FORTUNE+ VIDEO JOBS SPONSORED CONTENTS FORTUNE AUDIO TRADE AFRICA new

COVID-19 UPDATES: All the stories and commentaries on Coronavirus, in one place


A fraction of the 1,000 Menelik II Preparatory School students stood outside the gates of their exam centres in the early hours of the day last week. Pencils and blank papers were at the ready. Security was tight, and instant messaging apps were restricted to safeguard against exam cheating. Preparations were tensely anticipated for half a year, as the national matriculation exams are necessary to enter public or private accredited universities in the country.


Students would generally worry whether they would pass the exams. But, these are not regular times owing to public health risks due to COVID-19 and the civil war. The administration of the exams was not taken for granted. Close to 618,000 students had been registered for the exams this year, double last year's figure. The scrapping of national exams for 10th-grade students meant that more students passed to the subsequent grades. Hence, they sat for college entrance exams. Yet close to 131 examination centres were closed due to the raging war in the Amhara and Afar regional states. No students were registered in the Tigray Regional State.


The security situation determines what will happen to students who pass the national matriculation exams. Several universities in the north have already been closed, including Meqelle, Axum, Adigrat, Raya, Woldiya and Wello universities. How long other universities in close proximity to the fighting will remain open is the subject of discussion. Few students would also be willing to venture too far from their homes for education. Many uncertainties cloud the situation in Ethiopia, but, inevitably, years, perhaps decades, of learning outcomes have already been reversed.



You can read the full story    here    


PUBLISHED ON Nov 13,2021 [ VOL 22 , NO 1124]

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.



Related Posts

Put your comments here


Editors' Pick

Editorial

Financial Sector-sourced Glucose Drips No Remedy to Save Economy

November 27 , 2021

Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...

Editorial

Contingency Economic Plan Necessary to Reconcile with Political Storm

November 13 , 2021

Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...

Agenda

Banks Miss Deadline, Mergers Prove Unattainable

October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI

Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...

Agenda

Property Market Grinds to Halt

August 28 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI

The streets of Addis Abeba are as varied as they are many, although too many of them have yet to be named. From the narrow alleyways of the...

Commentaries

Even with the Current Noise, Youth Unemployment Needs Attention

With the volatile political situation in Ethiopia, the psychological devastation and...

Beyond Solving Hunger, Diet for Brain Development, Immunity

Working in nutrition, it falls to me to explain, quite often, how unusually nutritiou...

Fineline

Leaders of the National . . .

Leaders of the National Election Board are in a charm offensive mood, of a sort. Last week, they organised a rare tour for members of the me...

When the country’s most. . .

When the country’s most senior diplomats and envoys return back to their posts after two-week debriefings, they leave behind a point or tw...

Editorial

Financial Sector-sourced Glucose Drips No Remedy to Save Economy

November 27 , 2021

Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...

Truce - Desirable, Useful and Attainable!

November 20 , 2021

Leaders of the warring parties in Ethiopia`s year-old militarised conflict may think...

Contingency Economic Plan Necessary to Reconcile with Political Storm

November 13 , 2021

Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...

A Year in the War, Time for Sober Reflections

November 6 , 2021

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) stood to attention last week and saluted the high mil...

Gallery

Parliament Approves New Cabinet Members

October 6 , 2021

Parliament Approves New Cabinet, Incorporates Opposition Leaders Lawmakers have approved today the nominations of 22 ministers, including three opposition leaders. Two MPs have voted against, while 12 abstained...

2020 in Posterity

January 5 , 2021

TIGRAY VOTES DESPITE "NULL & VOID" THREAT

September 9 , 2020

IN-PICTURE: LAUREATE'S RECEPTION  

December 14 , 2019

PM Abiy Ahmed (PhD) at a Gala Dinner Called for the Awarding of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize

May 6 , 2019

Faces, Voices of Addis Abeba

April 26 , 2019

Sunday With Eden

The Universal Language of Care, as Spoken by Trhas

There are rare people whose life trajectory is marked by the brave choices they made...

The High Cost of Cheap Sheger Bread Loaves

The first time I heard about the client experience of the much talked about Sheger Br...

Life Matters

Public Hygiene Goes Both Ways

There is much to complain about when it comes to public restrooms, many of which are unsightly and pungent due to a lack of proper hygiene a...

Scam Pandemic

It is amazing how people come with various tactics to deceive others. Every once in a while, we hear about a scam, some more common than oth...

Drop us a message

Or see contact page