Current Practices in Planning the Demand for and Supply of Secondary School Teachers in Ethiopia

Abstract

The education system in a given country is destined to provide crucial service to
society. Particularly formal education is the means by which a pool of educated
manpower is derived from. It is the source of manpower that can be trained and
qualifi.ed to support the socio-economic development efforts of a given country.
Secondary level of education, more often than not, satisfies the middle level
manpower needs. It also leads to further training in some professional fields in
the training institutions or colleges. That is, the academically successful students
(in the Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination IESLCE) get the
chance to join the different colleges and universities in the country. To sustain
the human resource potential, Ethiopia is seeking to expand secondary education.
It has to cope with school population growth from expansion in primary
schooling, on the one hand, and to meet the demands of candidates for training
institutes and colleges, on the other.
To materialize this, apart from increased government budget in recent years
(from 12% to 16% in 1998), a new policy support has been effected.
Accordingly several steps have been taken already. The New Education and
Training policy underscores five major directions (MOE, 1994). These include: