National e-Learning Policy. [1, 2, 3, 4]