New school curriculum to boost productivity

The Eritrean government is to introduce a new school curriculum for the next academic year aimed at boosting productivity. According to the official Shaebia website, Education Minister Osman Saleh said the new curriculum for the 2003-2004 academic year met international standards and "will enable students to be productive citizens once they finish school". He told a seminar of education workers in Assab that the current curriculum had "not been encouraging in terms of the students' efficiency to work after completing school". Grades 1-8 would be compulsory for all Eritreans, the minister said. Senior secondary education would be from grades 9-12, with the 12th grade taking place at the Sawa national military training centre in the west of the country. "Although the government does partially cover the education expenses for students in the 12th grade, they will also have to cover part of the expenses," Osman Saleh said, without elaborating. He urged parents, teachers and administrations to have an "active input" in the implementation of the programme. Meanwhile, in a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child this week, Eritrea's Labour Minister Askalu Menkorios said the number of teachers and of children in school had doubled over the last decade. However, she noted that spending on education was around seven percent, which was "too low", and said the government intended to increase this. "Education with regard to the rights of the child is mainly spread by radio in Eritrea, since this is the most common form of mass media, and the best tool for spreading information and awareness," Askalu added. She also told the committee that national military service was a must, and that 200,000 youngsters would soon be demobilised from the armed forces. "In the meantime, they are being used to improve the infrastructure of the country and to aid in the rehabilitation of the displaced," she stated.