Towards a Transformative Science Education in Ethiopia-I
Part I – Backstory
Till the 18thcentury, the global population had quite a similar standard of living. Homogeneous peasants and fishermen who strive for mere security and food formed the global population. This is what is often called the Malthusian era where technological advancements only increase the population size without any long-term enhancement of the quality of life. Similar realities are shared by Ethiopia back then and now where agrarian living condition still dominates the livelihood of the majority of the population.
The advent of science and technology, however, dramatically changed this reality in the Western world, particularly after the 19thcentury. The seeds of philosophy from ancient Greek and the series of philosophical contributions throughout Europe seem to finally pay off producing a well-developed scientific tradition.
While Ethiopia was still in the chaotic period of the Era of the Princes in the 18thcentury, Isaac Newton formulated the three laws of motion. In the 19thCentury, when Atse Tewodros just recognized the unfortunate position of Ethiopia in terms of technological development, the Europeans already discovered the greenhouse effect, the theory of evolution, atomic theory, basic genetics, the list continues.
It should be noted, however, that many of the inventions of the industrial revolution were made possible by tinkers, artisans with little or no formal training in science education. The contribution of science grew only gradually where it took a central role for the latter more sophisticated inventions like metallurgical technology in the second half of the 19thcentury.
To catch-up with the advanced world, Ethiopia has been striving for over a century to introduce science in Ethiopia. The country established the first modern school and university in 1908and 1950respectively. In 2019, the number of public universities increased to over 40 with the annual number of graduates reaching over 100,000. I myself was a part of this effort both as a student and as a university lecturer in one of the pioneer universities in the country.
Yet, the success of the country in introducing science still remains a futile exercise. The country is still hugely dependent on the science of the developed world to design its policy, to treat its patients, to transport its people, and even to philosophize on life.
So what has gone wrong in our effort in introducing science to Ethiopia? In the following two posts, I attempt to answer this critical question that puzzled Ethiopian scholars for ages. In the next post, I will discuss whether science is a foreign or local concept to Ethiopia. This serves as a springboard for the last blog post of the series, which examines mistakes in introducing science in Ethiopia and potential remedies.
