Poverty and Education in Ethiopia

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Poverty and Education in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, education is free and compulsory, but it requires additional costs of transportation, books, and uniforms. Being among the poorest countries in Africa, these expenses may be costly for the majority of deprived households. The government spends a lower share of its gross domestic product (GDP) on public education, which makes the sector less available to low-income families. Lack of funding, overpopulation, unqualified teaching staff, and inadequate resources all negatively affect the effort to educate children; though, through better technology, knowledgeable educators and adequate resources Ethiopia can improve access to schooling.

 Inadequate funding is a barrier to education because it results in reduced standards of quality assurance, scarce learning materials, underpaid teaching staff, and so on. All these challenges create significant problems for children from low-income homes. As per the United Nation’s Education for All Development Index, Ethiopia cannot adequately finance its education system (Gardner & Commentary, 2017). Despite the constant economic growth, it remains a developing nation that relies on international donors to provide basic educational structures. Failure of donors to meet their commitment exacerbates insufficient funding and impacts the quality of education offered in schools. The most significant financial contribution to primary education comes from public or private resources; however, the country does not have sufficient domestic funds to provide quality education.

With population growth, the number of children joining learning institutions overwhelms the available assets. This situation creates the problem of overcrowding in classrooms and results in significant challenges not just for the teachers, but also for the children. An education system relies on harmony in classrooms; however, Ethiopia faces an increase in the closure of good schools because of corruption that strains the accessible education facilities. For learning to be effective, then the school setting must be conducive, and a supportive atmosphere allows students to focus on their academics (IPES Correspondents, 2019). Overcrowding hampers the ease to teach because successful curriculum implementation requires children to have supportive resources, such as furniture. Overpopulation affects sitting arrangements because the number of children in a classroom is higher than the seats available.

Unqualified teachers threaten the quality of education because they do not possess the required knowledge and expertise in a particular subject. A study conducted by Oxford University concluded that due to poverty, schools in Ethiopia failed to provide high-quality educations because of unreliable information on teacher qualifications (IPES Correspondents,...