Population Growth as an Impediment to the Realization of Universal Primary Education in Ethiopia

Abstract

Educational planners often attribute low level of
educational participation to low level of supply and governments'
efforts are directed at · expanding the supply of schools teachers,
books and other educational materials. Little attention is given to the
effect of demographic factors on educational participation. There
have been surprisingly few attempts to quantify the impact of rapid
population growth on the quantitative expansion of education in
Ethiopia. This study, therefore, aims at exploring, through document
analysis, the manner in which the present and future demographic
trends militate against the achievement of educational goals in
Ethiopia. Ethiopia's population gr...owth greatly increases the number
of childreff seeking access to school and increases the number of
potential illiterates. Oespite a considerable increase in primary
school enrollment from about 3.0 million in 1992193 to 5.2 million in
1998/99, the number of those out of school rose to 7.7 million in
1998/99. If the present population trend continues, the primary
school-age population is further projected to reach 19. 1 million in
2015 and 20.6 in 2020. The government of Ethiopia is hard pressed
to provide educational facilities for the numbers knocking at the
doors of educational institutions. Furthermore, the government has
planned to realize universal primary. education in Ethiopia in 2015.
However, under the present population trend, achieving an eight
years of universal primary education remains a long way off. This
study concludes that the high birth rate of the Ethiopian population is
a barrier to the early attainment of universal primary education in
Ethiopia. Hence a variety of population projections and their
implications need to be studied when long-term educational plans
are formulated.