Attempts at Educational Reform in Ethiopia: A Top-down or a Bottom-ftlJ Reform? ·

Abstract

It has now been close to a century since modern
education was introduced in Ethiopia. Ever since then some
attempts have been made at educational reform. However, to date
there is hardly any effort that has been made to critically examine
these attempts. This pape first provides a brief background on the
development of education in the country, so as to enable the reader
to appreciate the attempts at reform. Next, on the basis of a
conceptual framework jt tries to assess criticaly the three major
attempts at educational reform: the Education Sector Review, the
Evaluative Research on the General Education System in
Ethiopia and the Transitional Government's Education and
Training Policy. Finally, in drawing a conclusion, it views the
attempts so far made to have many of the characteristics of a topdown rather than that of a bottom-up reform.