The National Army's Participation In Primary Education A Case Study In Tita Military Camp
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Date
2006-06
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Addis Ababauniversity
Abstract
The main purpose of this research paper is to examine the current participation of the national
army in Primary education, and thereby identify the major constraints that hinder their
participation to indicate possible intervention strategies for educational planners and policy
makers to alleviate the educational marginalization of some members of the army who have been
settled in remote areas of the nation and in restricted camps.
To this end, a case study method was employed in an old Military camp, Tita, in the NorthEastern
part of the nation. Apart from consultation of documents from relevant sources, data
were gathered through participative observation with 3 army students, focus group discussion
with 5 army teachers and interview with the school coordinator. Applying purposive sampling
techniques helped me to draw these respondents. The data obtained from these sources and
respondents were interpreted qualitatively, and the researcher constructs his own subjective
narration based on the data collected for two months through participative observation.
The data from documentary analysis indicated that the participation of members of the army in
the primary school in Tita is very low. Only less than half percent of the students enrolled at the
beginning of the academic year were able to remain in school and assumed to pass to the next
grade level. Military obligation for conflict resolution, attitudes of the adults toward learning
academic subjects, the influence of their family, low self-concepts, health problem, school factors
such as curriculum relevance, the language of instruction, lack of school facilities, problems in
quality and quantity of teachers, and institutional constraints have been identified as the major
problems in the education participation of the army in the primary school.
On top of this, time constraints of both the teach~rs and the students, lack of interest from the side
of the learners and lack of additional payment for their hard work of the teachers, lack of reading
rooms and books were found to be major constraints to the educational involvement of the army
in primary level.
Hence, it is concluded that, in most cases, participation of the army in Tita camp is afunction of
material constraints, time constraints, lack of interest and negligence to learning, school intrinsic
and administrative problems.
Depending on the results of the findings, reforming the curriculum, budgeting time for reading
and assignment, opening library, and promoting capacity building training programmes for
educational personnel are recommended
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Keywords
Primary Education