Education in Ethiopia
Partner since:
Total grant support: US$745,352,518
Grant eligibility:
- Multiplier
- Girls' Education Accelerator
- System capacity
- System transformation
Transforming education in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has achieved remarkable progress in expanding access to education over the past twenty years, but challenges related to equity remain significant, and learning outcomes have declined in recent years.
Numerous crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict situations, drought and floods have forced millions of children out of school since 2021. As of 2022, around 90% of 10-year-old children lacked basic reading skills.
Ethiopia is working with GPE and other partners to improve learning outcomes with a focus on equity. As prioritized in the country’s Education Sector Development Plan 2020-2025, the government aims to enhance the quality of teaching and learning by better supporting school leaders and teachers with training, aligning teaching and learning materials to the new curriculum, and establishing more effective quality assurance mechanisms.
To improve access to education, Ethiopia and partners will reconstruct damaged schools, establish school feeding programs where needed, and implement accelerated learning programs for children who have dropped out of school.
Additional interventions to make the education in Ethiopia more equitable and inclusive include community awareness programs on the barriers to education for girls and children with disabilities, among others.
Result story
Key data
30%
out-of-school rate for children of lower-secondary school age
42%
of children start learning one year before entering primary school
Grants
(data as of March 28, 2025)
-
Type: Multiplier
Years: 2021 - 2025
Allocation: US$20,000,000
Utilization: US$12,800,000
Grant agent: World Bank
-
Objectives:
- Harmonize services at refugee primary schools
- Integrate refugee secondary education
- Innovate to address key challenges in refugee education
- Scale up the Investment Project Financing to support capacity building activities
Document:
Civil society engagement
As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting the Basic Education Network Ethiopia (BEN-E) for the 2024-2026 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).
Knowledge and innovation
- Ethiopia is part of the KIX Africa 19 regional hub.
- KIX research projects:
- Better inclusive early learning and development at scale (BIELDS)
- Scaling-up innovative gender, inclusion and safeguarding approaches in education: Evidence from Malawi, Uganda and Ethiopia
- ‘Tuseme’ innovation strategies for achieving gender equality and social inclusion in refugee and internally displaced communities
- Women in learning leadership: Advancing gender-responsive education using evidence
Latest blogs and news
January 29, 2025
What evidence and lessons from KIX research over the past 5 years sought to strengthen early childhood education? And what efforts were made to scale up the impact of innovations? Read to find out.
December 12, 2024
How GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange is supporting the scaling of promising or proven innovations that address education access and retention for out-of-school children and youth.
November 20, 2024
In Tigray, Ethiopia, programs supported by The Luminos Fund help thousands of out-of-school children catch up to grade level, reintegrate into government schools and prepare for lifelong learning.