On March 3, 2017, His Excellency, Minister of Education Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam, along with his close aides visited the British Council to discuss present and future collaborative projects. The major part of this two hours long meeting was devoted to the presentation of the British Council’s portfolio of works and undertaking discussion on possible courses of action in strengthening the long lasting commitment between the two organisations.
During the discussions the Minister indicated his strong interest to involve BC in a number of ventures. The national assessment (including English and other subjects) is one area which was earmarked for the collaboration. Teacher Development, especially in English, is yet another.
The British Council’s signature program, APTIS, also received a very good reception and the Ministry is interested in exploring ways of utilising this for its teachers and leadership team development.
40 years ago the Ministry of Education opened an ICT centre. This was done through the help of the British Council and the head of the centre was a British Council Staff. This ICT centre now has, Dr Shiferaw indicated, 12 channels and he is interested to get the British Council on board to broadcast educational content to both students and parents.
It was also pointed out that the Ethiopian Ministry of Education is highly interested in applying for the Grant / funding opportunity availed by the British Government.
Moreover, the Minister himself, volunteered to send an official letter to all Universities, TVET’s etc about the MOOC that the British Council provides so that these resources will be utilised.
Last but not least, His Excellency, Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam, provided the British Council Ethiopia team with an opportunity to do a similar presentation in a meeting that took place on March 9 which saw all regional education bureau heads and teachers’ association leaders (i.e. from all over Ethiopia) attend. During this meeting the British Council team highlighted the organisation’s range of resources so that the participants can make proper use of them when they go back to their facilities and schools.
During the meeting the Minister of Education team members expressed their appreciation of the British Council and the Quality Education Strategic Support Programme (QESSP) which, in the Minister’s own words, is ‘a wonderful job and a very friendly arrangement by whoever designed it.’
