By Staff reporter
ADDIS ABABA – Education Bureau of Addis Ababa City Administration has begun giving Oromiffa Language to schools run by the City Administration. The Bureau disclosed here that process is underway to employ 2,600 teachers who teach Oromiffa Language.
Ethiopia Insider, an Amharic online news outlet, quoted the Education Bureau deputy head, Admasu Dechassa, as saying that language education has started to be implemented this second academic semester at primary and junior secondary schools in Addis following the decision passed last January by the City cabinet (council of Bureau heads).
Accordingly, Oromiffa Language will be given as a second language in schools that are using Amharic as their means of communication. Admasu said that of 786 private and state-owned schools, some 625 have started teaching Oromiffa Language as an additional subject.
Students, with Oromiffa as a mother tongue or rather students who are pursuing their education using the language will take Amharic as an additional subject, as per the decision of the Cabinet. Deputy Head of City Education Bureau, Admasu, said there are 402 schools that are giving education in Oromiffa. The decision made on the basis of a study conducted by Kotebe Metropolitan University also indicates that Arabic and French Languages will be given to ninth and tenth grade students by taking into consideration their preference.
However, educational experts are criticizing the commencement of language education at the second quarter of the academic year. Dr. Kindie Abeje, Dean, College of Education at Gondar University told Ethiopian Insider that the measure taken to start the language education this second semester is not more to his liking. “It is possible to cover the entire text book in two semesters. Students who start education in the second semester can cover only half of the textbook,” Dr. Kindie said, adding that it would have been much better if the Bureau had made the decision to launch the program next new academic year.
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Excellent idea and decision. Amharic will be offered to Oromo kids and Oromiffa will be offered to those the language is not their mother tongue. There is no vice in this and it is about time. The other languages that should be included(if I have my wishes) in the curriculum are Afar, Somali and Arabic(in its secular format) because these 3 languages are spoken domestically and by millions who live beyond the borders of that country. Those of you parents of school age kids should think seriously about raising them polyglots in their major domestic languages. It has nothing to do with religion. Don’t worry, your kid will not turn Muslim because he/she started speaking Arabic or your kid will not suddenly becomes a Christian because you saw him/her speaking Amharic. There are tens of millions in the Middle East and North Africa whose mother tongue is Arabic but they are devout followers of Christianity. The other big advantage of learning to speak other languages is it will help deal with the prejudices one may have for others he/she doesn’t understand their language. It will help eradicate the discomfort and suspicion among rather harmonious people.
That ship has sailed long ago, but unfortunately some are still waiting for it to come..
1) with “google translate” and other tools like it everyone is talking using almost any language on the planet. I do it everyday.
I talk to ppl everyday, in Russian, French (high school French is rusty) , Chinese, Japanizes, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Amharic (ha ha) , you name it (if “google translate” has it, I am on it) ; and these ppl I am taking to in these languages think I know their language… but not.
2) have you been around the young people today,
a) they talk very little
b) they “text’ constant, even at the dinner table (ignoring everyone there at the table.)
c) here is how their text look like :
” wtf soamd iwbrb” (old ppl do not understand this…, including those “yesterday ppl” )
translation :
” what the f***, someone is at my door (knocking ) I will be right back”.
In this new world, you want to “teach” a dead language that does not even have ‘letters’ of its own… this is what wise-men call “going against the current” , meaning “one gets nowhere.”.
3) This is the 21st century, where “The 4th Industrial Revolution” is underway … it appears some among us “did not get the MEMO”. (“the left behind clan”).
Link = academia.edu/38203483/The_Fourth_Industrial_Revolution_pdf
4) All the the “Technological innovations” of the last 50 years, since 1975’d “DIGITAL electronics” movement lead by a few individuals at first and followed by companies like IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle , and many others…followed by the “Internet” & came Google, Yahoo, Facebook, TikTok…. etc…
Now we are getting into the most ADVANCED stage with the explosion of “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) “The game Changer” .
With all this development we have been trained & PREPARED to the level that is coming… “TELEPATIC Communication”, that was what the “Internet” was doing all these few years along with the “CELL PHONE”.
If one Cell Phone can talk to another cell phone, with no wire connection (remember the Old “hone phone” that came in the 1800’s and did wonders & in the last 40 years we transitioned from , wired to wireless ???)
Here is the next stage, other than the humans and some animals on earth, all other “Life Forms” in the Universe are COMMUNICATING “telepathically” (no words, no noise).
In fact there is a story, “when Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden, The God’s were kind of annoyed with the NOISE the were making (talking) because the God’s are telepathic., So when the two left Eden the place became what the God’s meant it to be .” , Meaning, soon when we transition back to the garden of Eden, we will already learnt who to COMMUNICATE in “Silence” gest like the God’s.
So, the Choice is up to each individual, to go back to your 1600’s “Gedda” and stay there, or get on to the “4th industrial revolution” and get READY to go back to EDEN.
Good luck with you “language learning” journey…
See you in EDEN.
Be well.
When I was growing up, we had similar “secret” talk in Amharic..(just like the young ppl today).
It goes like this”
Wezedeze Bezeteze (wede bet) = I am going home (call me) .
Our way of “telepathic” talk (still noisy , but we were training our selves for what is to come … after the 4th IR..).
Be well.