Financing education is becoming increasingly difficult and refugee children are among the most vulnerable group. According to Mary Joy Pigozzi, Director of Educate A Child, there are reasons why financing is an issue.
“First, many do not understand the real value of education in both economic and social terms. The data showing the criticality of investing in education is available. It is incumbent on all of us who care about the future to find ways to convince those making funding decisions of the importance of education. Furthermore, many people see education as a long-term investment and many, especially politicians, are more concerned with short term payoffs,” Pigozzi told Capital.
Educate A Child is a global program of the Education Above All Foundation that was launched in November 2012 that aims to significantly reduce the number of children worldwide who are denied their right to education. The program is committed to children who are out of school to help provide them with opportunities to learn and as such, it contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4: to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
According to Pigozzi, Educate A Child has striven for a large goal in a short period of time. By scaling up projects that have a proven track record of delivering quality primary education for marginalized and vulnerable children globally it has shown that there can be impactful progress in providing education on a grand scale.
“We are working with partners in around 50 countries, and together we have managed to leverage USD 1.8 billion to make the dream of education a reality for millions of children,” she said.
The Educate A Child program is working to overcome the barriers to education faced by many children all over the world. Ethiopia hosts the largest refugee population in Africa, yet refugee children have not been receiving education due to over stretched capacities.
“There is the risk that children who are forced to flee their homes, and travel to neighboring countries will grow up unable to read or write, starved of opportunity without access to quality education, and that is what my team is working so hard to prevent. We recognize that there are challenges in host countries to provide education for refugees, but this is their obligation,” Pigozzi says.
Regarding whether or not refugees should be integrated with their host communities in order to benefit already existing structures such as schools, Pigozzi says there is no simple answer to that.
“We need to consider both the host community, including its education system, and the needs of refugees. There is no single solution. But we need to recognize that currently the average life of a refugee in a camp is 26 years; according to UNHCR. Education is fundamental to their new lives, wherever those children find themselves; their education is also fundamental to the well-being of the host community,” she underlines.
In Ethiopia, the Educate A Child program has partnered with imagine1day International, a foundation that works to increase education access to more than 60,000 out of school children in the regions of Oromia and Tigray. It also works with Pact, another organization, to implement the Reaching Educational Attainments of Children in the Hinterlands (REACH) project. REACH is a one-year initiative that uses flexible and innovative models to expand opportunities to the most marginalized and hardest to reach children and families and help them access and complete education in Ethiopia.
Low education financing continues to put children out of school
US State Department slams Ethiopia’s human right conditions
The 2017 human right report of the US Department of State has detailed very harsh measures against human right in the country.
The 39 page dossier details every aspects of human right issue and mainly focused on basic right abuse in the year 2017.
However the Embassy of the US in Addis Ababa expressed its hope for a better achievement in the current year.
The embassy that issued a statement following the US Department of State 2017 Human Rights Report for Ethiopia, stated that the 2017 Human Rights Report for Ethiopia reflects serious challenges to the Ethiopian people’s ability to exercise their basic rights last year.
“We believe there is reason for optimism that the 2018 Human Rights Report will tell a different story, one of progress,” the embassy said in a statement expressing its hope.
“Notwithstanding the ongoing state of emergency, about which we have already expressed our views, 2018 has seen positive steps as well, including the release of thousands of prisoners. We are also encouraged by strong and clear statements by Prime Minister Abiy regarding the need for reforms that would ensure Ethiopian’s rights are protected and that they are able to participate in an inclusive political environment,” the statement added.
In its dossier with seven sections the State Department has compiled the abuses recorded by international and local agencies and organization that occurred in the past year.
It has claimed that the government does not take measures on those who abuse human rights under its system.
“The government generally did not take steps to prosecute or otherwise punish officials who committed human rights abuses other than corruption,” it said. It added that impunity was a problem; there was an extremely limited number of prosecutions of security force members or officials for human rights abuses during the year.
It argued that impunity remained a serious problem, including impunity for killings and other violence against protesters.
The report further states that there were no public reports whether internal investigations of the federal police for possible abuses during the state of emergency (SOE) occurred. It reminded that the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that stated in April last year that security forces used excessive force in some localities in Oromia and Amhara regions. It added that the commission did not publicly release its report.
The dossier also said that the government rarely publicly disclosed the results of investigations into abuses by local security forces, such as arbitrary detention and beatings of civilians.
It stated that authorities regularly detained persons arbitrarily, including protesters, journalists, and opposition party members. It quoted the local human right non-governmental organization report that it said the May Human Right Commission (HRCO) report stated authorities illegally detained 22,525 persons during the SOE.
The US report has also amplified its concern on the legal system in the country particularly in the criminal cases.
“The law provides for an independent judiciary. Although the civil courts operated with a large degree of independence, criminal courts remained weak and overburdened and subject to political influence,” it explained.
In its harsh report against the Ethiopian human right condition it has also stated that there were an unknown number of political prisoners and detainees at year’s end. “Throughout the year the government detained journalists, activists, and political opposition members, although not explicitly on political grounds. The most common charges against journalists, activists, or opposition politicians were terrorism via the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP), participation in a proscribed terrorist group, incitement, and outrage against the constitution or the constitutional order,” it added.
“Corruption, especially the solicitation of bribes, including police and judicial corruption, remained a problem,” the report added. “Some stakeholders believed government officials manipulated the land allocation process and state or party owned businesses received preferential access to land leases and credit. The law mandates that the federal attorney general investigate and prosecute corruption cases,” the report stated.
When the latest state of emergency was imposed in mid-February, the US was the first to oppose it. Such kind of criticism was not seen from the US, which is one of the major allies of the Ethiopian government.
Nearly 4,000 students drop out of schools in Oromia Special Zones
Going to work in factories near them, engage in domestic works, abduction and other harmful traditional practices let 3,862 students to drop their schools in Oromia Finfine Special Zones.
The schools which are found in the surrounding areas of Addis Ababa enroll 123,000 students and have 3,700 teachers. These schools are also hit by high teachers turnovers that leave their job for a better job in other parts of the country.
From the student who left there schools 2,043 of them are boys and the rest are girls and compared to the last fiscal year the number drops by 5.7 percent. The last fiscal year dropout rates were 8.9 percent.
Ferekia Kassahun, Head of Oromia Finnfine Special Zones Education bureau told capital that much work is needed to be done to decrease the dropout rates.
“Poverty, availability, and accessibility are three big reasons why children drop out of school,” says Ferekia. “When a family is not financially secure, prioritizing a child’s education takes a backseat. Distance to school is also another reason. Parents deem it unsafe for a child, especially girls, to travel far. This validated in dropout rates as well, which rise sharply after primary class.’’
“Failure to complete a basic cycle of primary school not only limit future opportunities for children but also represents a significant drain on the limited resources that the country have for the provision of primary education.’’
He further said more had to be done in providing proper education. “However, despite the noted milestone that have been achieved by the government, we are concerned with challenges being faced by children due to the economic hardship prevailing in some families, resulting in increased number of school dropouts, leading children in some instances to being forced into early marriages,”
He added that his bureau is working with stakeholders to raise the awareness of parents to reduce the dropout of students.
Six Woredas and one city administration are under Oromia Finfine Special Zones Education Bureau but lack of water, electricity, health facilities still hampers the operation of these schools.
Currently 294 primary, 19 elementary and 6 preparatory schools are operational in Oromia Finfine Special Zones.
One man’s rust, another man’s paint Tesfahun Kibru’s anticipated exhibition to open next week
Well known for his creation of sculptures using what many could consider trash, such as metal scraps and discarded plastic, Tesfahun Kibru is now set to bring art enthusiasts his new collection in an exhibition that is set to open on Friday, April 20, 2018.
Tesfahun will be featuring some new sculptures and painting at the exhibition, one he is holding after a long pause.
“All of the items that will be featured are new. I believe whenever I do an exhibition, I need to bring new works, I like challenging myself,” he told Capital. Rust plays a major role in creating his new paintings that are planned to be featured at the exhibition.
“I wanted to experiment with rust; use it as paint. I work with a lot of metal scrap and I wanted to use every bit of those scraps,” he says.
Growing up, Tesfahun says he found school difficult, even though he did manage to finish 12th grade and then join Addis Ababa University’s art school. “As kids of course we go to school, we all take the same path to education because we are in the same system. The system doesn’t really promote independent thinking or free expression; it doesn’t really enable individuals to explore the purpose of their existence.”
“To discover my interest in arts and explore my creative side, I had to take the long road. Sure there were drawing classes, arts and crafts classes and so on; those are more fun for children than the regular academic subjects. I found the regular subjects difficult and I didn’t like them, but taking those classes was mandatory, everyone had to go,” he says.
One primary reason he got into contemporary art, was because he spent a lot of time alone and that enabled him to interact with his own thoughts. He says he became interested in sculpting from watching his grandfather who was a carpenter. “I think I was influenced by that; watching him work with his hands,” he says.
Tesfahun is one of the 11 founding member of Netsa Arts Village, which was established in 2008 inside the Ferensay Park. The aim of the village was promoting contemporary art in Ethiopia and giving emerging artists a platform for exchange, discussion and debate on all issues related to art; to stimulate the quality, development and context of contemporary art practice in the country.
While Netsa Arts Village is no longer at Ferensay Park, part of its concept still exists in a space located in Sebeta, inside the Goma Kuteba factory; a space where Tesfahun and other artists work from.
“The idea with Netsa was to enable different artists to express themselves in a space that is free and without pre-set judgment of what art is,” Tesfahun says.
Speaking about the process he goes through to create his work; especially the sculptures, Tesfahun says that usually he builds up on an idea slowly until it evolves into something expressive. “I don’t necessarily have a clear picture of what I am creating. I start something and I follow what the piece tells me, I look at the different pictures it gives me and I add on that until it makes sense to me,” he said.
Tesfahun acknowledges that there are many that don’t get his work but there is always an effort. “ It all comes down to what the standard of beauty and art is; there is always a protocol and that is what people are used to and by bringing my work for public viewing, that is what I want to challenge. To understand new or different things, people need to take their time,” he said.
Besides creating his contemporary artistic expression pieces, Tesfahun is also venturing into clothing and accessory designing. “It is something that I have wanted to do and I hope to focus more on now. I want to create a line; clothing and shoe line, that expresses who I am and hopefully that could be an outlet of expression of others too. I am working on it and I hope to put some products to the market soon,” he says.
Tesfahun Kibru’s upcoming exhibition will be one that will feature new ways of expressions. It will be held at Yucca House, located in Bole Rwanda. The art works will be displayed for three weeks starting April 20.
