IMHO Ethiopia Report on Deaf Education

Education and Empowerment of Deaf Youth in Ethiopia An Initiative of the International Medical Health Organization (IMHO)

June 2011

Inside Understanding the Need for Deaf Services in Ethiopia

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Challenges of Being Deaf in Ethiopia

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Status of Deaf Youth in Education

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IMHO’s Plans and Potential Interventions

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Deaf Schools in the Amhara Region

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Key International Standards on Disabilities

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Support Our Work

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Understanding the Need for Deaf Services in Ethiopia Following an initial visit in October 2010 by volunteers representing the International Medical Health Organization (IMHO), the organization has undertaken a number of efforts in Ethiopia. Chief amongst these efforts is supporting and developing the Yekatit 23 School for the Deaf in Bahir Dar in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. This particular report will focus on the issues facing deaf youth in the Amhara Region and will outline their needs and possible interventions. The Amhara Region is one of 9 administrative regions in Ethiopia with a population of approximately 18 million people.

According to the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, as of 2004, 28% of the total population had access to safe drinking water, of whom 19.89% were rural inhabitants and 91.8% were urban. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Amhara as of 2005 include: 17.5% of inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 54% and for women is 25.1%; and regional infant mortality rate is 94 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is greater than the national average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.1 This area has had a legacy of under-development, evidenced by the fact that 90.4% of the rural community has no access to potable

Education and Empowerment of Deaf Youth in Ethiopia

Amhara Region

The deaf population in Ethiopia has been estimated as being anywhere between 335,000 and 1 million.

Deaf youth face innumerable challenges, including exclusion from academic and professional opportunities, stigma, and more water, 56% lack health services, and 53.7% of school age children do not have access to any education whatsoever. Primary education benefits only 46.3% of the population, and secondary education reaches a mere 6.3%. The low levels of agriculture productivity, combined with the continual sub-divisions of land due to rural population increase and recurrent drought in parts of the region, result in approximately 3.5 million people (almost 25% of the population) being left food insecure.

Needless to say, as the second most populous country in Africa and one of the world’s least developed country, the reality is that life is a daily struggle for millions. Thus, when it comes to offering services to deaf or disabled youth, Ethiopia has a long way to go in serving this vulnerable demographic.

A 2011 report on empowering the deaf in Africa recently stated, “Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa. However, at present there is no clear data on the deaf population in Ethiopia. The 1994 national population census put the number of deaf people at about 194,000. A study conducted by UNICEF in 1990 however reported that out of the country’s population 3.5-4.0 % are disabled.

Whereas research conducted by the Institute for Educational Research, Ethiopia shows that the percentage of the population with disabilities is 3.0 out of which 14.4% are deaf. This makes the number of D/deaf people approximately 335,250.

The Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf (ENAD) claims the deaf population is more than one million.”2 Unfortunately, no one yet knows the full extent of the problem.

Challenges of Being Deaf in Ethiopia Deaf persons face many challenges in their lives.

These problems are only exacerbated in developing countries where resources, services, education, and employment for deaf persons are highly infrequent and exceedingly undeveloped.

One of the greatest challenges deaf people face in Ethiopia on an everyday basis is the stigma attached to deafness. Until Ethiopia’s new federal constitution took effect in 1995, deaf people were categorized in criminal and civil codes as being mentally retarded, and restrictions were imposed on them with regard to holding properties, joining the workforce, and being legally accountable. Additionally, the deaf were excluded from financial support that other disabled students have traditionally enjoyed.

1 Wikipedia.org

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2 “The Role of Foreing Aid in Empowering the D/deaf in Africa, a Case Study of Ethiopia” by Pawlos K. Abebe, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Education and Empowerment of Deaf Youth in Ethiopia In fact, some have held that there is no known effort that has been undertaken by the government aimed specifically at empowering the deaf. Such formal discrimination contributed to societal prejudice and mistreatment, with many deaf people being hidden away and essentially barred from participating in daily public life. Unemployment is also a major challenge for members of the deaf community in Ethiopia. They are unable to get employment due to their poor educational level and societal misconception that they are not capable people who can handle responsibility. Beyond this, educational disadvantages highlight an entire realm of challenges that perhaps constitute the greatest barrier prohibiting deaf persons from leading truly meaningful and integrated lives.

Status of Deaf Youth in Education

According to the most recent data published in 2001 by the World Health Organization (WHO): "...250 million people in the world have disabling hearing impairment (moderate or worse hearing impairment in the better ear). Two‐thirds of these people live in developing countries."

Most deaf children in Ethiopia are either left out of the educational system entirely or are forced to learn alongside their hearing-able peers, in which case very little is actually learned at all. Considering the majority of all youth in the Amhara Region are left out of the formal education system completely, the obstacles for deaf children to participate in even primary education are much greater. For those schools that do have special classrooms set up for deaf students, nearly all only offer instruction for deaf youth up to Grade 4, at which point they are integrated with the rest of their peers. Subsequently, many do not go on with their studies or, understandably, cannot keep up because of obvious barriers. Another startling reality is that the age range of students in deaf classrooms varies wildly from young children all the way up to adults, which demonstrates just how late deaf people are brought in to the formal education system and low educational standards are amongst this community. Reasons for this range from not knowing about any school opportunities, being prevented from entering school due to stigma, rural isolation, or poverty.

Current official records show that there are 22 schools in the Amhara Region offering instruction for deaf students, although there is no public information to measure academic standards amongst these youth or the quality of the education they receive.

Additionally, it is unclear whether the teachers in the deaf classrooms have been formally and adequately trained or are themselves proficient in Ethiopian Sign Language. There is great need to conduct a needs assessment across the region in order to determine how many deaf youth there are, what percentage are not benefitting from any education or other social services, how deaf youth are performing academically and professionally, what types of services are available to them, what challenges and barriers they are facing regularly, and more generally what their needs are. During this process, it should become much more clear to those engaged in and committed to serving the deaf community what the core areas for engagement and support should be.

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Education and Empowerment of Deaf Youth in Ethiopia

IMHO’s Plans and Potential Interventions With such vast needs and so little currently being done, IMHO faces many challenges in engaging deaf youth and improving educational standards and opportunities, as well as preparing and connecting youth with professional opportunities and livelihoods, and instilling valuable life skills in them so that they may lead healthy and productive lives. Following an initial visit to the Yekatit 23 School in Bahir Dar by a team of IMHO volunteers in October 2010, IMHO has chosen to focus its efforts on improving and developing this school. Depending on the success of our efforts there and the lessons we are sure to learn, IMHO may look to a wider project in the future. However, there is much to be done at this one school alone. Our intent is to make this school a model for deaf education in the Amhara Region and in Ethiopia, taking a holistic approach to the project and creating quality programming that seeks to educate and empower the individual. In order to do so, IMHO is exploring potential interventions, including:

Phase I • Conduct a local needs assessment to gather key data on the number of deaf youth, vital relevant statistics, needs/challenges, etc., and document the need for such support. Create a local directory of deaf youth not presently receiving an education who could be served.

• Coordinate the provision of school supplies and learning materials, such as books (English & Amharic, sign language), art supplies, sports equipment, games/toys, teaching aides, general supplies, etc.

• Identify and recruit new teachers. Coordinate teacher trainings for new and existing staff through the Addis Ababa University program for Sign Language and Deaf Studies.

Phase II • Develop academic curriculum, extracurricular programs, professional counseling, and other vital student services.

• Provide free language instruction and care/coping courses for families and community members.

• Organize transportation for deaf children needing to travel long distances to/from school each day.

• Develop a scholarship program for further academic and professional assistance to students.

Phase III

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• Construct new classrooms and a residential compound for students and staff. Develop and enact a full development plan, appealing to Ministry of Education, INGOs, and other potential sources for support.

Deaf Schools in the Amhara Region Offers instruction up to Grade 8: Bakel Primary School, Finote Selam (teaches Ethiopian and American Sign Language; offers income-generating programs) Offers Instruction up to Grade 6: Tabor School, Debre Tabor Offers Instruction up to Grade 4: Kombolcha School for the Deaf, Kombolcka Amba Giorgis School, Amba Giorgis Melka Kole School, Woldiyar Masha School, Mekdela Adet School, Adet Kosober School, Enhibara Dembecha School, Dembecha Yekatit 23, Bahir Dar Mengesha Jenberie School, Dangla Tigil Frie School, Dessie Efeson No. 1, Attaye Ras Bit. Mengesha Ateikem, Bure Leu. Gen. Hailu Kebede School, Sekotta Nigus Teklehaymanot School, Debre Markos Tsadiku Yohannes School, Gonder Nefas Mawucha School, Nefas Mawucha Atse Zera Yaecob School, Debre Birhan Dur-Bete School, Dur-Bete Offers Instruction up to Grade 2: Lege-Amhara School, Mekane Selam Akesta School, Akesta

Ethiopia: Key International Standards on Disabilities Ethiopia is party to the following international agreements: • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, 1958, (No. 111). Status: ratified, 11 June 1966.

• ILO Convention concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1983, (No. 159). Status: ratified, 28 January 1991.

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and Optional Protocol. Status: signed on 30 March 2007, not yet ratified. Optional Protocol not ratified.

• Ethiopia also works to implement the Action Plan established for the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, extended to December 2019.

Education and Empowerment of Deaf Youth in Ethiopia

As reported by the Federation of Ethiopian National Association of Persons with Disabilitieis (FENAPD), “Poverty is both the cause and consequence of disability in the country. The prevalent traditional beliefs associated with the causes of disabilities, the unfavorable pejorative attitudes that underscore the potential inabilities rather than the potential abilities of [people with disabilities], and the absence of reliable statistical data and information have undermined both the effort to prevent disability and the socio-economic integration of PWDs…At To learn more about present, persons with disabilities belong to one of the poorest of the poor segments of society. Their exclusion from accessing the basic IMHO and our social and economic opportunities, such as education, health, efforts or to make a employment, the country provides to its citizens, is still their current situation, making them more voiceless donation, please visit aggravating and helpless.” The need to act is imperative. The time to act is now. our website at Will you help us make a difference??

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Please Support Our Work If you have been moved, inspired, or motivated by what you have read here, please get involved with IMHO and help support our efforts in Ethiopia! Volunteers and donations are always welcome. Please email Greg Buie, IMHO Programs Coordinator at coordinator@theimho.org if you’re interested in getting involved. Or send your tax-deductible donation (tax ID#593779465) earmarked for “Ethiopia: Deaf Project” to:

IMHO Treasurer P.O. Box 61265 Staten Island, NY 10306