Education and training are considered a necessity in Awra Amba, resulting in a kindergarten through university enrollment rate unmatched in the rest of Ethiopia, especially in rural Ethiopia.
In Awra Amba we have a kindergarten, a primary school and it has been a long and difficult journey to reach this result.
Before, most of us were illiterate. When the community began to live together — in February 1986 — only a few members could read and write because they had participated in the adult education program offered by the government at that time.
Then Zumra told us: “Our parents did not give us a chance to study. This has really affected our lives. We have to make up for this situation by starting to lean on pears. We must take advantage of our members who can read and write. They will be our teachers.”
We appreciated Zumra’s idea and started our teaching-learning process ourselves. The first participants were all community members, including children, adults and the elderly.
In February 1988, due to the hostility of the neighboring communities, Zumra and some colleagues migrated to the northern part of Ethiopia. Teaching and sending children to formal school was interrupted: the time was not about teaching and learning, it was more about how to survive.
In 1990, the teaching-learning process started again: using local, simple and easily available materials, we also built a school house so that not only the community members but also the neighboring people could benefit from our pear teaching-learning process.
Zumra was one of the students. But due to an eye problem, he was forced to quit. However, he continued to motivate the students to follow the lessons.
In 1994 we returned to our original home. At that time there were serious social, political and economic problems. Again, it was not a question of studying, but of staying alive.
Primary school
We did not give up, and despite the complicated social, political, and economic situation, the community resumed the pear teaching and learning process a year later. We also sent some children to formal school. This shows that we have always placed a special emphasis on education: we were willing to sacrifice our lives for it.
The community members who participated in the pear teaching-learning process gained knowledge, skills and attitudes comparable to people who have completed primary school (grades 1-8). Most of the community members can read and write.
Since 2002, the complicated problems faced by the Awra Amba community have been gradually reduced. All community children who reached the age of three started kindergarten and at the age of seven they were sent to the primary school which was about 2 km away from our village.
The grades of the school were 1-4. But after the children completed the 4th grade, they were sent to a school which was about 7-14 km away from Awra Amba, from Monday to Friday.
As a result, the students became too tired to be effective in their studies. They also developed serious nutritional and psychological problems. The nutritional problem was due to the home-cooked food that they had to carry with them for five days: after two or three days it was too spoiled to eat. The psychological problems were due to the forced adaptation to customs that were completely foreign to them.
Finally, things changed: in 2004, the primary school was upgraded to grade 8. The problem of distance was solved.
Secondary school
We wanted more for our people: Zumra asked the Amhara Regional State Government to open a primary school in the Awra Amba area.
The regional government agreed and, in 2009, built a standard primary school that has served us and neighboring communities ever since.
The establishment of the primary school was only the first step. We decided to build a secondary school as well.
We explained the benefits of such a school to the neighbors. They supported our proposal and decided to contribute as much as they could. Their decision encouraged us to continue.
We started by providing the land to build the school; then we asked the local government administration (wereda) to give us official recognition. Then we started the construction process.
In 2010, we were able to build a block with four classrooms. In the same year, the school started to serve by enrolling 180 students from grade 9. Meanwhile, we continued with the construction of the remaining blocks.
Finally, we completed the construction of a library block, a laboratory block, an administration block, two additional classroom blocks, and three latrine blocks.
Free schools for all children
The total cost of building the school was 2,630,909.75 Ethiopian Birr. Although we contributed more than 87% of the total cost of building the secondary school, the number of Awra Amba students enrolled in school is a small percentage: less than 10%.
Finally, we donated the primary and secondary schools to the government: this means that all schools in Awra Amba are public, free and therefore open to all children.
Kindergarten
The community has built a kindergarten where the children learn Amharic language, arithmetic, English alphabet and vocabulary.
The children plan what to do with their time. They usually divide their time into three equal parts: study time, work time, and play time. The children are also taught the basic values and principles of the community.
They are also encouraged to practice these values on a daily basis. They are also encouraged to be smart and creative students at school. When the daily lesson ends, the children gather to sing a hymn before going home…
“We, growing children, don’t take anyone’s property. If we find something that does not belong to us, we give it back to the owner. We develop ourselves through cooperation and compassion. Our peaceful life will progress.”
The children are sent to the village primary school at the age of seven after completing their kindergarten education.
Objectives of our schools
In addition to providing a quality education, the primary and secondary schools of our community aim to:
To spread the best practices of the Awra Amba Community to the neighboring people;
To strengthen the interaction of the Awra Amba Community with the neighboring people;
To share our basic principles with the neighboring people;
To solve the educational problems of the neighboring community;
To minimize future economic problems through innovation and creativity;
To maximize people’s awareness of the importance of quality education;
To create suitable conditions for neighborhood students not to drop out of their education.
Mutual education
In addition to the standard school system, Awra Amba has organized a system of mutual education, primarily for the care of children between meals and school by older children.
This system, originally created to allow women to work outside the home without their children, has become an excellent tool for education and the transmission of values.
In fact, the older students have to help the younger ones when they have some difficulties in their studies and at the same time give them moral and ethical instruction.
Children who are able to walk, those of four or five years old, primary school students between school and meals, as well as illiterate adults are encouraged to participate in this educational system by young people who have completed primary or secondary school.
