Mereja.Forum

[Noble Amhara]

Birhanu Nega's Ticking Atomic Bomb: How Ethiopia's Education System Is Imploding Under Flawed Reforms

Three years ago, in 2022, I urged the federal government of Ethiopia to remove Birhanu Nega from his position as Minister of Education. My advocacy was entirely non-political, driven solely by a profound concern for the health and future of our nation's educational system. Birhanu Nega assumed this critical role in October 2021, and since then, Ethiopia's education sector has plummeted into crisis, with systemic failures becoming increasingly evident year after year. His introduction of a new educational policy and structural reforms has proven disastrously ineffective, offering no meaningful improvements and instead exacerbating longstanding issues. Rather than addressing foundational problems from kindergarten through higher levels, his approach has been regressive, starting from the top and neglecting the base. This misguided strategy has led to students facing rigorous, mismatched exit exams that test knowledge far beyond what is taught in classrooms, resulting in widespread failure and disillusionment. How could someone believe though exit exams fix educational outcomes?

The stark decline in educational outcomes is best illustrated by the performance on the Grade 12 national exit examination, a critical gateway to higher education. Under the new policy, which emphasizes competency-based assessments and stricter standards, pass rates have nosedived dramatically over the past four years, highlighting the policy's flaws and the urgent need for reform. In 2022 (2014 Ethiopian Calendar academic year), a total of 896,520 students sat for the exam, but only about 3.3%—roughly 29,585 students—passed with the required scores to proceed to university. This alarmingly low rate marked a sharp drop from previous years and sparked initial concerns about the reforms' impact.

The trend worsened in 2023 (2015 E.C.), with 845,099 students taking the exam and a pass rate falling to just 3.2%, equating to approximately 27,043 successful candidates.

In 2024 (2016 E.C.), the situation deteriorated further, with 674,074 students taking the exam (based on a reported 5.4% pass rate yielding 36,400 successful candidates). Despite the slight uptick in pass rate to 5.4%, the low number of passers continued the pattern of mass failure.

The crisis deepened in 2025 (2017 E.C.), with the Grade 12 national exam conducted from July to August and results announced in early September. According to the Educational Assessment and Examination Services (EAES), 585,882 students sat for the exam, but only 48,920 passed—a pass rate of 8.35%. While this represents a slight improvement over previous years, it remains abysmally low, with over 90% of students failing to qualify for university.

Over the four years, a cumulative total of 3,001,575 students took the exam, with only 141,948 passing—an overall success rate of just 4.73%. These figures, drawn from Ministry of Education and EAES reports, highlight a catastrophic waste of human potential and a growing economic strain due to a limited pipeline of skilled graduates.

You cannot salvage an education system by prioritizing tough testing over substantive teaching. True reform demands overhauling curricula to ensure they are relevant, practical, and aligned with classroom instruction from the earliest grades. It requires investing in teacher training, providing adequate resources, and fostering inclusive learning environments that build foundational skills progressively. Testing challenging questions without first equipping students with the necessary knowledge in the classroom is a recipe for failure, as evidenced by these persistently low pass rates. The government must heed calls for change, prioritize holistic improvements, and appoint leadership capable of reversing this downward spiral before an entire generation is lost to policy missteps.

[Dama]

I agree with the writer

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