Officials Bank on Student Service to Patch a Fractured Country

Apr 13 , 2025.

The federal government will soon require one year of national service from university students, which education officials have dubbed "Ethiopia University Service." Four-year students will serve after their third year, and five-year students after their fourth. Officials hope the service will boost community engagement, address teacher shortages, and help young people mature through lived experiences.

The scheme may begin next year, provided security and institutional readiness improve.

Berhanu Nega (Prof.), the education minister, compared it to a pre-1970s program in which students spent a year in rural areas before completing their studies. A study conducted in 1969 found that nearly 70pc of student participants then believed their rural teaching stints were personally beneficial. The study also observed that 47pc changed their career plans after teaching in remote areas, and half reported greater motivation upon returning to campus. A majority of them, 86pc, believed they had encouraged local children to aspire to higher education.

Many participants in the 1960s felt they gained a sense of accountability for remote communities. Of those surveyed, 70pc opposed the statement that “the program was not personally beneficial,” 71pc called it an “important educational experience,” and 86pc said they gave local children new hope.

That research concluded that national service helped students learn respect for remote communities and narrowed the perception gap between urban and rural life. If national service is done right, it could help rebuild trust in local communities, offer hands-on skills, and expose young Ethiopians to realities they otherwise would never see.

A look at national service elsewhere confirms this but also calls for caution. Israel and South Korea impose mandatory service with large budgets and focused missions. Inefficiencies and abuses have marred Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps. In the United States, debates over compulsory service persist. Today, volunteer forces suffice. AmeriCorps receives many more applications than it has places, with 582,000 seeking entry in 2011 for 82,500 slots.

These international examples resonate in Ethiopia, where supporters of compulsory service believe it may encourage civic consciousness and knit together diverse regions. Ethiopia tried its own version under the Derg, known as “Ediget Behibret,” which began with enthusiasm but ended in political turmoil and left scant structural progress.

Neither did the national service of the 1960s survive long enough to cause lasting reform. Although it brought some closeness between universities and distant villages, enduring improvements in education, infrastructure, and public health required broader policy action. Many see potential benefits if the new scheme is accompanied by genuine planning, ongoing investment, and robust dialogue among federal agencies, universities, and regional authorities.

Many of the generation that went through the program still admire national service in principle, recalling the idealism that once propelled such programs in the 1960s and 70s. Fifty years ago, researchers found that national service cultivated empathy. But, another half-baked initiative might do more harm than good.

Education officials insist it can succeed despite the country’s fragile security environment and limited budgets. They believe the program could revive the spirit of six decades ago, when national service gave students fresh insights about themselves and their society. Understandably, the experience could instill responsibility in a generation that has seen little beyond its home region.

However, contemporary Ethiopia faces severe pressures. More than 2.7 million people live in displacement camps, and political consensus remains fragile.

Security concerns today are far greater than in the 1960s, when the country’s leaders hoped national service might reduce centre-periphery tensions. Now, elite polarisation, ethnic strains and resource disputes complicate the practicality of instituting such a scheme. Economic shocks and relentless violent conflicts compound the issue, creating apprehension that sending students to volatile regions is risky.

Demographic pressures are also heavier. Ethiopia has over 100 million people, and more than 70pc are under the age of 30. Unemployment grows faster than jobs created, fueling impatience.

If authorities do not address underlying problems such as security, poor infrastructure, and economic hardships, student teachers will unlikely make a lasting difference. The authorities say that state coffers will cover basic living expenses, but whether there is enough money to do so remains doubtful. Even if the state covers essential costs, national service without serious investment will be a logistical minefield.

The education sector accounts for 10.9pc of the 2024/25 federal budget, yet many universities struggle to feed students, let alone pay qualified teachers. The country needs about 100,000 more primary school teachers, according to UNESCO figures, while only 14pc of the 300,000 who took exams between 2017 and 2021 passed. Some fear that sending untrained students to fill these gaps could be no more than a stopgap measure, not a meaningful solution.

This moment may echo the optimism of the 1960s, when students helped in classrooms with chalk and a sense of duty, but it should also serve as a caution that a single initiative cannot heal all ills. Done well, mandatory service might spur a sense of common purpose in a country of tens of millions of youths. Done poorly, it risks further disillusionment in a country that can scarcely afford it.

Without adequate support, good intentions in the absence of capacity are a recipe for disaster. The authorities could place inexperienced students in areas where they lack security and resources, leading to disappointment or worse.

Another worry would be how quickly the political elite can stabilise conflict zones in regional states such as Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray. If the new national service plan is to unite rather than divide, it should offer guarantees of safety and meaningful work. That includes pilot programs, a framework for monitoring, and close collaboration with regional governments. Much depends on whether the country addresses fundamental questions about what university students can achieve in areas that often lack roads and clinics.

The debate on mandatory national service also extends to whether students should serve before or after final exams, and whether another compulsory year might push young people to abandon college education. The fear is that a policy that delays graduation might discourage new enrollments altogether.

Yet, supporters believe the risk is worth taking. Students could be eager to prove themselves in service, and the country badly needs renewed social cohesion. The study from decades ago implied positive outcomes can emerge if young people immerse themselves in communities that differ from their own. Even skeptics acknowledge that bridging the gap between university campuses and isolated areas is necessary for national unity.

Nonetheless, the question is whether the federal government has the capacity to offer training, decent logistics, and reliable protection for hundreds of thousands of inexperienced students.

PUBLISHED ON Apr 13, 2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1302]

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