From: Sophia Tesfamariam (sophia_tesfamariam@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Nov 05 2009 - 01:28:11 EST
ERITREA: Education for Self-Reliance and More
The campaigns to undermine Eritrea’s economic, social and political developments over the last 10 years have taken many forms. There seem to be more articles and books published about Eritrea today, than in the entire 100 year history of Eritrea. Today, the United Nations, the African Union, self serving “human rights” and “NGOs”, some western nations and the press in their employ, who had remained conspicuously silent during the Eritrean peoples bitter 30-year struggle for independence, and who had suppressed any information about the horrific crimes being committed against the people of Eritrea by successive Ethiopian regimes, are falling all over each other to produce a series of negative reports on Eritrea. What gives?
Every single budding Eritrean institution has been targeted for attack and ridicule, and the education sector in Eritrea was not been spared. From the Government’s policies on education, to the curriculum, every aspect of the education sector was undermined and severely criticized. First we were told that the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) was “anti-intellectuals”, and then we were told that the EPLF and now the Government of Eritrea were “afraid of intellectuals”, and then we were told that they were incapable (not qualified) of producing an education policy for Eritrea etc. etc. Some western “experts” and “researchers” went further and wrote about the “militarization of education in Eritrea”…interesting concept coming from the very descendents of those who introduced “militarism” in order to pillage and plunder Africa since the colonial era…
But the western “researchers” are not the only ones stumbling over each other to malign Eritrea’s development policies, especially the education sector. There are some Eritrean nationals who have played a role in the concerted efforts to distort the reality in Eritrea. Members of the Eritrean Quislings League (EQL)[i] , and some self professed “professionals and intellectuals” who have lived in the west and acquired western education have suggested that "freedom fighters" or "rebels" were incapable of governance-let alone institute viable educational policies in the country. These self serving individuals forget that the education and lessons learned during the 30 year struggle is not only immeasurable and multi-disciplined, it is also not very easily acquired through conventional schooling.
By the way, the attention on Eritrea’s education system should not be mistaken for genuine interest in the well- being of the Eritrean people… it is not. With so many distortions and misrepresentations, the incessant production of “analysis”, “papers”, “reports’, “studies” etc. etc. can only be part of a well financed and coordinated campaign to undermine the role of the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) in that 30 year struggle, re-write Eritrea’s history, and conclude once again, as they did back then, that an independent Eritrea is not economically, socially and politically viable…
Back then, despite the blackout on any reports on Eritrea, there were many Eritreans and non-Eritreans that have visited Eritrea and documented the EPLF’s efforts to provide education in areas under its control. They have attested to the EPLF's determination to provide education under difficult and dangerous situations, against all odds, not just for Eritreans in Eritrea, but also for Eritrean refugees living in neighboring Sudan. It should be recalled that in addition to establishing over 125 primary schools in Eritrea, the EPLF also established over 10 primary schools in the Sudan. The EPLF not only provided food and shelter for Ethiopian prisoners of war, it also endeavored to teach them how to read and write. It is also credited with laying the groundwork for new and innovative approaches to literacy instruction in several of the national languages of Eritrea.
Mother tongue instruction in Eritrea is one area of education that has received a lot of positive attention. Nadine Dutcher (Center for Applied Linguistics Washington, DC) in a 2003 paper “Promise and perils of mother tongue education”, wrote:
“…Before independence most Eritreans had decided, for both political and educational reasons, to use local languages for schooling. By 2002 the full national curriculum for elementary had been issued in eight of the nine Eritrean languages…The promise of mother tongue education is there. Eritrea is a country with a strong political will to fully educate its citizens. The country is determined to provide initial education in a language children will understand and then to add a second language for wider communication…The Eritrea slogan then and now is ‘Unity through Diversity’…”
As has been noted by many educators, the Chinese, Japanese and Indian economies grew largely because they were able to educate their youth using their own languages. Whilst Africans are fighting to preserve their languages, there are some that would rather they didn’t.
Allow me to share this very interesting excerpt from British Council's annual report of 1983-84 which explains why English language instruction is being advanced over mother tongue instruction and why mother tongue instruction has not received the support it needs, despite the evidence that show it to be the key to accelerating Africa’s development. This is what the report said:
“…Of course we do not have the power we once had to impose our will but Britain's influence endures, out of all proportion to her economic and military resources. This is partly because the English language is the lingua franca of science, technology, and commerce; the demand for it is insatiable and we respond either through the education systems of "host" countries or, when the market can stand it, on a commercial basis. Our language is our greatest asset, greater than North Sea Oil, and the supply is inexhaustible; furthermore, while we do not have a monopoly, our particular brand remains highly sought after. I am glad to say that those who guide the fortunes of this country share my conviction in the need to invest in, and exploit to the full, this invisible, God-given asset…”
Interesting…
But it is not just mother tongue instruction that needs to be developed…Africa’s publishing capabilities also need to be enhanced so that Africans can publish their own books and benefit from all the opportunities that come from doing so. This is not something that is going to be done by donors; it will have to be done by Africans themselves. Foreign aid is not going to build Africa’s publishing industry. Building internal capacity is the key to economic and political independence.
Roy Pateman is one writer who visited Eritrea during the struggle and in his book, “Eritrea: Even the stones are burning” (1990), Pateman wrote about the EPLF’s efforts to educate the Eritrean populace:
“…The EPLF examined curricula used by the British and Ethiopian administrations and found them totally unsuitable. The distinguishing feature of the newly developed EPLF system is the integration of theory with practice. All students participated in productive work; they learn through doing and take part in the struggle for social and economic justice…In 1976, the EPLF opened a revolutionary school, named “Zero” in the north of Eritrea. This school was designed as a teaching laboratory and started with 90 children, mostly orphans, the children of fighters, refugees and nomads. By 1983, the school had over 3000 students and remarkable progress had been made, in spite of the shortage of all equipment, materials and even nutritious food. In 1986, the school had 3270 boarding students…In 1985, a new vocational school was opened at Wina with 100 students: it offers a two-year course in some seven skills including auto-mechanics, electrical engineering, metal work, carpentry and civil engineering…”
At independence, the Government of Eritrea inherited a seriously dilapidated education infrastructure, a result of neglect by successive Ethiopian regimes and the many years of war. It immediately set out to address the issues that plagued the system. Building schools throughout the country and simultaneously training to increase human capacity. The work continues until today.
Clive Harber in his 1997 book “Education, Democracy and Political Development in Africa”, wrote about the role of education in Eritrea[ii]:
“…it is certainly a case that education played a significant role in Eritrea’s struggle for independence and must play an equally important part in supporting the democratic structures that are now being discussed and created…Though resources for education, including trained personnel, are meager and insufficient and problems abound, it is to be hoped that the same sacrifice, perseverance and discipline that eventually won the war against a militarily much stronger enemy can be used to build a lasting education for democracy in Eritrea…”
Education was seen by EPLF leaders as integral to the national liberation struggle. An early EPLF slogan was "Illiteracy is our main enemy. In addition to primary school education, the EPLF education included research, literature, theatre, music and fine arts and an adult literacy program. At one point the literacy campaign had reached 56,000 adults, 60 percent of them being women.The 2002 International Reading Association Literacy Award, presented every year by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in celebration of International Literacy Day, was awarded to the Adult Education Division of the Eritrean Ministry of Education on 10 September 2002, in Paris. Eritrea was chosen for:
“…emphasizing systematic planning of adult literacy programs through training, orientation, and planning for coordinators and adult literacy personnel from various national partners and organizations, such as the national unions of Eritrean women, youth, and students; the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers; the National Defense Force; the Ministry of Education; and international agencies…The program provided adult literacy programs including vocational training and HIV/AIDS and life skills training…”
During the struggle for Eritrea’s independence, amidst the gunfire, in underground schools and shelters, in trenches etc. etc. the EPLF focused on educating the population and as Thomas Kenealy put it in one interview:
“…the whole of Eritrea goes to school….15 meters from the trenches, as in far villages, you can see classes in progress…the day seems consumed by education, In the big centers such as Jani regional school, the children might have desks. In desperate little towns flayed by war and famine-Endalal, Nacfa, Erota, Adashi, Hishkub-they sit on stones in brush shelters or mud brick bunkers. In the afternoons, the adults are taught…even the Ethiopian prisoners of war have to attend four classes a day, five days a week…”
The EPLF was described as having members who were of “above average education” as it was doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, engineers etc. etc. who joined the liberation movement on masse. Many left colleges and universities in the United States, England, Russia and Ethiopia to join the EPLF. Today, we hear a lot about the qualification of the teachers in Eritrea…mostly from the EQL and their handlers. There is no denying that there is a shortage of qualified and trained teachers in Eritrea to fully staff all the new schools being built to accommodate the increasing enrollments throughout the country. To help alleviate the immediate shortages, the Government of Eritrea has brought in teachers from India and elsewhere, as they increase internal capacity through education and training. .
There are some who appreciate the EPLF and now the Government of Eritrea’s outlook on education. Martha Wagar Wright in “MORE THAN JUST CHANTING: Multilingual literacies, ideology, and teaching methodologies in rural Eritrea” has a better understanding than most. In her article she writes:
“…A remarkable burgeoning of educational development has taken place since independence in 1991, reflecting I think a widespread adherence to national (EPLF) policy regarding the fundamental necessity of literacy for personal and national liberation and continued political autonomy, as well as for internal harmony through interethnic understanding and tolerance, and for provision for cultural and linguistic expression for all nine indigenous groups. The work of the fighter teachers during the struggle for liberation played no small part in impressing this philosophy upon the masses…”
The Government of Eritrea saw the urgent need to rebuild and re-open all of the damaged and closed schools and set out to rehabilitate and develop the sector in earnest. Despite these documented facts about the education in Eritrea, today, there are some misguided individuals who are attempting to paint a very ugly picture of education in Eritrea in order to advance their own illicit political agendas.
One such individual, Richard Reid, is one such individual who insists on distorting Eritrea’s image. As visiting history lecturer at the University of Asmara, who was there in 2000-2001, Reid has written a series of negative and condescending articles about Eritrea over the last 5 years. In his 2005 article, “Caught in the headlights of history: Eritrea, the EPLF and the post-war nation-state”[iii], he writes disparagingly about Eritrea’s history and what he calls “the state-level determination to cling to the values and the aims of the liberation struggle”. Like the others who have written about the EPLF and Eritrea in the last 10 years, his sources, the basis for his analysis on the country its people and its government, remain anonymous. Reid writes about an obsession with Eritrea’s past, its history and what he calls ‘liberation legacies’. Funny coming from a history professor…
Like his compatriots Christopher Clapham, Dan Connell, Martin Plaut and Patrick Gilkes, Reid wants to re-write Eritrean history and what he calls “EPLF’s narration” of Eritrea’s history. The struggle of the Eritrean people against Ethiopian colonialists and their handlers may have been “hidden from the world” and kept out of the western press, but the atrocities were not hidden from Eritreans who lived through it. The deaths of 65,000 of Eritrea’s best, bravest and brightest (BBB) is not simply an EPLF narration, it is a fact. The bombings and pulverization of villages across Eritrea and the terrorizing of the people is not a narration of the EPLF, it is a documented fact. The dismemberment of the limbs and suffering from burns sustained from cluster and napalm bombs is not the EPLF’s narration; it is the people’s narration and all based on facts.
The history of Eritrea and the role of the EPLF is unparalleled in the history of liberation movements and nothing these neocons say can change that. But Reid’s obsession with Eritrea does not end with Eritrea’s history. He is also hell bent on distorting the truth about Eritrea today. One of his favorite subjects is Sawa, the National Training Center. In one of his articles he wrote this about Sawa:
“…Sawa has achieved iconic status among the nation’s youth… it symbolizes the control exercised by the state over the lives of the young… Sawa is more important than that. It is the bastion of Nakfa principles, the military heart of the country, and the place where the baton of the struggle and defence of hard-won Eritrean sovereignty is militarily – though by no means politically – passed on to a new generation …if even a portion of the attention and investment given to Sawa had been awarded to the University of Asmara, the nation’s sole institution of higher education, for example, Eritrea would be a very different country today…”
Contrary to what Reid and his partners keep repeating ad nauseam, Eritrea is a very different country, and for the better, because of Sawa. Reid should know that education without values and principles is nothing. As an educator, he must know that in addition to basic skills, academics, technical, discipline, and citizenship, it is the values and principles instilled in the youth that will help them the most in their development.
It was the “Nakfa Principles” that enabled Eritreans to survive the onslaught from the Western media and NGO groups, from the mercenary regime in Ethiopia and all the “bogeymen” that he mentions in his piece. There is no way that Reid can ever begin to understand what the “Nakfa principles” entail as he is a descendant of an Empire built on the blood, sweat, pillage and plunder of others, and not on that of his own kinsmen. We can cut him some slack, for all his academic credentials, he can’t possibly understand Eritrean values and principles such as Ni’h, habbo, teSewarinet, tewefainet, agelgulot and tsinat, as there are no English words that can adequately capture their true meaning and essence. For Eritrea to achieve the people’s aspirations and dreams, education has to include Eritrea’s time-tested values-the Nakfa Principles- as they help build character, integrity and dignity…nothing wrong with that!
Many have written about the education, but none explained its uses as succinctly as Elie Wiesel. Wiesel explained why education in and all by itself was meaningless, if there were no values attached to it. Addressing a Global Forum in Moscow almost 20 years ago, he spoke of those responsible for the horrific crimes in Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald- the Holocaust- heirs of Kant and Goethe, widely thought to be the best educated people on earth. Wiesel explained that their advanced education did not serve as an adequate barrier to their cruel and barbaric conducts. Wiesel explains what was wrong with their education. He said that their education:
"…emphasized theories instead of values, concepts rather than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of questions, ideology and efficiency rather than conscience..."
There are many more instances in mankind’s history that serve as perfect examples on why education without values is meaningless…
Determined to put her two-cents worth and publish a book on education in Eritrea is Tanya Muller, another visiting lecturer who believes her various “short visits” to Eritrea and email exchanges with select students somehow makes her an expert on the country and its people is. Muller states:
“…I visited Eritrea on a regular basis since 1996. The academic year 2000/01 I spent at the UoA and during that time conducted in-depths interviews and a wider survey. I have returned for shorter research visits from November 2001 to January 2002, in December 2003, in May 2004 and in October/November 2006…”
In the 2008 article for African Journal, “Bare life and the developmental state: implications of the militarisation of higher education in Eritrea”, Muller pretty much echoes Reid’s sentiments about education in Eritrea. The evidence that she presents for her assertion about the “militarization” of education in Eritrea are laughable. Here is one such example:
“…The Eritrean Institute of Technology at Mai Nefhi, as it is officially known, is located only a few kilometres south of Asmara. But built on an open field site, it feels isolated and remote. Run jointly by an academic vice director and an army colonel, Mai Nefhi resembles more a military camp than a place of higher learning…”
Eritrea is not the first, nor is Eritrea going to be the last, to employ military personnel in academia. Muller must know that there are many military personnel in US and European academic institutions serving as Chancellors, Deans and more. Military personnel are actively recruited in US schools. For example, the “Troops-to-Teachers Program”, is a program run by the Federal Department of Education that offers training for those who want to teach in elementary schools, secondary schools and vocational settings. God forbid if American and British military personnel were suddenly barred from joining academia…all that discipline and experience would be for naught.
Like Reid and others who have been working to create a wedge between the Government and people of Eritrea, especially the youth, Muller echoes Reid’s assertions about Eritrea’s history. She too wrote about the “Nakfa Principles” and how they hampered individual ambitions and academic growth. Muller also deliberately misconstrued the Government of Eritrea’s motives for building schools and institutions of higher learning in other parts of Eritrea as opposed to just pumping more funds into and expanding, the University of Asmara. Without offering any evidence for her erroneous assertions, she wrote:
“…the government imposed structural changes within the education system aimed at enforcing loyalty. These mechanisms were modelled on the military structures that characterised the liberation movement before Eritrean independence. It has rightly been observed that even before 2001 Sawa, the national military training centre in a remote location in the western lowlands, received considerably more attention and investment than the UoA, Eritrea’s only institution of higher education…Sawa’s importance grew further with the revival of the ‘cadre school’, another relict of the struggle for independence, from 2004 onwards; meanwhile and fittingly, ‘cadre training ’ has moved to the School of Social Studies located in Nakfa, where the sixth round of recruits started training in August 2007…”
Her arguments are not only outrageous and outlandish, they are categorically false. This from a professed “expert” on education…Muller must know that Education policy is not static; it needs to be continuously revised so as to address the changing needs of the population. The Government of Eritrea is not in the business of imposing loyalty. There is no “you are with us or against us” policy in Eritrea. That sort of myopic and childish thinking has no place in Eritrea and it certainly does not have place in Eritrean schools.
The Eritrean Government understands the importance of higher education and as we shall see later, has made great strides to expand and improve the quality of higher education by allocating a large portion of the national budget for its development.
For all the above reasons and more, Eritrea chose the self reliance path in order to avoid the many pitfalls experienced by other African and developing nations. The achievements are quite impressive considering the fact that Eritreans have had to do it all on their own with little external assistance. Here are some of the impressive facts:
§ The number of kindergartens increased from 90 to 215. Furthermore, 262 Community Care Giver Centers has been established. The gross enrolment ratio for pre-primary education increased from 4% to about 29% in the 5-6 age groups.
§ Currently there are 626 elementary schools, 184 middle schools and 60 secondary schools in Eritrea. The total number of schools in the three school levels is 870. Out of the 60 secondary schools, 50 have received an average of 57 computers per school; i.e. a total of 2835 computers have been distributed to 50 secondary schools so far. Out of the 184 middle schools, 52 have received an average of 30 computers per school; i.e. a total of 1560 computers have been distributed to 52 middle schools so far. The process of computer distribution which began with the secondary school level is gradually expanding to middle and elementary levels. (figures are from 2006)
§ Enrolment at elementary level more than doubled from 160,000 students to 332,000 students in 2006/07.
§ Over the same period enrolment at middle school more than quadrupled from 28,000 to just over 141,000 students.
§ High school enrolment increased by two and a half times from 28,000 to 76,000 in 2006/07
§ The number of Technical Training Schools has increased from two to ten in 2006.
§ As of 2003/04 eight new Colleges in Eritrea, offering university level programs (diploma and Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree) were established in Eritrea. The Eritrea Institute of Technology (EIT) is located at Mai Nefhi. The EIT has three colleges, which are the colleges of Education, Engineering and Technology, and Science. The other new colleges are the college of Agriculture in Hamelmalo (near Keren), the college of Health Sciences and the Orotta School of Medicine in Asmara (Its first class will be graduating in the summer of 2009), the college of Marine Sciences and Technology in Hirgigo (near Massawa), the college of Arts and Social Sciences in Adi Kieh, and the college of Business and Economics in Massawa.
§ The Sawa Vocational training Center offers 19 different fields of study in 5 disciplines, namely Business and Administration, Agricultural Technology,
Construction Technology, operation of modern agricultural machineries and
construction.
§ In October 2009, 156 students, out of whom 20 are males, graduated from the Mendefera Boarding School of Associate Nurses upon completion of a certificate course. The Mendefera School of Associate Nurses which opened in 2004 has so far graduated a total of 620 students in both diploma and certificate, and the latest graduates represent the 5th batch. 700 students have graduated this year from the nursing schools in Mendefera, Barentu and Ginda, and that another 400 would graduate next year from the Asmara School of Nursing.
§ On 24 October 2009, a total of 576 students, out of whom 278 are females, graduated from the Asmara Technical School
§ On 3 October 2009, the Halhale College of Business and Economics graduated a total of 816 students in accounting, business administration, management, marketing, tourism, hotel management, as well as secretarial science. 516 completed their studies at degree level, 315 at diploma and 36 at certificate level.
This by no means covers everything that needs to be said about education in Eritrea, its history and its future, but this will suffice for now, as the intention was not to tell the whole story in one sitting, but rather to set the record straight on some of the misguided analysis and writings that are being produced today.
I will end this paper with an excerpt from Wendell Berry’s eloquent essay, “Higher Education and Home Defense”. I hope that it will help the EQL and other self professed experts on education, and most importantly the Eritrean youth who have been bombarded with various notions about its value, understand the true meaning and purpose of education:
“…Education in the true sense, of course, is an enablement to serve – both the living human community in its natural household or neighborhood and the precious cultural possessions that the living community inherits or should inherit. To educate is, literally, to “bring up,” to bring young people to a responsible maturity, to help them to be good caretakers of what they have been given, to help them to be charitable toward fellow creatures… To make a commodity of [education] is to work its ruin, for, when we put a price on it, we both reduce its value and blind the recipient to the obligations that always accompany good gifts: namely, to use them well and to hand them on unimpaired. To make a commodity of education, then, is inevitably to make a kind of weapon of it because, when it is dissociated from the sense of obligation, it can be put directly at the service of greed…”
Allow me to end with Martha Wagar Wright, a researcher who has done work in Eritrea. She has good advice for some of these haughty “experts”, “analysts”, and “researchers”. She says:
“…Perhaps those of us going into the field need to consider if we have failed to recognise what the people we are studying already do have; perhaps we need to see if we have allowed ourselves to be blinded to the gifts and abilities of the people themselves because we have, perhaps unwittingly, assumed them to suffer an intellectual impoverishment commensurate with the material…”
The EPLF and the Government of Eritrea understood the importance of the education to Eritrea’s reconstruction and development and did not hesitate to allocate huge portions of the national budget for its development. This strategic investment is paying off today as hundreds and thousands of Eritrean youth graduate from the various schools and colleges around the country, empowering the Eritrean population both socially and economically.
[i] A dubious association of disgruntled runaway diplomats, reporters san couth, pedophiles, rapists, “silenced intellectuals”, self professed “intellectuals and professionals”, and other treasonous mercenary individuals and groups parading as “human rights” and “democracy” advocates.
[ii] Chapter 8- “the Struggle Itself was a School: Education and Independence in Eritrea, Pg. 94
[iii] The Journal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 43:3, 2005)
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