Ethiopia: Over 4.5m Students Still Out of School Despite Extended Registration in War-Torn Amhara Region
Addis Abeba — Despite a previous announcement extending student registration until March 9 due to “security challenges” and low enrollment, the Amhara Regional Education Bureau has stated that more than 4.5 million students remain out of school, with over 3,600 schools closed across the region.
The latest figures show an increase by more than half a million students since October 2023 when the regional state’s Education Bureau released a report stating that around 3.9 million primary and secondary students, out of the total six million eligible children, were unable to pursue their education during the 2023 academic year.
Demis Endris, Deputy Head of the Amhara Regional Education Bureau, stated that “more than 4.5 million students are out of school due to security problems,” adding that “over 3,600 schools have been closed as a result.”
Demis warned that if the situation persists, “tomorrow, an Amhara mother will not have a child to graduate from university.” He further stated, “We will not have children who we can educate and deploy to different parts of the world as we have been doing until now.”
The Amhara region has been struggling with disruptions to education amid a militarized conflict between government forces and non-state Fano militias, which has resulted in civilian casualties, school shutdowns, and disruptions to aid delivery.
A previous forum on higher education in the region reported that 4.7 million children were out of school and over 6 million people required food assistance.
Demis also claimed that teachers and school administrators who “accepted national citizenship obligations” and are “working to fulfill their professional oaths” have been subjected to “killings, detentions, and harassment.”
According to Dems, the ongoing security challenges are causing “a severe black scar in history,” urging “all natives of the region, Ethiopians, and the international community” to condemn the attacks on educators.
The Bureau’s statement, shared on its official social media page, further asserted that teachers, whom Dems described as “second parents to their students,” are “working tirelessly to transition generations to the light of knowledge” but are facing “terrible abuses.”
He stated that educators have been detained, killed, and displaced for “the reason of ‘why are you teaching?”‘ and emphasized that such acts must stop.
Last week, Addis Standard reported, citing local residents, that 11 teachers were killed in Merawi town, North Gojjam Zone, following the renewed conflict between government forces and Fano militants in the Amhara region.
A resident who requested anonymity for safety reasons explained that the militants took the teachers from their homes and questioned, “why are you teaching?” before killing them. The Amhara Region Communication Bureau confirmed the killings, stating that “teachers, fathers of knowledge, were killed after being asked ‘why are you teaching?”‘
In February 2025, Addis Standard also reported that 13 teachers from Kore Elementary School in Gonji Qolela district, North Gojjam Zone, were abducted by individuals described as “Fano militants.”
Family members stated that the militants, who had previously ordered schools to remain closed, kidnapped the teachers and demanded a ransom of 50,000 birr per captive, warning, “We are fighting against the system; why are you teaching?”
Crédito: Link de origem