The Socialist Minister (By Yeshiwas ) 

By Yeshiwas 

The ministry of Education has recently advised all international schools that they risk being shut down or will be forced to teach local curriculum if they do not meet a strict requirement of hosting at least 30% of foreign national students. As a parent of two in one of these schools, I ventured on a search for explanations that would serve as a basis for such an abrupt shift in attitude by the ministry. 

The lack of any proper written directive or policy has forced me to look for it elsewhere and I believe I have found it all in one place, a four hour interview that the Education Minister had with Dr Mihiret Debebe about 8 months ago. The interview touched on Birhanu’s upbringing and many details about his personal life but every now and then, one could see manifestations of his internal core beliefs as an individual. “In those days, we saw good qualities (in the youth), behaviors that show commitment to a cause to the point of dying for others”, he commented referring to the post revolution days of the 1970s. “They didn’t care for money or fame but they cared for society and fairness” the praise continued. “There was a search for equality, equality between the poor and the rich. There was a need for equality in opportunity for education and furthermore, there was selflessness and tolerance among the youth”. 

Birhanu’s extraordinarily positive view of the time, the time when tens of thousands killed each other in the name of different ideologies within a single ideology, can’t be ignored simply as nostalgia. His portrayal of the time may be attributed to his love for the deep rooted ideology that still directs his actions as a minister today. The minister has a very strong conviction concerning the government’s responsibility to create a just society through education. He rightly believes that the key to Ethiopia’s future as a tolerant and multicultural society lies in “properly formed” citizens “through education”. 

At the core of all this lies the need for equality for access to high quality education. What I find troubling is not his obvious disgust at inequality but rather his unwillingness to acknowledge the cause of that inequality and the proper ways of mitigating the existing byproducts. Especially in the education sector, the failure of the government in providing education and the privatization drive of the regime three decades ago has opened the door to private investment. When the government failed, the private sector, with all its shortcomings, stepped in to fill a gap in demand for quality education. 

Birhanu’s view of this development is so negative that he fails to see the limited positive contributions of these private schools along these years and simply accuses them as “widening the gap” between the rich and the poor. Mihiret keeps on challenging him. “When the Derg Regime came to power, they created equality by making everyone poor. They forcefully took from the rich and gave to the poor” Birhanu is adamant to defend his views and says “I doubt that”. He struggles to accept the fact that equality in access to quality education can only be realized by improving the quality of free education and not by reducing the quality of private sector education to a lower level. 

The minister’s discontent with private schools cannot be explained easily but may be the result of his general distaste for inequality in general. His abhorrence towards the wealthy may not be problematic for someone in the general public but his deep rooted views may steer educational policies in ways that are too socialist for the current world. I believe the current decision to require schools that provide accredited international curricula to teach a minimum of 30% foreign nationals is one such unintended outcome of the minister’s personal political views that he harbored within him for decades.

In his recent media communications, he labeled these international schools as “havens for the rich”, which magnifies his perception that there is something wrong in being rich and in sending kids to a private school. He claims that “in history, there is no country in the world that has progressed because of private sector education”. But he overlooks the fact that the private sector (excluding higher education) had a significant contribution in providing quality education in many cities when the government failed. Despite his agreement with the interviewer that equality should come through improving government schools, he seems to fail to resist the temptation to get rid of all private sector education If his fervent anti-capitalist views could allow him to see other possible ways of engaging the private sector in creating equality, requirements on the private sector, both in terms of providing some sort of free education as well as compulsory language and ethics education can be mandated. 

What Birhanu has been trying to do for the last few years, in terms of improving access to and quality of education, has in general been commendable and hopefully, we as a society may all eventually benefit from his hard work. Mandating a random 30% requirement in-terms foreign student population on these international schools that provide international curriculum has no ideological backing. It doesn’t create equality but it deprives some of the opportunity to access better tertiary education and contribute to society. His own children must have benefited from the private sector education that secured them spots at highly competitive colleges abroad. But he is too socialist to see the good in the contribution of private schools.

Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com     

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