Traditional Schools of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Quest for Fresh Methodology

Abstract

The research project was conceived two years ago and the proposal was presented to the College of the Social Sciences at the beginning of 2003 following the SIDA-SAREC research competition that the College  announced. The project, which was entitled "Church Education in Ethiopia: A Philosophical Inquiry into its Aims and Objectives," was started because much of the literature and a good measure of popular discourse have always been very tendentious and, at worst, negative and nihilistic. This study was, therefore, launched with the spirit of getting firsthand information on the contents of the educational system of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whereas, as I will show below, the accounts of a great majority of researchers seem to depend , largely on secondary sources. Firsthand observations in the area of the church education would serve not only as a corrective step for past distortions and fill the gap in what is lacking, but are also essential for the formulation of critical methdology.