First of all I would like to forward the following points before I get into the point of argument

More Reflections on Our Education Systems

This article tries to respond to Gezae Hailemichael’s article: The Geneses, Problems of Our Education System.

First of all I would like to forward the following points before I get into the topic of argument. I was not mean to offend the writers I responded to in my previous article when I try to indicate some of the critics could be laymen. I used the term laymen to identify people who make comments and critics about the status of Ethiopia’s education without having expert knowledge and/or adequate information about it. I believe for sure that those people have expert knowledge in something else.

Secondly, I am convinced that the writer I am responding to now does not have expert knowledge or adequate information about the history of Ethiopia’s Education. For this purpose, I am sending another article that explains briefly the history of indigenous pre-secular Ethiopian education.

Thirdly, the writer I am responding to stated that the problem of our education system is the problem in our mindset. It is not clear for me about the mindset. In my previous article I tried to indicate ‘the tendency of our graduates to secure white-collar jobs’ as a problem. I am not sure the term mindset in the writer’s article is equivalent to the term tendency in mine. I call upon the writer to explain the problem (of mindset) deeply so that we will learn from each other.

Lastly, I didn’t imply that the core problem of our education system is because it is imported. Rather, I indicated that we failed to make it Ethiopian through culture, language, and context. Moreover, I would like to make myself clear that the tendency among Ethiopian graduates to take white-collar jobs is not the source of the problem. It is one of the end results of a bigger problem that played a complicating role.

Now I will talk about indigenous knowledge and technologies, and the issue of underdevelopment.

Western knowledge and technologies are indigenous to Western societies. Eastern knowledge and technologies are indigenous to Eastern societies. African indigenous knowledge and technologies are indigenous to Africans. When Homo sapiens begun agriculture 8-12 000 years ago, agrarian communities in the Africa, the East and the West might have probably used more or less similar technologies. Whereas Western indigenous knowledge and technologies have evolved rapidly to the present status, African indigenous knowledge, technologies, and culture are threatened, endangered and/or extinct.

One of the academic tricks of nowadays is advocating for preserving/ conserving indigenous knowledge and technology. Experts, scholars, and academicians write books on the importance of indigenous knowledge, technologies and practices, the significance and benefit of preserving such riches and put myriads of recommendations. I would least agree with the idea of preserving or maintaining indigenous knowledge, technologies and practices. What we have to do is to develop those indigenous knowledge, technologies and practices to help us live in the present world. We know for sure what our predecessors left us. But we have limited information what our predecessors received from their predecessors. We don’t adequately know how our predecessors modify the knowledge and technology they inherited to fit their way of life. Unless otherwise we develop the indigenous knowledge, technology and practice to fit our present day way of life, we will never be able to preserve them. They are not sacred entities. They can only be preserved if they are developed and adapted to contemporary social needs.

Let’s take an example. The knowledge (descriptive, procedural, and conditional) and technology of Gurage community about processing food from Enset (false banana) might have been effective when the population is small, soil moisture is not a problem, land is plenty, cost of life is minimum, family size is small, and other sources of family income are available. But are these indigenous knowledge and technology helpful today? Not much! They have to be developed, not preserved. The mindset of preserving indigenous knowledge, technology, and practice, in my opinion, is not helpful. Such mindset leads to us agreeing to live with poverty and underdevelopment.

By the same token, Western secular education systems were developed from their own indigenous education systems, which were being delivered in churches and monasteries. As I tried in my previous article, it is unfortunate historical reality that our indigenous education system did not evolve into secular one. Or more correctly, we didn’t found our secular public education based on our indigenous education systems. Now our secular education has been the way it is throughout its 100 years history. It must not be taken as a core problem. The core challenge is our economic underdevelopment to finance our education system. It our economic incapability that hinders us from realizing perfectly Pan Ethiopian education system.

Finally, I would like to forward my reflection on the mindset of the writer in relation to his argument about underdevelopment. First, I would like to thank him for letting me know the root and colonial meaning of underdevelopment. Western scholars may give whatever meaning to underdevelopment that pleases them. But from the Ethiopian context plowing with oxen for ten thousand years is nothing but underdevelopment. One individual invented the wheel. Should people refuse to use the wheel to develop their technologies?

The writer complained about most Ethiopians for having the mindset about the importance of development (i.e. money) to solving our problems. The development and money issue were there since people trade through barter system. As you don’t have something you cannot do anything. Let us be realistic. If you have money, despite you lack the right mindset; at least you will be able to do something. Having the right mindset but not capital will not take you anywhere. Most Ethiopians cannot be blamed for having such kind of mindset (in my opinion, the correct mindset). We have to accept that we are poor and we can only get rid of our ills (including the problems in our education system) when we are economically capable. And this is the mindset of most Ethiopians, which the writer I am responding to is complaining about. If we don’t have the mindset that we can only get rid of our problems by empowering ourselves economically, we will get nowhere.

Desta Berhe

January 14, 2007