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Tradition and the Question of Relevant Education in Ethiopia December Centre for Human Rights Education From Kingdom to Elitdom: Tradition and the Question of Relevant Education in Ethiopia Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes THIS THESIS IS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University December 2013 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: _________________________ Date: _________________________ ii DEDICATION This study is humbly dedicated to the teachers of the Ethiopian Traditional Education System who are the living fountains of indigenous knowledge in the country. They preserve, interpret, and teach the great wisdom of the ages to the next generation without material return to their services. It is also dedicated to my precious twin daughters Mihret Yirga Gelaw and Selam Yirga Gelaw. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study could not have seen a day of light without the help, support, patience and guidance of my supervisor Dr Caroline Fleay whose ability to understand and support my efforts, and whose humanistic approach to the challenges I faced throughout my study has been indispensable to the fruition of this work. Without Caroline’s support my intellectual achievement at the Centre would have been impossible. I also thank my co-supervisor Dr Karen Soldatic whose support enabled me to understand my task more deeply and whose methodological insights were instrumental to the shaping of this thesis. Also, my co- supervisor Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny has been supportive of my work, and I am grateful for the valuable comments she gave me to improve this thesis. All staff members of the Centre for Human Rights Education made my research journey delightful and engaging. I am very thankful to Professor Linda Briskman whose welcoming spirit during my initial visit to the Centre for Human Rights Education made me feel that the Centre was the right place for me to advance my research path in Australia. I am also grateful to Dr Lucy Fiske for her unreserved support for the completion of my Masters study and for the wonderful lectures and feedback that kindled my interest towards critical education. I would also like to thank Gaylene Galardi, Dr Lisa Hartley, and Dr Lynda Blanchard for their support and for making the Centre a friendly academic environment. I am grateful for the wealth of experience I have gained through teaching postgraduate classes and researching on exciting topics at the Centre. I would like to thank Professor Philip Moore for his insightful advices on various academic topics. I have been inspired by his willingness to share his experiences, and by his patience to listen and respond to the various questions I had on ethnography and research methods. I would like to thank all research participants in Ethiopia who shared their experiences with me. In particular, I would like to mention Afememihir Alebachew Reta for sharing the wealth of knowledge and experience he has about Lalibela, and the ancient manuscripts and stories found in the area. There are many friends and family members whose support made this research journey a possibility. To mention a few, I am thankful to Eskedar Almaw Kebede for a true friendship unconstrained by distance. I am grateful to Dr Anteneh iv Mesfin Yeneneh for a wonderful friendship throughout this research period. I also appreciate Ainalem Nega for the unforgettable jokes and fun times that spiced up our friendship and PhD life at Curtin University. I also thank all research students at the Humanities Faculty Research Hub at Curtin University for creating a sense of place and community among all students. In particular, I thank Julie Lunn for facilitating events that enhances cultural and intellectual kinship among research students; Haider Asad al seaidi, Allan Vickers, Sudeep Jana, Silvia Lozeva, Paulin Wembe, and others for the debates and exchange of knowledge on various historical, philosophical and research topics. I am immensely grateful to Dr Rebecca Higgie for precious friendship and wonderful mentorship into Australian culture and politics. I thank Le Neguyet, Susana Ali, Room Fitrianto, and all PhD students from the Hub for their wonderful friendship and support during my study. I am grateful to Fasil Tilahun for being a great friend who keeps a sense of community among many Ethiopians in Perth. I also thank my friends in Ethiopia, Asegedew Wossen, Befekadu Sisay, Hailemariyam Tadesse, Elizabeth Mengistu, Eyob Balcha and others. Finally, I am grateful to my dear friend Fikir Beyene, whose dedication to our twins, Selam and Mihret, and whose encouragement to my studies has been a great source of strength. I am also grateful to my beautiful daughters Selam and Mihret whose love and great character has been a source of inspiration and aspiration for me. I am deeply grateful to Monika Sommer for a very precious friendship and support. Last but not least are my parents Ato Gelaw Woldeyes and W/ro Abeba Alemu, to whom I am boundlessly grateful for their unreserved love and care that made me who I am, and my grandmother Emahoy Tachawutie Tekaligne whose love and prayers always keep me safe and strong. v ABSTRACT This study is a rigorous and critical analysis of the significance and relevance of tradition to modern education in Ethiopia. It challenges the Eurocentric view that considers non-western traditions as backward by showing the traditional legacy of the country. The study analyses textual and empirical sources to interpret the values and principles that enabled Ethiopians to maintain political and social cohesion, independence from European colonialism, and indigenous methods of knowledge production for several centuries. The study shows how consciousness of western political power developed among Ethiopian political leaders, who at the dawn of the 20th century introduced formal education by copying it from western sources in order to modernise the state. The imitation of western institutions and legal and educational systems with complete disregard to Ethiopian tradition gave rise to student radicalism and state violence especially during the period of the Derg. Taking the above analytical finding as a context, the study further analyses the effect of the western education system on the lives of current Ethiopian students. It concludes that Ethiopian students experience a deep sense of alienation from tradition and from the modernist system in the country, which is elitdom. Alienation from tradition is experienced largely due to the development of Eurocentric worldview through western education. Students develop a sense of detachment from their communal identities based on the belief that their tradition was antithetical to modernisation. Alienation from elitdom is experienced as students are unable to realise the promises of education through the current education system. Low quality education, failure to join university or graduate from it, the use of foreign language as a medium of instruction and the difficulty of finding employment contribute to alienation from elitdom. The study argues that the two forms of alienation, presented in the study as centredlessness, represent the effect of the exclusion of tradition from education. The study employed critical ethnography as a methodology and used observation, interview and archival data analysis as principal research methods. The empirical data was primarly gathered from two traditional schools, two high schools and one university. vi LIST OF ACRONYMS ADLI Agricultural Development Led Industrialisation CSA Central Statistical Agency EC Ethiopian Calendar ECMY Ethiopian Evangelical Church, Mekane Eyesus EPLF Eritrean Peoples’ Liberation Front EPRDF Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDM Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Movement EPRP Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party ESR Education Sector Review ETP Education and Training Policy FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia GEQAP General Education Quality Assurance Package GTP Growth and Transformation Plan HPR House of People’s Representatives MDGs Millennium Development Goals MOE Ministry of Education MOEFA Ministiry of Education and Fine Arts QEQAP General Education Quality Assurance Package TPLF Tigray Peoples Liberation Front TVT Technical and Vocational Training vii Table of content STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP……………………………………….ii DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………….iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1.1.Background Information on Ethiopia .............................................................. 2 1.1.2.Education and the question of relevance in Ethiopia ....................................... 5 1.1.3.Aim and Objectives of the Study ................................................................... 11 1.1.4.Definition of key terms .................................................................................
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