Girmay kidane is a school principal at Misrak Goh secondary school. He has taught for the last 35 years. Teaching is his life. Though his parents were pushing him to be a medical student, his soul was pulling him to the teaching world. For Girmay teaching is not only a means of earning a living. It is all about life.
Without passion a given teacher cannot be successful in his career says Girmay. Unlike other professions, teaching deals with the mind of youth. If we sow good seeds of knowledge, we will reap sweet seeds. If we sow weed the result is obvious.
As to Girmay, quality education needs the commitments of every teacher at all cycle. Quality of education also needs quality lifestyle of teachers. There have been several economic constraints. Housing, transportation and throes are some of them. Recently, seeing this challenges the government has taken encouraging initiatives. Free transportation service in Addis Ababa, access to house and others are some of the incentives provided to teachers.
Solomon Woldesenbet, is a teacher at Kokobe Tsebeha Preparatory school. He had been in teaching profession for the last 37 years. He shares Girmay’s stand concerning with commitment towards one’s career. For Him, education is a foundation for every economic, social and political life of a particular country. The kind of education sustained in a country determines the future of that particular country. In this regard, the role of committed, ethical and responsible teachers is key in transforming the overall activities of the nation.
“Education needs passion. A person who doesn’t have passion to teaching cannot survive in the profession. He/ she needs to have commitment to that particular profession. He needs the passion not only for himself but also to the sake of students he teach.”
Seconding Girmay’s view, Solomon said: “What makes teaching different from other profession is that it deals with the mind of a person. A teacher is dealing with fresh mind that can be used for constructive of destructive purpose. For this reason, commitment and love to the profession are a must.”
Concerning to quality education Solomon said: “Quality education is a shared responsibility of every citizen. It is not the sole responsibility of teachers in primary school or secondary or Higher Learning Institutions. It is a shared responsibility of every Ethiopians.”
Ministry of Education State Minister, Dr. Samuel Kefele for his part asserts that the government has been working unceasingly to ensure quality education at all level. Ensuring quality is shared responsibility. However, teachers are the one who has lion’s share. They are the one who are directly responsible to this.
“Ensuring quality and its relevance is a must go program. Unless we ensure the relevance of our programs our industrialization process will face challenges. Unless we ensure the quality of education there is no way that products made in Ethiopia will be competitive at a global level.”
For this reason the government of Ethiopia in general and the Ministry of Education in particular are working aggressively to ensure education relevance and quality. “There is no compromise with quality; there is no other option for survival.”
The past two decades have witnessed that schools are expanding all over the country. Access to education has risen. Millions of citizens have now access to education. Hundred thousands of teachers are engaged in this process. Over 38,000 schools and educational institutions are found all over the country. This is a massive achievement by any of standards be it in the Africa or the world. We have to maintain this pace by ensuring quality education and investing in our teachers. Every teacher that is found at all level has to be appreciated and supported.
Ethiopia is a country that aspires to achieve middle income status. This vision cannot be achieved without the active participation of its citizens. In this regard, the role of teachers is high. Teachers at all level- from the Kinder Garden to Higher Educational Institutions- are responsible in producing committed and responsible citizens. Quality education determines the future of the country. Quality is all about having quality teaching and learning process.
If the country has responsible and committed teachers who teaches with passion it is possible to expect industrious citizens that work to build strong nation. It is possible to see responsible citizens that are always happy to apply their knowledge free of any reward.
Here, it must be remembered that quality life style of a given teacher determines the quality of education. A teacher who has social and economic burdens may not be concerned about the quality of education, thus the incentive packages needs to be distributed to all teachers.