The Challenges of Primary Education Expansion in the Pastoralist Woredas of Borana Zone of Oromia Regional State
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Date
2013-06
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Addis Ababa Univerisity
Abstract
It is hardly possible for a country to achieve a sound economic, social or cultural development in
a situation where its citizens do not have and pass through a well established education system or
with the exclusion of part of a society. Pastoralists are among the marginalized groups of society
who live in a marginalized environment and whose livelihood is exposed to the vagaries of
climate and harsh environmental conditions.
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges of primary education expansion
in the pastoralist Woredas of Borana zone of Oromia Region and find innovative strategies to
alleviate the challenges.
Descriptive survey method was used for the study and the data were secured from nineteen
sampled schools from three Woredas in Borana zone. Multi stage cluster sampling with
probability proportional to size (PPS) technique where size is the number of schools per Woreda
is used to select the samples. The respondents were 43 school administrators, 208 teachers, 30
students, 13 Parent Teacher Association members and 5 educational officials. The secondary
data on students’ enrolments, dropout status and school facilities were also collected from the
schools, the Woreda and Zonal education offices.
Quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaires, unstructured interviews, focus group
discussions and document analysis were generated and descriptive survey method was used to
analyze the data. Frequency table, chart, mean, standard deviation, t-test and correlation were
applied for the statistical analysis. The study identified several cultural and economic barriers
such as early marriage, lack of interest for modern education, parental level of education,
mobility, child labor, poverty, finance, etc.
At the end, a series of recommendations aimed principally at policy-makers, government
officials at different levels and schools and pastoralist community such as: a multi-purpose
pastoralist education policy, incentives such as special salary allotment, hardship allowance,
additional benefits like scholarships for the teachers, distance education and night school,
capacity building training, flexible calendar, etc were suggested in order to curb the challenges of
primary education expansion in the pastoralist Woredas of Borana zone of Oromia region.
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Keywords
Primary Education