In concluding this extended series of articles on Ethiopian education, reference may be made to the Fascist attitude to education for “natives”, which had a profound effect on education in Ethiopia in the period after 1936. Fascist policy was, generally speaking, opposed, to the creation of an educated “native” elite, and to any kind of training, which would enable “natives” to compete with “nationals”, i.e. Italians. The Philosophy of Benito Mussolini Himself The philosophy behind this policy was stated, in…

The British and Foreign Bible Society During the pre-war years under review, the British and Foreign Bible Society was also active. It opened a new Addis Ababa headquarters on 13 May 1926, on which occasion the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, emphasised the importance of the Society’s work. He recalled that in former times the Bible was only available in Ethiopia in Ge‘ez, and was hence “not found in the hands of those who knew only Amharic.” Moreover, being available only…

We saw in recent weeks that the years prior to the Italian fascist invasion of 1935 witnessed a significant expansion of both Government and Missionary education in Ethiopia. Subsidised Government Education One of the most important developments of this period, which has passed unnoticed by many historians of Ethiopia is that students who founded the Tafari Makonnen School, as we have seen, in 1925, were, two years later, given a monthly allowance of three Ethiopian dollars, or Maria Theresa thalers,…

The reign of Menilek, and the establishment of Addis Ababa, led to a significant expansion, and in due course modernisation, of Ethiopian education. The reforming monarch, though himself a man of little formal schooling, and no exposure to foreign teaching, was profoundly conscious of the country’s need for a modern type of instruction. Such education was required, as he saw it, to maintain the country’s historic independence. This need was forcefully expressed by Ashaber Gabra Heywat, a foreign-educated Ethiopian young…

Traditional Ethiopian literature was largely religious, both in form and content. “Ecclesiastical in Character”: The great German scholar of Ethiopian culture, August Dillmann, emphasising the above point, once declared that the Ge’ez language was: “cultivated for literary purposes mainly in the service of religion and of the Church. The large majority of the extant writings are of ecclesiastical character. These had their basis in the versions of the Books of the Old and New Testaments, in the widest acceptation of…

Let us turn this week to the history of foreign scholarship in Ethiopia, and consider today, and next Friday, the case of Italy. Historically linked Ethiopia and Italy were historically linked by both geography and religion. Italy, from the point of view of Ethiopian Christians, was the nearest major European Christian country, and as such, the most accessible. Ethiopia, virtually the only Christian polity outside Europe, was likewise, from the point of view of Italian Christians, within easier reach than…

Menilek, as we saw last week, was fully alive to the need for modern education in Ethiopia. He had, however, to overcome strong opposition on the part of the Orthodox Church, which saw such education (perhaps rightly!) as a challenge to traditional Ethiopian religious values. The astute, and innovating, monarch resolved the issue with the help of Abuna Matwos, the Head of the Ethiopian Church. The prelate, like all such religious leaders of the past, was of course an Egyptian…

Missionary education in Ethiopia developed rapidly throughout the nineteenth century. One of the first missionary schools of the period was founded in Shawa, in the 1830s, by the London-based German Protestant missionaries Isenberg and Krapf. The language of instruction was Amharic. A generation later three other Protestant missionaries, Flad, Brandais and Staiger, operated small schools in and around Bagemder. One such place of study was at Emperor Tewodros’s capital, Maqdala. Such schools had an average enrolment of perhaps thirty to…

We saw last week that a number of young Ethiopians went abroad for study abroad, in the nineteenth century, some, but by no means all, under missionary auspices. Now read on: Mikael Aragawi One of several young Ethiopians educated by Protestant missionaries, in the second half of the nineteenth century, was, as we saw last week, Mikael Aragawi, a Falasha convert to Christianity, who had studied at Chrischona in Switzerland. Mikeal Aragawi, though deeply was not exclusively interested in matters…

A second missionary printing effort was made in the following decade at Keren, then under Egyptian suzerainty. The French Lazarists installed a small press there in 1879, and began printing missionary works. These included a Psalter and Hymn Book, in Amharic; a Ge’ez-Amharic grammar, and several religious works. Among the latter were books on Christian Doctrine, the “Initiation of Christ”, a Life of Christ, and Spiritual Exercises, all four in Amharic; also one work in Tigrinya, and another in Ge’ez….

We saw last week that Ethiopia had a long established system of Church education, in which students advanced from one stage to the next. Now read on about specialised studies: Memorisation After the students had been read and studied the Psalms, the Qal Timhert, or oral lessons, would begin. The whole of Psalms would be committed to memory, with proper stress and intonation. Other work in this stage would include the study of the Waddese Amlak, or Praises to God,…

Pre-war’s Ethiopia’s educational system began to take shape after the Emperor Haile Sellassie’s coronation in 1930. At that time a Ministry of Education and Fine Arts was established under Blattengetta Sahlu Sedalu, a former graduate of the Menilek School. The Ministry’s First Secretary was Ato Kidina Mariam Aberra. The Ministry, according to Zervos, was then allotted 2 per cent of the Treasury’s revenue, besides the special education tax mentioned in a previous article. Other action was also taken. The Emperor…

The 1920s, as we saw last week, were a time when increasing numbers of young Ethiopians were despatched for study abroad. This policy was actively promoted by the then ruler, the Regent and Heir to the Throne, Ras Tafari Makonnen. His attitude to this educational enterprise is apparent from a speech which he made, on 17 December 1926, when receiving a batch of twenty-one students prior to their departure. In this address, which was characteristic of his approach to youth,…

We saw last week that Ethiopian education advanced significantly in the 1920s, and that the then ruler, the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, identified himself passionately with the idea of its modernisation. We must now turn to parallel – and no less important – developments in the field of printing. Prize-giving Before doing so, however, let us take one last glimpse at the Regent’s educational ideas, as expressed at the Menilek School’s prize-giving on 6 August 6, 1928. This speech, which…

The founding of the Tafari Makonnen School, mentioned in last week’s issue, was followed, in January 1926, by the introduction, by Regent Tafari, of an Education Tax. Based on a six per cent ad valorum tax on all imports and exports, it was expected to raise a revenue of 240,000 Maria Theresa dollars a year. One-third of that amount was needed to defray the costs of the Tafari Makonnen School leaving relatively little for the country as a whole. Tafari…