Education Systems in Ethiopia and Ghana - Essay Example

In general, the availability of trained teachers and financial resources prove to be of crucial importance for the education sector. Underlining the importance of education in the social sector United Nations has set ‘primary school education for all children by 2015’ as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is bound to provide a big boost to the education sector in African nations (UN, 2009).

Ethiopia has traditionally been known as a center for Muslim studies. The Al Azhar University is said to have been founded over a thousand years ago. Similarly, Timbuktu is known to have been a flourishing university in the 16th century. But over the years, it seems the geo-political circumstances have taken their toll on the education sector in Ethiopia. A study carried out by UNICEF points out that the net primary school enrollment for male students in Ethiopia during the period 2000-2007 was around 74 percent, while for females this percentage was 69 percent. The study indicates that the enthusiasm shown by parents could not be sustained for long, as the net secondary school enrollment percentage drops down to 29 percent while for female students this figure comes down to just 19 percent (UNICEF, 2008). This indicates a fundamental issue of sustaining the interest of the masses in sending their kids for higher education. This indicates a need for the allocation of still better resources towards the education sector in the country. Amongst other things, the political climate and the war-like situation bordering Eritrea are also responsible for eating into the resources of the country and thus resulting in the adverse humanitarian situation prevailing in the country. International agencies like UNICEF have indeed done commendable work in addressing the needs of the general population. For example, the international agency has earmarked US$3,800,000 for the education sector in Ethiopia for the current year (UNICEF, 2009).

Ghana, an integral component of the Gold Coast, is historically known for its rich resources. But, over the years the situation has changed to a great extent. In the 1950s, it was known as the country with the highest level of education in the entire Sub-Saharan Africa. But the latest statistics point out that the dropout rate of youth while migrating from primary to secondary schools is substantially higher. The UNICEF statistics point out that during the period 2000-2007, the enrollment of males in primary schools was 73 percent and for females, this figure was 71. But this figure sharply drops down to 47 percent and 43 percent respectively as the students march towards secondary school education. Despite having a tuition-free and mandatory primary and junior secondary school education in Ghana the enrollment in schools can certainly not be termed as satisfactory. Ghana has made a constitutional provision under Article 39, which mandates the tenets of the free, compulsory, universal basic education (FCUBE) initiative. Ghana has been getting international attention as well in support of the forward-looking policies of the government. Aid from international organizations and foreign governments is helping Ghana in strengthening its educational system.

The availability of resources certainly impacts the shaping of the overall picture of the educational system. Ethiopia and Ghana are not the one’s having the best of resources but the respective governments need to accord more priority to the management of these resources so that the benefit reaches out to the intended population. Mr. Joseph Kweku Adjei, the President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called upon the local government to post teachers having completed various university courses, back to classrooms, to tide over the endemic crisis of trained teachers in the educational system in Ghana (Agbewode, 2009). The key obstacles in imparting education to the younger generation in both these countries include; the lack of enough trained teachers and the lack of adequate incentives for more people to take up education as a profession. The African continent in general is suffering from a shortage of trained teachers for quite a while. In 2005, the Commission for Africa came out with the recommendation that the continent must invest in teacher training and means to retain the existing staff (BBC, 2006). The shortage of teachers is reflected in the student-teacher ratio. Study papers from the US Library of Congress point out that the student-teacher ratio has substantially increased over the years. In Ethiopia, for example, from 44 in 1975, the ratio increased to 54 in 1983 for primary education, while for secondary education it increased from 35 to 44 over this period.