Grade 11 Social Science Subjects In Ethiopia Pdf Download
Bernarda Zahra
Education in Ethiopia was dominated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for many centuries until secular education was adopted in the early 1900s. Prior to 1974, Ethiopia had an estimated literacy rate below 50% and compared poorly with the rest of even Africa in the provision of schools and universities. After the Ethiopian Revolution, emphasis was placed on increasing literacy in rural areas. Practical subjects were stressed, as was the teaching of socialism. By 2015, the literacy rate had increased to 49.1%, still poor compared to most of the rest of Africa.[1]
The Derg's (1976) Proclamation No. 103 had public ownership of schools consistent with the socialist system. This still left a few private schools for children of politicians and wealthy families resulting in a higher quality of education for these children than for all others. Primary schooling expanded throughout the country with national enrolment reaching 34.1%. There were still regional disparities with more resources going to the south than to the north. Educational quality decreased with expansion largely due to resource scarcity. The Derg tried to resolve the problem of teacher shortage by recruiting 5,500 untrained teachers from those who had completed grade 12. These teachers had to attend government designed summer schools for three years to obtain certification.[12]
There is some pre-primary education for children aged 4 to 6 years but provision is patchy. Primary school education has two cycles from age 7 to 10 years (grades 1 to 4) and from age 11 to 14 years (grades 5 to 8). Regional exams are taken at the end of grade 8 (Primary school certificate exam). Secondary education has two cycles from age 15 to 16 years (grades 9 and 10) and from age 17 to 18 years (grades 11 to 12) leading up to the national exams. The Ethiopian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (EGSECE) is taken at the end of grade 10 and requires a pass in at least 5 subjects to pass to the next level. The Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Examination (EHEEE) is taken at the end of grade 12. Students passing the EHEEE are eligible for university if their grades are sufficiently high.
The first cycle of primary education concentrates on functional literacy while the second cycle is preparation for secondary education. In principle, the curriculum aims to link theory with practice in real life and to use a problem-solving approach. Primary education includes: Languages (mother tongue, Amharic), English, Mathematics, Environmental science, Natural science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology in grades 7 and 8), Social science (grades 5 to 8) and Aesthetic education. Secondary school (grades 9 to 10) continues subjects taken in primary school: English and a national language, Mathematics, Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Biology), Social sciences (Civic education, Geography and History) and Physical education.[19]
The secondary school second cycle (grades 11 and 12) continues the Natural Science and Social science streams. Common subjects in the two streams are English, Mathematics, Civic education, Information technology, a national language and Physical education. The students in the social science stream take Economics, General Business education, History and Geography while those in natural science take Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Technical drawing in addition to the common subjects.
Universities used to have a first year to prepare students for a degree but now schools are expected to prepare students. This has had a knock-on effect of moving the freshman programs down to grades 11 and 12 and programs for grades 11 to 12 down to grades 9 and 10. The grade 9 to 10 curriculum is now equivalent to grades 11 and 12 in many other countries and it covers more subjects than most other countries require for university.[20]
Between 2006/7 and 2010/11, national learning assessments (NLAs) showed some improvement in percentages of children obtaining basic-level proficiency in grades 4 and 8. Grade 4 increased from 41% to 43% and grade 8 increased from 37% to 44%. In 2008/09, 63.7% of grade 10 and 55.2% of grade 12 were performing below basic level. By 2011/12, poor performance showed some decrease, although percentages varied between subjects. In 2010, an early grade reading assessment for mother tongue found regional differences between 10% and 70% of grade 2 children unable to read and 90% of grade 3 children below the expected oral reading fluency rate. Low reading ability related to accessibility of a language textbook or other reading material.[15]
Teachers are trained in 34 colleges of teacher education (CTE) and 10 universities. Previously, kindergarten and primary schools, grades 1 to 4, required a one or two year teaching certificate while grades 4 to 8 needed a three-year diploma. Recently, certificates have been replaced by a three-year diploma for all new primary school teachers. Selection requirements for primary school teaching include a minimum of 2 in the grade 10 exam (EGSECE), no "F" grades in mathematics or English and a minimum of "C" in specialist subjects. Student teachers take an entrance exam and are given an interview to assess interpersonal skills and motivation.Primary school teachers' cluster training prepares teachers for grades 1 to 4 and linear training prepares teachers for grades 5 to 8. All students have the same professional training but differ in that cluster training has composite subject matter while linear training includes three specialist subjects. These are three year programs for a diploma. A policy revision is expected to up-grade teacher qualifications to a degree for grades 7 and 8.[15]
The government requires universities to have 70% of students in engineering and natural science and 30% in humanities and social sciences. Students can state a preference but only those with high marks in the grade 12 exam are likely to be selected for their chosen course.[49]
All universities suffered from lack of resources but some of this was due to corruption. In 2009/10, AAU staff thought nepotism, patronage and abuse of resources was widespread. They noted that the number of administrators driving expensive cars around campus had increased. Inadequate planning from both government and universities allowed resource abuse to occur. Corruption was encouraged by social recognition for wealth and power rather than academic excellence. Some professors were opening private colleges and advising their students to attend them. Teachers were often absent from class and moonlighting to make up for poor pay. Teachers might award marks based on favoritism or ethnic and religious relationships. In on case, a female student reported an administrator for demanding sexual favors in exchange for passing her grade to the registrar. The administration could change a fail to a pass at the student's request. Corruption and lack of transparency were also observed at MU.[49]
Ethiopia faces many historical, cultural, social and political obstacles that have restricted progress in education for many centuries. According to UNESCO reviews, most people in Ethiopia feel that work is more important than education, so they start at a very early age with little to no education.[59] Children in rural areas are less likely to go to school than children in urban areas. Though gradually improving, most rural families cannot afford to send their children to school because parents believe that while their children are in school they cannot contribute to the household chores and income. Social awareness that education is important is something that Ethiopia lacks but has improved gradually. There is a need to change the importance of education in the country's social structure, and children should be encouraged and required to attend school and become educated. The society of Ethiopia expects teachers and parents to use corporal punishment to maintain order and discipline. Most believe that through punishing children for bad habits they in turn learn good ones. Also since the mid-1970s there was a drastic loss of professionals who left the country, mostly for economic reasons. Many educated Ethiopians sought higher salaries in foreign countries thus many of those who managed to finish higher education emigrated from Ethiopia creating an endless shortage of qualified professionals in every sector of the country. Now the custom of sending academics abroad with the risk of a brain drain is being replaced by expansion of masters and doctoral programs to up-grade academic staff. Instead, foreigners have been funding programs for leadership, management and pedagogic skills or sending staff to help strengthen teaching and management practices.[55]
As stated earlier, the core curriculum is standardized nationwide, but there are some variations, including the language of instruction, at the local level. The subjects taught in the first stage (grades one to four) are Amharic, mother tongue, English, mathematics, environmental science, and arts and physical education. The second stage (grades five to eight) includes the same language subjects, mathematics and physical education, but also features civics, integrated science, social studies, and visual arts and music, as well as biology, chemistry, and physics in higher grades.
At the end of grade 10, students must sit for the nationwide external Ethiopian General School Leaving Certificate Examination (EGSLCE), a multiple-choice test federally administered by the National Educational Assessment and Examination Agency. The EGSLCE usually includes nine test subjects, graded on an A-E letter grading scale. To qualify for progression into upper-secondary education, students must pass at least five subjects with a grade of C or higher. Failure rates in the exam are relatively high with about one-third of test takers failing in 2015.12
University-preparatory education lasts two years (grades 11 and 12) and is open to all holders of the EGSLCE with sufficiently high grades. Students can choose between a natural science track and a social science track. Both streams have a common core curriculum that makes up 60 percent of the study load and includes English, civics, information communications technology, mathematics, physical education and an elective language (Amharic or local languages). The courses taught in the natural sciences track are biology, chemistry, physics, and technical drawing, whereas the social science track covers geography, history, economics, and business.
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