By
T. Staffer of De Birhan Media
23/06/2012
Friedrich Wilhelm von Humboldt or Humboldt in short (22 June 1767 – 8
April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher.
Adopting the ideas of Enlightenment, his contribution to the practice of today’s
modern education is immense.
Humboldt
reversed the role of the State in education: ‘Education of the individual must
everywhere be as free as possible, taking the least possible account of civic
circumstances. Man educated in that way must then join the State and, as it
were, test the Constitution of the State against his individuality’. And he
also said education should be free from outside interference, ‘Education will
be good to the extent that it suffers no outside intervention; it will be all
the more effective, the greater the latitude left to the diligence of the
teachers and the emulation of their pupils’. He advocated the ‘idea of a
uniform educational structure with three successive stages i.e from elementary
to territory levels’, though this was less implemented.
“The freedom of science
and autonomy of the teaching staff are the premisses on which Humboldt’s
university model is based.” States UNESCO’s 2000 report. Marianna Wertz’s 1993
headed “Wilhelm von Humboldt Classical Education Curriculum”
states that Humboldt’s ‘revolutionary’ school reforms ‘produced best educated
citizenry’ and attributes it to his focus to philology, language. She also says
“Humboldt's approach to reforming the Prussian school system was based on his
determination to create citizens capable
of thinking for themselves.” Which means that freedom of thought
was central to his theories and educational reforms that culminated in him
founding one of the famed universities, Berlin University.
Humbldot is very much remembered for his care for freedom and liberty centered
thoughts and ideas that were exhibited in his writings on education reform and theories.
The education system in
Ethiopia especially higher education is at its worst stage now than ever.
According to Tekeste Negash’s 2006 paper, Education
in Ethiopia From Crisis to the Brink of Collapse, Education in Ethiopia “…despite
phenomenal growth in enrolment, has deepened and the education system is in
fact on the verge of collapse.”
Is it the absence of
“freedom of science and autonomy of the teaching staff?” the cause for this or
negligence of philology? Or other? Two
major causes are hypothesized in this article: government’s focus on quantity
than quality and politicization (regimes interference) of education.
Ethiopic Education
Tekeste writes “The
golden age of modern education in Ethiopia is usually dated to the years
between 1941 and 1970 (the reign of HIM Hilesellasie). The education sector
with his late majesty the Emperor as frontline minister was by far the best
staffed and financed.” Education was free and it appealed more to the poorer
section of the population; the rich and the aristocracy were less enticed by
the economic returns of education.
According to Tekeste’s article, the
Ethiopian political system that prevailed in the country between 1974 and 1991 was
the complete antithesis of the Imperial one. The political economy of
Marxism/Leninism was made a subject at all levels of the education system.
However, with the coming of the Revolutionary Democrats in 1991, the landscape
of Ethiopian education has changed again. Enrollment in all sectors of higher
education (diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate) increased from 18, 000 in
1991 to 147,000 in 2003 and the enrollment in governmental higher institutions
alone reached around 100,000 in 2010/11. Dr. Philip Rayner & Prof. Kate Ashcroft wrote in
Ethiopian Higher Education: Expansion,
Dilemmas and Quality 2011 that there
are now approximately 66 private institutions offering undergraduate degree
programs in Ethiopia and the private sector accounts for approximately 25
percent of the country’s undergraduate enrollments.
The curriculum and education
policy has also been changed. Tekeste’s 2006 paper argues that there were two
major reasons for the rapid expansion of education under the current regime
these are “…the Poverty Reduction Strategy Policy, that the Ethiopian
government was obliged to submit to the World Bank as a partial condition for
continued loans and aid” and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that made
countries commit to achieve universal education for all and reduce poverty. International
organizations have recently reported that Ethiopia would achieve MDG 2 i.e.
universal access to primary education before 2015. It is now 90%. On the other
side of this same continuum lays a research report by the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), 2010 that found significant
number grade 2 and 3 Ethiopian students unable to read and comprehend their own
languages given as medium of instruction. These are the kids that grow and join
universities and become potential employees.
Why is Ethiopian Higher Education in death bed?
Managed by politicians, interference: The mismanagement
and politicization of Ethiopian universities began as soon as the Meles Zenawi
regime took power in 1991 and dismissed over 40 senior academics from Addis
Abeba University. Since then, the day to
day activities of the universities were directly and indirectly managed through
the interference of officials that assume political appointments. For example, a Report by
Makonnen Bishaw titled Ethiopian Higher Education in Crisis, December
2002 states that the interference of the government particularly Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi, then Minister of Capacity Building, Tefera Walewa and the
Ministry of Education on higher institution lecturers to conduct ‘self
criticism and be evaluated by their students’ led to protracted debates with finally
leading to the resignation of three Addis Abeba University academics; University’s president, Prof. Eshetu
Wencheko, academic
vice president, Dr. Tet’emke Mehari, and business vice president, Ato Tesfaye
Biru.
An Addis Abeba
University lecturer told this writer that he has been chastised by the
Department for mentioning the names of Dr. Berhanu Nega during his class on
Ethiopian economy. Similarly he said, academic papers and journal articles are
highly scrutinized for political contents and consequences are likely if published.
Most University Department Heads are members of the ruling party with immense
power of spying and taking measures against fellow academic members. Academics
report strict control and interference in their teaching and research works by
the government.
Conflict of Interest: In line with the above premises, the other source of downfall to Ethiopian public universities emanates from conflict of interest that politically appointed Board of Directors of these 30 public Universities find themselves in. The Board of Directors is the ultimate leadership and decision making body of universities. All Ethiopian Universities are lead by top leadership of the ruling party. These politicians interfere and make decisions on academic matters of the universities they have no knowledge about. Secondly, as these universities often make research, educational and other contractual agreements with various governmental institutions, these Board Chairmen find themselves in huge conflict of interest as they preside over two public entities at the same time. For example: Junedin Sado, member of the Executive Council of the ruling party OPDO/EPRDF and Minister of Civil Service also is the current Board Chairman of the Addis Abeba University. There have been several cases in which his Ministry signed different contracts with Addis Abeba University and found himself in conflict of interests. Shiferaw Shigute, top member of SNNPR/EPRDF and President of Southern Region/SNNPR is the Board Chairman of Awassa University. The Regional President has been embroiled in legal battles that were caused by his regional office and the University. Awassa University is also said to be filled by academics and administrators who are relatives of Shiferaw. Dr. Tewodros Adhanom, who is the Central Committee member of the ruling TPLF/EPRDF party and Minister of Health is also the Board Chairman of Jimma University. The College of Public Health and Medical Sciences of Jimma University (JU) is one of the few and prestigious Medical colleges aligned with Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH) managed under this college as the hospital. The College and Hospital also fall under the Minsitry of Health. Here is when Dr. Tewodros finds himself in corrupt and conflicting interests between academic and non academic political duties. Similarly, Mekele University is led by former gorilla fighter, Region's President and current Security Adviser of the Prime Minister, Tewodros Hagos who is also the Central Committee member of the ruling TPLF/EPRDF Party is a close relative and friend of Mekelle University's presidents (Vice and former President). The fact that the Boards of all Ethiopian Public Universities are led by ruling party top politicians puts the individuals in conflict of interest, develops corruption and control, promotes interference and changes institutes into political entities than educational centers.
Corruption: Corruption refers to financial and power
abuse here. One of the public universities that was recently a major cake of
corruption debates was Mekelle University. Websites and News Blogs that favor
and slant towards the ruling regime have even taken the corruption issue of
Mekelle University and entertained it in their own pages. One commenter on the
pro TPLF/EPRDF site wrote the following comment,
Let me tell you one thing, for instance, one of the audit
committee allegation(of Mekelle University) is that about people who went for
their PHD study while being paid their full salary. According to the by-law of
ministry of education, when one go for his higher study, he will be paid half
of his/her salary if and only if that person stay abroad for long time. But in
the case of MU, there are some PHD sandwich programmes which are between Belgium
and MU under the IUC project from the Belgian government. These PHD students
stay in Belgium not for more than 4-5 months and most their research work has
to be done in their homeland.
Mekelle
University has been repeatedly up on the headlines for auditing related charges last year. According to the Audit report by the Federal Auditor for
2011 on Mekelle University, the University made a purchase of over 225,368,777̣.76
birr items with no public advertisement or notice, made an unofficial
supervision of projects worth 73,063,911.00 birr, expenses without customs
declaration of worth 25,458,618 .58 birr and expenses with fake receipts worth
over 3,361,999.53 were made. The details regarding this from the Federal
Auditor can be read from the attachment (here).
Similarly, another Website raimoq.com reported
that Mekelle University, although teaching staff of the University have been
contributing 10% from their salary for housing program, overseen by Dr. Kindeya
Geberehiwot, who deputizes the university, there has been no news about it and
the money has never been audited. The President of the University and their web
reportedly spend the nights drinking whisky in pubs and bars such as Wosen,
Milano, Axum and Abraha with Board members of the University, Tewodros Hagos
and Abdi Zemo (high government officials and TPLF members). Correspondingly,
these same individuals are accused by the same Website of embezzling the 40
million birr allocated to the Department of History to ‘rewrite Ethiopian
History’.
The problem of
financial corruption is not limited to Mekelle University. Universities such as
Awasa, Jimma,
Addis Abeba, Bahirdar, Gondar, Nazeret, Arba Minch and Alamaya have been allegedly
involved in corruption from petit to white collar level major financial
embezzlement in procurement, bid, purchasing, research, funding and related
expenditures. The Presidents of these universities have also been abusing their
power arbitrarily. Some expelled, hired, promoted or transferred academics they
liked or disliked.
Nepotism: The current regime is especially accused
for peaking nepotism unlike the previous ones. It is becoming the trend that universities are being staffed by
people of same ethnic group or village. Jimma University and Awassa University
are named in this casing as hubs of nepotism where most employees are relatives
and cronies of the Presidents and top officials of the Universities. Nepotism
is also seen in the award of scholarship too. The TPLF/EPRDF government has
often been blamed for favoring and sending members of one ethnic (Tigrean) for
higher studies in prestigious universities abroad. Some lecturers from some
Universities that this writer spoke to stated that nepotism in the awarding of
scholarships existed. “While Tigrean or
obediently loyal lecturers are assigned scholarships in world-class
universities in the West, non Tigrean and dissident lecturers are sent to
African and Asian countries to do their Masters and PhDs” said a lecturer from
Mekelle University. Likewise, in the presence of seasoned and qualified
lecturers who are ready for scholarships, newly entrant lecturers with close
connection to the ruling party are offered international scholarships.
Mass enrolment: As stated above one of the most
dangerous conditions that are leading the Ethiopian higher education to the
death row is mass enrollment of students. For the sake of achieving MDGs and
continuation of loans from bilateral and multilateral organizations, the regime
of Meles Zenawi solely endeavors at qualitatively increasing the number of
university entrants than their capacity, future and quality. This agenda is not
also considerate of the capacity of the economy’s ability to accommodate the
overflow of graduates. According to one professor from Addis Abeba
University, the intelligence divergence of EPRDF’s new policy students is ‘bipolar’.
He says “at the top narrow end of the polarity, you have very few conspicuously
intelligent students while at the wider bottom of the pyramid are the majority
of students who cannot even properly spell or write simple words and complete sentences”.
Lecturers are chastised not to demote students but ‘assist’ them graduate as
much as they can. The unplanned policy
of mass enrolment ended in creating students who take classes over crowded, due
to absence of toilets, do their sanitation in the bush and attend with no
university equipments and lab. The case is severe within newly founded
Universities.
Absence of quality: A report by the
Department of International Development, UK in 2010 concluded and recommended
that the rate of expansion of public higher education in Ethiopia has been too
fast for the Government to allocate the recurrent expenditure needed to maintain
quality: higher education absorbs over 40 percent of the total public resources
available for education in the country and that the Government should slow down
the pace of expansion and pay more attention to quality and value for money. Although
a quasi-autonomous organization called the Higher Education Relevance and
Quality Assurance Agency (HERQA) was established in 2003 under
the Higher Education Proclamation to look after the quality of education, most
private colleges and universities have been complaining that it was a toothless
organization solely working on private institutions than the public. The
other point that could be included within the quality issue is plagiarism
and/or theses marketing. The mass enrolled and affirmatively promoted students
find themselves at loss when they reach their graduation year and have to
produce minor theses. In the past few years, copying theses papers from
previous years or getting theses done through cash is becoming regularity.
Deutsche Welle Amharic Radio program reported on 15 June 2012 that shops that write
and sell students theses and dissertations are being rampant all over the
country. These theses selling shops are putting hard working students at a
disadvantage, according to a female student from Hawasa University that the
Radio spoke to.
Becoming hubs of anti-social behavior than
enlightenment:
In the old days, Ethiopian universities were popular for producing the most
vibrant and socially responsive minds. Universities were places of academic and
idea debates. If there are student protests now days, they are either related
to quality of food in the university or ethnic related. This culture has been
totally replaced with a new culture of “leisure”. Today’s Ethiopian
universities have dominantly become places where students do mainly focus on
their clothing, fun, parties, picnics, drugs, uncontrolled sex, Khat and the
like than education. Academy is being secondary for most. A couple of years
ago, Addis Neger Online reported that
female students of Bahir Dar University were allegedly engaged in prostitution
and that the University was considering measures. In the same way, it has been
found out that female university students in Mekelle, Addis Abeba, Adama,
Hawasa, Gonder and Jimma are also reportedly involved in the same business.
“Few years ago,
it was only few female students who were academically dismissed and for fear of
the embarrassment if they returned home early practiced the business on the sly.
But now a days, most female students do go out with doctors, lawyers and
business people in the cities brokered by hotel staff for the sake of financial
gain, peer pressure or fun” told a Netsi (not real name), a student of Haromaya
University.
Another trend in
the university is celebrating university wide student days such as national
day, girl’s day, nationalities day, crazy day and the like. Although most are
socializing events, some of them turn out spiteful and anti social. A recent
photograph of Adama University students that has gone viral on Facebook is one
example of that. The students in the Photograph are seen naked with no clothes when
celebrating crazy day. The role of the University Administration and proctors to
watch over such issues poses a quandary. Ethnic fragmentation is also the
nastiest culture of today’s universities. Students form their own ethnic
groupings and mingle with other ethnic groups in very rare cases. Ethnically
instigated interethnic fights and violence within campuses is also spreading unbridled.
Politicization of recruitment and administration: With quickly
expanding universities and mass enrollment of students, the regime took the
option of recruiting novice Bachelors Degree holders from other universities to
lecture in the newly opened institutions of higher education. Most of these
young lecturers have little or no understanding of ‘basic skills’, current
affairs and language. They are reportedly over and over again recruited either
due only to their cumulative grades or political factors. Equally, key academic
and administrative posts are held by young recruits trusted by the authorities
making the academic business politicized. Lecturers with steadfast principle
and belief for academic and personal freedom within the universities are
secluded or gag. In general, students and employees that are members of the ruling
party have infested most of these universities.
And, since
becoming a member of the ruling party developed into being a perquisite to
finding employment in public institutions, students have shifted to craving to
being members of EPRDF than study hard secure easy job upon completion. The
politicization of universities in Ethiopia has completely changed the earliest
ideals and mission of education that was plainly laid out by Humbldot and other
education theorists. This writer recalls when he was asked about his ethnic
group when in the middle of his interview for a Masters Program in Journalism
and Communications in Addis Abeba University.
Unfair grading and favoritism: These problems
are closely related to nepotism and corruption. Those involved in this behavior
are both lecturers and administrative staff mainly in the Registrars. Some lecturers
give good grades and mark better those students that they are personally
acquainted to or their names sounds similar to their own ethnic origin. Most university
registrars are run by party loyal administrators who are vested with huge
power. The Registrars are accused of systematically changing grades of students
that make secret payments. The Addis Abeba based biweekly, Reporter reported last week that a Registrar officer at the Addis
Abeba University has been charged of receiving payments and changing students’ grades
that were already signed by lecturers. Students from the region of the ruling
TPLF/EPRDF and their party members are treated with special privileges and in
they serve the regime in spying students and safeguarding the regime.
Young, educated and unemployed: The Central
Statistical Agency of Ethiopia doesn’t have latest figures of the rate of unemployment
(youth) in Ethiopia. Even the last one of 2007 shows a very small number of
urban youth unemployment (around 20%) which is far from what is actual. Previous
regimes education policies were not cautious of what the economy could absorb.
Similar mistake is being committed by the current regime that exclusively concentrates
on boasting at having a large quantity of students, schools and universities. The
current 70/30 policy that forces higher institutions both private and public to
enroll 70% of their students to science and technology based subjects and 30
percent to the arts and humanities has caused a huge crisis in the institutions
resulting in wastage of resources, unexpected expenditure and redirection of
majority of their resources to science and technology. It is also doubtful as these students
graduate from these universities find job in the sector that is not yet ripe
enough to soak up.
Similarly, due
to chocking policies and interference by the government, many private higher
education institutions have closed their business for due, whilst some of the
founders and Presidents of these private colleges fled the country.
Reorganizing Addis Abeba University
After the
ineffectiveness of the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), the oldest and
largest University in Ethiopia, Addis Abeba University launched a new scheme of reorganizing the university called “Reorganization of Structural and Governance
System of the University” in December 2011. This extensive and radical
restructuring plan is currently under implementation. According to our sources
in the University the Reorganization process “has caused a discomfort and chaos
in the University”.
The new AAU Restructuring
Draft Document that De Birhan has
stumbled up on reads,
“The newly proposed structure of the
academic units, administrative services and the Governance System of the
University are expected to create flat structure with empowered and
comprehensive academic and administrative units.”
It argues that
the existing structure of governance and organizational structure of AAU has been
“vertical and bureaucratic” and proposes the change it.
Therefore, the
peculiar features of the proposed (now being implemented) structural organization
and governance system of AAU include: Reorganizing
Offices of Vice Presidents (The redesigned structure of the University
consists of the following four Vice Presidents and one Executive Director (with
a rank of Vice President), the
Integration of the management of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs under one
VP’s Office, integration of Student Services and the Office of the Dean of
Students, new Office of Vice President for Institutional Development and
Community Services, merging of offices such as Office of Strategic
Planning with Change Management Office, dissolution
of the positions of Chief Academic Officers and Office of Ombudsman,
reorganizing all academic units under colleges(In the new structural
arrangement, there will be no independent/self standing school/centers that
exist outside a college, and program units do not exist outside
departments/schools/centers.), colleges
shall also exercise legislative and regulatory powers, replacement of college directors by college
deans (college dean will be the chief executive officer), dissolving program units, and reorienting
research institutes (engage in activities of research and publishing,
and teaching for 75% and 25% respectively).
The not as much of deliberated and discussed Reorganization Scheme
produced through a top-down task force of 15, has caused fury within the
universities community. Many colleges and departments have been reshuffled,
academic and administrative staff members are to be changed around, made redundant
and transferred to other sectors. Importantly, it disembowels popular and voiced
academics putting them under the control of politically assigned lower strata
employees. Departments and courses that the government does not consider
‘developmental’ have been dissolved or merged. The academics and teaching staff
of those departments were transferred to other departments or made to work
beyond or below their capacities.
“Since the
coming of this government the first major exodus of Ethiopian academics was in
1991. I fear this year is now going to be the second major exodus” said one
senior fellow of AAU in an informal discussion with De Birhan’s partner in Addis Abeba.
Although the Proposal
attests to implement a bottom-up and empowering program, what the Ministry of
Education and the University are doing is “implement the policies of the regime
top-down” said Abraham Alemu, a former lecturer at the Department of Ethiopian
Literature and Foklore after he left Ethiopia for due last month. His own
Department has been one of the victims of the new Restructuring Scheme which
has been reorganized as College of
Language Studies, Humanities and Journalism and saw the dissolving of
all Ethiopian languages studies but three of the major (Amharic, Tigregna and
Oromingna). Read Abraham's letter here. This was unacceptable by many including Abraham as the languages
are all Ethiopian and need not be discarded from the Department. “As a
government that claims to be pro-federalism, the focus on foreign language and
only three local languages is just an ignominy” said another lecturer in the same
College.
Three months ago, AAU students who got a leaked information about the Reorganization process had stopped class for three days fearing that it would affect them but as they were assured that it won't, they resumed class after three days protest. This was not reported in any media.
Conclusion
As has been
presented above, Ethiopian higher education is at its most critical juncture in
time. It is at an administrative, academic, economical and social death row. The
hypotheses were proven correct. Earlier Ethiopian scholars such as Mekonen
Bishaw and Tekeste Negash have been consecutively warning and cautioning that
Ethiopian higher education was in “crisis”, this writer finds the current stage
of higher education rather in “death row”. There are various cases of
embezzlement, arbitrary dismissal; random recruitment and misrule that have
been documented in these Ethiopian universities by De Birhan. They were withheld due to lack of proper verification
and for the sake of avoiding ‘unnecessary personal damage’ on the reported
individuals and scholars. The theories and thoughts of William Von Humbldot
quoted at the introduction of this article are surely not in the books or
pockets of corruption embattled Ethiopian educators. The problems need immediate policy analysis
and recommendations. The source of the crisis is principally policy. The quantity
based and centered education policy has to be reviewed. The second
recommendation for the improvement of education in Ethiopia is mainly freeing
Universities and colleges from politicization and government interference.
Higher institutions should not be used for the politicization and
indoctrination missions of the ruling party. They should be centers of “freedom
of science and autonomy of the teaching staff” as Humbldot postulated.
© De Birhan Media June 2012
