Education, Stagnation, and Wastage in Pastoral Society: The Case of Somali Region, Ethiopia

Education Stagnation and Wastage in Pastoral Society: The Case of Somali Region, Ethiopia.

Table of Contents
Contents Page
Cover Sheet…………………………………………………………………………….1
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………2
I. Introduction…………………………………………………………..……………...3
II. Objectives……………………………………………………………………….......4
III. Significance of the study…………………………………………………….........4
IV. Expected out comes……………………………………………………..................5

I. Introduction
Somali National and Regional State is one of the emerging regional states among the nine regions in Ethiopia. In the region, the education system is characterized by high stagnation and wastage which results in highest rate of adult illiteracy, dropout, repetition (wastage) and lowest completion rate in all level of schooling compared to other regions. This is due to low quality of education which is attributed to low quality of teachers, low quality of text books, poor school facilities, regular drought, food insecurity, and mobile way of life in many localities in the region. According to UN (2010) Ethiopia Millennium Development Goal Report, despite impressive progress and improvement in the education sector addressing 100% enrollment and completion, rate across the regions remains a challenge. As per the report, this is particularly true for pastoral and semi pastoral areas of Afar and Somali regions. In Somali region, Gross Enrollment Rate had increased from 32.7% in 2007/08 to 63.8% in 2009/010. This increase is the result of government’s continued focus given to the region in its development plan as well as the development of informal education programs for out of school young’s, mobile and community schools for pastoral areas and national programs of Alternative Basic Education (ABE).
The overall increase in the enrollment ratio seems to come at the expense of educational quality though quality issue is one of the challenges for full school participation. Given the importance of education in indirectly addressing the other development goals, the issues of quality is of paramount importance. The completion rate for first cycle and second cycle primary education at national level is at 74% and 46% respectively during 2009/010. This figure is much lower for pastoral and semi pastoral areas and societies of Ethiopia. The explanation for low completion rate is attributed to the factors related to low quality education resulted from high dropout rates, high repetition rates, low transition from ABE schools to formal education, low teacher quality, poor quality of text books, and poor school facilities are the most important ones. The overall impact of all these inefficiency of education led to Education Stagnation and Wastage in pastoral society of Somali region.
In addition to low quality of education, the nutritional status of the children is the other challenge to achieve Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education in the pastoral societies of Ethiopia, particularly that of Somali region. The region is one of the most food insecure regions in the country that could result in the children malnutrition. It is known that malnutrition has a negative impact on the children’s educational achievements and school attendance. Hence, many of educational wastage and stagnation in the region is also related to food shortage as many families could not feed their children to send them to the school.
Moreover, climate variability in Somali region has increasingly been the source of drought and floods. The impact of climate change could potentially limit progress such as full education enrollment. This natural phenomenon precipitates the condition of education wastage and stagnation in pastoral society of the region. Therefore, this study focuses on the investigation of interrelated factors which are supposed to be the causes of educational stagnation and wastage in pastoral society of Somali region and suggest possible policy and intervention strategies to be employed by the government, non-government organizations, development agencies and other stakeholders to tackle the problems of education sector wastage in the region.
II. Objectives of the Study
This study has the following objectives: * To identify causes for Education Stagnation and Wastage in Pastoral Society of Somali region, * To improve school attendance and completion rate in education of pastoral society of Somali region, * To reduce education repetition and drop out (Wastage) and stagnation in pastoral society of Somali region. * To propose possible and new policy and intervention strategies for stakeholders of education in pastoral society of Somali region,
III. Significance of the Study
After completion, the study has significance to the education sector in general and Pastoral and Semi Pastoral education in particular. Thus, this study will provide relevant and timely information to improve the quality of education in pastoral and semi pastoral society of Somali region. The study will also recommend and design policy and intervention strategies for the concerned stakeholders who are working in line with reducing education stagnation, wastage and improving the quality of performance in education sector in the region. The ultimate impact and significance of the study will be: * New Policies and strategies will be designed to reduce wastage in education * Improving the quality of education delivery in pastoral Somali region * Improving both primary and secondary school attendance in Pastoral Somali region * Reducing school dropout rate in school in pastoral Somali region * Reducing repetition rate in schools in pastoral Somali region * Improved completion rate in education sector in Pastoral Somali region * Reducing education stagnation and wastage in pastoral society of Somali region * Finally, maintaining the quality of Education in the Pastoral Somali region
IV. Expected Outputs/Outcomes
The outputs of this study will:- * Initiate new Policies and Strategies * Produce new modalities of education delivery * Contribute new knowledge and skill in the delivery of pastoral education * Improve high completion rate in school * Boost better students achievement in schools * Reduce low repetition and dropout rate in education * Encourage full participation and attendance in education * Decrease Stagnation and Wastage in education of pastoral society of the region * Finally, Contribute Good Quality of Education in Pastoral Society of Somali region.