is 435,071 sq miles and is located in the eastern-most part
of the African in the region known as the Horn of Africa. Bordering
Ethiopia is Somalia to the east, Sudan to the west and Kenya
to the south.
Within Ethiopia is a massive mountain range divided by the Great
Rift Valley which runs generally northeast to southwest and
is surrounded by lowlands
Ethiopia has a great diversity of terrains which results in
wide variations in climate, natural vegetation and peoples.
Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million
in 1983 to 75.1 million in 2006. The country's population
is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic
language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigray make up more than three-quarters
of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic
groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000
Education in Ethiopia has been dominated by
the Orthodox Church for many centuries until secular education
was adopted in the early 1900s. The elites, mostly Christians
and central ethnic Amhara population, had the most privilege
until 1974, when the government tried to reach the rural areas.
In fact, until right now, it is only the elite Christians who
have better chance to higher education. Languages other than
Amharic are supressed. Oromo, for example wasn't allowed in
the educational institutions. The current system follows very
similar school expansion schemes to the rural areas as the previous
1980s system with an addition of deeper regionalisation giving
rural education in their own languages starting at the elementary
level and with more budget allocated to the Education Sector.
The sequence of general education in Ethiopia is six years of
primary school, four years of lower secondary school and two
years of higher secondary school.