Higher Education and Ethiopia’s State of Emergency
By Ayenachew Woldegiyorgis
(Inside Higher Ed) — For a year now, Ethiopia has confronted protests in Oromia, the largest regional state. The protest started in opposition to the expansion plan of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia towns and villages. Then the protest engaged the second largest regional state, Amhara, contributing to further political tensions.
Following a stampede that took place during the celebration of thanksgiving by the Oromo people on October 2nd that left dozens of people dead, the protest intensified. The country descended into turmoil it has not seen in over a decade. On October 9th, the government of Ethiopia declared a six-month state of emergency that imposed restrictions on a wide array of rights while granting the prime minister a sweeping power.
The detailed directive for the execution of the state of emergency contained 31 articles. Three of the 31 articles refer to education institutions. Article 5 prohibits “conducting strikes that disturb the learning and teaching process, shutting down educational institutions or causing damage to these institutions”. Article 28 gives unprecedented authority to law enforcement officers, to detain and conduct search and seizure without a court warrant, and monitor and restrict any communication (radio, television, writings, images, photograph, theater and film). Sub-article 7 specifically grants power to legal officers to take measures against students and employees who participate in the disturbance of academic institutions; and to order the institutions themselves to take administrative measures. Finally, Article 30 states that, as for other private and government institutions, law enforcement “may enter schools, universities, [or] other higher education institutions, and take necessary measures to stop disturbances and detain the persons involved”.
These provisions underscore the current gloomy environment of Ethiopian higher education. Ethiopian higher education institutions have been a hotbed of protest and resistance to political power since the 1960s. Therefore, the relationship between universities and government has always been a precarious one.
Since 2014, university students have been very active in the Oromo protest. In many public universities on-campus demonstrations, sit-ins, boycotts of cafeteria services, and so on have been held, to which government forces responded by arresting students involved in the protest and taking administrative measures against them. One month into the state of emergency, the state media announced that 11,607 people had been arrested. Though details are not officially available, anyone who is familiar with Ethiopian politics can guess that a sizable number would be from the universities.
The declaration of the state of emergency has a direct and serious impact on higher education institutions and their operation. Some of the adversary effects may be immediate and last only during the state of emergency while most will be, unfortunately, long lasting.
University administrators, leaders, student representatives, leaders of academic units and even faculty are likely to be intensely engaged in ad-hoc structures and activities focused on security matters. The bureaucratic and academic structure within the universities would be largely dominated by this parallel political structure. Key resources and the attention of top management would be directed toward the political agenda instead of pursuing strategic institutional goals. In addition to the clear misuse of public resources, this could wipe out the momentum that was slowly building up in some universities towards improvement.
One of the measures taken by the government since the declaration of the state of emergency is restricted access to the internet. While the teaching-learning process in an Ethiopian university does not typically depend on online resources, this could affect partnership projects, scientific collaborations, research fieldwork, etc. In recent years many of the major universities have demonstrated a growing commitment to research, often conducted in partnership with universities abroad. However, this state of emergency may not only disrupt current work, but also cause potential partners to hesitate to engage in future collaborations.
The ever-fragile academic freedom is the most obvious victim of these measures. The command post is endowed with the authority to monitor and restrict any form of communication. It also has the power to respond as it sees fit on any act of “incitement and communication that causes public disturbance and riots”. Though the obvious goal of this restriction is to control the circulation of inflammatory messages, it is not clear what counts as causing public disturbance. In the polarized political environment of Ethiopian public higher education, it is not uncommon for faculty to be censored by their students in the classroom, by the administration or by their own peers. Further, this contributes to the “with-us-or-against-us” sort of mentality and incentivizes some individuals to seize the opportunity to gain power by showing political loyalty, consequently causing damage to collegial relationships and civil dialog. Under these circumstances, academic freedom, close to non-existent even in good times, is now in serious jeopardy.
This scenario could contribute to the already severe problem of brain drain. Given the circumstances, those who have the chance— particularly the younger university teachers— would try harder to leave the country, while those already abroad are less likely to return home. The long term impact of increasing brain drain is immeasurable.
Different countries have issued travel warnings to Ethiopia. Though the government offered assurance that tourists can freely travel to any part of the country, several tour operators in different countries are reported to have canceled trips to Ethiopia. This also affects the in-bound mobility of international students. Although there is no official data in this regard, there has been a discernable growth, in recent years, in the number of students and faculty, particularly from Europe, doing short term visits to Ethiopian universities. The image and conditions generated by the state of emergency are going to affect the attractiveness of the country as a destination for mobile students and scholars for years to come.
Further, the aftermath of the state of emergency will likely impact the academic calendar and scheduling, the assignment of new students to the different universities (in line with their ethnic backgrounds and the regions they would go to), the nature and extent of extracurricular activities, and the space for engagement in critical thinking and constructive dialog.
This situation allows for abuse of power—emotional and physical harassment are likely to prevail. Learning requires a peaceful environment. With the current militarization of the university and the prevailing tension, serious learning is very unlikely to happen. This is a big set back to the pale glimpse of hope that Ethiopian higher education was beginning to see.
Ayenachew A. Woldegiyorgis is a graduate assistant and a doctoral student at the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College.
Related:
How TPLF/EPRDF Killed Higher Education in Ethiopia?
By Alem Mamo, November 11, 2016
TPLF/EPRDF’s major bragging source over the last number of years has been its ‘achievements’ in the education sector, particularly in university education. The ruling group constantly brandishes its statics about the ‘expansion’ of higher learning in Ethiopia. What is not included in the fraudulent statistics is the obliteration of quality and depth of teaching and learning in these so-called ‘universities.’ As we have seen in most of the TPLF/EPRDF failed and corrupt policies the establishment of these so called ‘universities’ is nothing more than a construction contract to its own business conglomerates and university administration appointment to its loyal cadres.
The higher learning landscape in Ethiopia under TPLF/EPRDF suffers from four acute problems. First, there is a chronic lack of academic freedom and autonomy, which is an essential component for any university to discharge its responsibilities. Second, there is an absence of qualified and competent instructor and mentors. Third is the almost non-existent nature of 21st century tools, such Internet communication, and finally there is the occupation and control of higher learning institutions by uneducated TPLF/EPRDF cadres. These key factors, coupled with the overall social, economic, and political problems, continue to plague the country’s higher learning landscape equating to a level similar to the mass wedding ceremonies orchestrated by a religious group lead by a self-proclaimed messiah, such as Reverend Sun Myung Moon
In fact the assault on higher learning began in 1993 when TPLF/EPRDF fired 42 seasoned academics from Addis Ababa University and replaced them with its loyal cadres. Ever since then the ruling group has continued to destroy higher learning under the guise of ‘expanding’ education. Universities and educational institutions in general are places where students are taught how to think, instead of what to think. Furthermore, universities are places in which curious learners are provided with the tools and the support to conduct research that has practical values in the social, economic, and political life of the society. Instead, the regime has built political re-education camps where political cadres have the final word on the academic, social, and administrative life of an institution.
Indeed merit and qualification has never been TPLF/EPRDF’s s strong suit. Starting from senior cabinet positions to all the way to the lowest level of the administrative body they have appointed their cadres to run the country, and, quite frankly, the regime is not going to treat universities in any different way.
‘Massification’ of higher learning in Ethiopia, preferring quantity of graduates to quality, has reached a critical stage, and it is becoming very problematic to use the term ‘university’ to describe these diploma mills. In TPLF/EPRDF’s Ethiopia every institution is forced to be subordinate to the twisted ideology of the regime. The first and foremost pillar of a university anywhere in the world is autonomy and academic freedom. These two elements are the oxygen of a free learning and teaching environment. Contrary to this the ruling group maintains full control over these institutions depriving them the oxygen of freedom they desperately need to breath and function freely.
Maintaining its well-established destructive role TPLF/EPRDF is moulding higher learning institutions in its own image, and the image is not pretty. Infused with ugly and hate filled propaganda, the image of these so-called universities looks like this: (a) all of these institutions must maintain perceived or real ethnic polarization and tension;
(b) These institution must serve to promote TPLF/EPRDF’s divisive agenda; (c) all ‘university’ senior management, including presidents, must be members of the TPLF or TPLF manufactured political organizations; (d) critical thinking and questioning the prevailing orthodoxy equals terrorism; and (e) university campus informants are part and parcel of the security and surveillance structure of the regime.
The overall decline of the quality of higher learning in Ethiopia is evident in the African and world university rankings. Currently, according to the African Economist University Rankings, only one university out of 35 so-called universities in Ethiopia appears on the ranking chart. The rest are nowhere to be seen on any of university rankings.
We have come to be accustomed with TPLF/EPRDF lies, such us tyranny is democracy, repression is freedom, concentration of wealth in the hands of its inner circle is economic growth and development. The most tragic one is their political re-education camp ‘universities’.
Finally, one cannot understand the sad state of higher education in Ethiopia without understanding TPLF/EPRDF’s distractive political and economic agenda. Ultimately, these daunting challenges are intertwined and interconnected, therefore they only can find a solution when the fundamentals of the governance parameters are addressed. Freedom, justice, and democratic accountability are the only solution. In the meantime, those who are enrolled in these institutions should continue to demand better quality as part of their struggle for a free, just, and democratic society.
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