Apartheid against Eritrean Professors in the Eritrean school system
By Fetsum Abraham In my last article, I discussed our sad and dangerous academic situation vis-à-vis all other Africans and specifically those in the East. You will find information about any university in the continent when you
By Fetsum Abraham
In my last article, I discussed our sad and dangerous academic situation vis-à-vis all other Africans and specifically those in the East.
You will find information about any university in the continent when you surf the Net but the following is what you will most probably see when you do it on Eritrea:
“Eritrea Universities and Colleges
There are no subcategories or links to display.
Experience: I grew up fascinated about the academic capacity of Eritreans that once dominated Addis Ababa University and used to wonder what the people academically can do after independence under the EPLF. Unfortunately, not only did the tortoise stop walking forward but it has been moon-walking backwards specially after 2003. As a Math teacher from Electrical Engineering background, I sometimes used to talk to new Eritrean refugees about school in restaurants and tend to test them on the most basic geometry called PYTHEAGORUS THEOREM, which is probably an 8th grade level Geometry in the US. To my resentment, I found the few kids that claim to have had high school education in Eritrea incapable of dealing with it: This was piece of cake for high school educated Eritreans back in the days.
Dr. Sara asks; ‘where would a college professor in the so called Eritrean colleges start to teach a student that comes there with extremely poor high school background? What do you do in English with one coming there without the knowledge of writing his/her name correctly and how much his GPA was?’
My question: Where do you start helping an Eritrean high school graduate in Math when the poor student cannot use PYTHEAGORUS THEOREM to tell the distance of a hypotenuse in a right angled triangle?
In so far as my grasp about the Eritrean education is concerned all the movements of UOA (University of Asmara) academic colleges out of Asmara were so disorganized to the point of disgust (Dr. Sara’s testimony). No one knew what should go where in the scattered colleges with extremely poor infrastructures to be considered schools. It was simply a chaos: the move was certainly not to promote higher education in Eritrea and teaching the kids to be constructive citizens of the societybut to accentuate a centralized government control for molding them towards unconditional obedience.
Dr. Sara said that the president is not the only cause of the problem but the system itself is. I fully agree: how can he do it without the opportunists who sold their individual freedom for personal advantages like Yemane Gebreab, Yemane Charlie (his advisor and, a person responsible for all the operations and all decision concerning all colleges) and the consecutive education ministers of the country immaterial who the current one may be?
Monkey indoctrinates Afwerkism, Charlie is a subtle worm that keeps on slaving unconditionally, and the minister/s of Education precisely knew what has been going on to the point.
The condition of women in the so called colleges (madabimada)
Dr. Sara testified that women are very few in number for seemingly symbolic image. She had a hard time expressing the condition of female students and employees in the so called colleges. She was emotional at times putting it as “very sad” when she tried to tell us that they don’t even have assistance (no offices to go for consultation): pregnant teachers work to the limit and transport back and forth from their homes till the last few days into giving birth. There is no leave of absence for them to secure their health and that of their babies. “You see them exhausted madabimada with sympathy from distance and helplessly live with it.”
I am not sure but I think I heard her say that there may be two or three Eritrean women professors left in the country where there is literally no higher education for students.
Apartheid against the native professors in UOA
It is crystal clear that Eritrea has been hell for us Eritreans and livable for foreigners because they have no obligation to meet the state requirements for citizenship (SAWA, etc). Ethiopians are more comfortable or in a better position there for example because they do not lose their kids for SAWA like the Eritreans. They conduct businesses normally while the remaining older Eritreans live in fear and extreme pressure from their government because of the networking nature of the 2% tax which now extends to abusing the rights of citizens with brothers, sisters or kids in the Diaspora.
Getting rid of the Diaspora through the 2% tax complications and enslaving the people through SAWA entrapment has made Eritrea the most difficult place for Eritreans to repatriate or live and one of the results is the staggering refugee crisis at hand. Can one conclude that Eritrea exercises apartheid against its people from this reality? Your answer is as good as mine would be.
The question is how the government treats educated Eritreans vis-à-vis foreigners for the same qualification and performance.
Discriminating educated Eritreans on the onset of liberation
EPLF was anti educated Eritreans in practice but had no capacity to avoid them during the struggle for independence. There are clear facts, however, that the creams of the society used to be bossed by unqualified and uneducated members of the struggle on purpose.
There were more than 25 overworked Medical Doctors directly serving the struggle as EPLF fighters but the president did not appreciate their outstanding collective effort after independence: he rather made it impossible for them to help the country like they did during the struggle.
Memory says that Sebhat Efrem was named the Minister of Health and the Chief of Stuff immediately after the Eritrean government was put to place after independence. Appointing the college dropout soldier for the Ministry of health position bypassing the qualified Doctors who equally served the struggle was nothing but an insult to the professionals and the society at large. Most of them left Eritrea at the end, Doctor Desbele, the head of the Eritrean Lens factory since the days of the struggle being the last to defect in Australia recently. Our country apparently has an inferior medical infrastructure today compared to the days of the struggle.
The government’s phobia against educated people is an all dimensional assault that expands to all fields of education.
Eritrea uses three methods of dehumanizing its intellectuals. The first is humiliation like what it did to the medical doctors in appointing Sebhat Erfrem for the health Minister of the country close to two decades ago. The second is intimidation like what Dr. Sara testified on the constant surveillance of the college communities through security personnel (sometimes referred to as Abalat) watching classes from outside through glass windows or through direct presence in the classes. The third is of course, by putting extraordinary economic pressure on them and openly discriminating them in relation to foreign teachers in the country.
On Quality of education in Eritrea (from the TESHAMO forum)
Q: How do you academically compare SAWA produced college students VS traditionally produced students from regular high school background?
A: There is no comparison between the two. The traditionally crafted college students used to be in hundreds in contrast to the SAWA produced morally hurt ones that number in single digits; yet incapable of handling the academic requirements of their cosmetic composure of education. She said the situation is still getting worse because “she had never seen a normal classroom arrangement for education” after UoA. The so called cream of society (best students) had a problem writing in English and neither could most of them individually answer similarly to the same question, meaning that they write something and give back the work load just to stay around.
Q: What are the students with degrees that we see in the media then?
A: The Professor answered this question realistically saying that the whole thing is confusing. The graduates with degrees have no educational substance of the claimed status. She said some students graduate faster than the ones who enroll in the so called colleges by passing the entrance exam. How can this be? She asked. In most cases kids with powerful relatives in the government graduate or pass their courses because of pressure from above on the teachers and arbitrary interference. She said that there are no legitimate graduates from those colleges in Eritrea and what we see in the media is targeted for nothing more than public consumption. Nevertheless, the students who fail the national exam go for some kinds of training in SAWA.
Eritrean style of recruiting foreign College Teachers
After a clue from Dr. Sara in TESHAMO, I went on researching and found few people who know a lot about the history of Eritrean higher education under this government. Here is the information:
“The recruitment of teachers is done this way.- staff from a ministry of education and the deans of colleges/ camps go to India and Pakistan and recruit teachers. A corrupt recruitment organization forwards the candidates to the staff and the deans recruit whoever they want. The candidates are not asked to pass IELTS (International English language test) as some countries like Ethiopian and Libya require it.”
Bribe in the management of this project (corruption)
“The Indians have said that they pay their recruiters. When they are in Eritrea they give gift to the deans. So if anyone complains about their work, it falls on deaf ears. Once they are in Eritrea there is no way their academic performance is evaluated or supervised. These foreigners go to an extent of hinting exam questions to their students, irresponsible invigilation during exams, to inflated grades”, says an internal source.
Discrimination between Eritrean and foreign college teachers
Professor Sara testified that; ‘During the “disorganized” movement of AU (UoA) departments/colleges out of Asmara, the foreign teachers were much better treated than the Eritrean professors. The buses had to serve them first at the expense of the native teachers that were served at secondary level of the arrangement. Until recently graduate assistants were not allowed to use the buses to and from Mai Nefhi at all. These young graduates are on national services salary and cannot afford bus fares. Doesn’t this remind you the Rosa Parks episode during the civil rights movement in segregated America that changed the face of the country once and for all the condition of native blacks in Apartheid South Africa?
On salary difference
The Professor said that, ““The salary of an Indian PhD (or one with a doggy credentials) rates between $1600-2400 and an Eritrean PhD, one who is not on national service rates 5300-5500 Nakfa gross and 4000 Nakfa net, meaning that the Eritrean salary becomes $100 at the rate of $1-40 Nakfa.
On top of this the [foreigners] have 5000 Nakfa housing allowance, meaning that a [foreigner’s] allowance is equivalent to the salary of an Eritrean professor.”
The rate of economic Apartheid here should then mathematically be 1600-2400% against the Eritreans.
Q: would you then conclude that Eritrea practices South African style Apartheid or American style racial discrimination against colored people against its people on the question of treating its domestic and foreign professors?
A: The Professor affirmatively responded to the question in my recollection, though I stand ready to be corrected.
Academic freedom and CONTROL
DR. Sara further said that social science oriented research is highly discouraged in the fake institutions that they call colleges. To worsen it, the government controls the movement of the native teachers at the presidential office level of the relationship; meaning that the office stays aware of their movements all the time. A professor that quits the job without an approved letter of resignation cannot work in other sectors (NGOs, etc) and can neither leave the country legally. This person looses the right of movement and employment in one’s country for just quitting a job without permission. One young man was pulled out of one of the UN offices because he did not have ‘the’ letter.
The Orota College of pharmacy employs “Cubans and Indians instead of Eritreans” who are meticulously conditioned to get lost out the academic scene. There were native teachers in Law department who left that college after getting tired of sitting idle for 3-4 years without students (no enrolment). The system demoralizes Eritrean scholars to stay away so that it can effectuate its policy of IGNORANCE without any challenge. In short, the colleges in Orota, Mai Nefhi and Adikeih teach junior high school level English to the very few students declared to have passed the entrance exam: One can expect the same to other departments.
The Professor’s assessment of the Diaspora in the resistance
Excuse the napping Eritrean intellectuals that are still indirectly helping the regime through fear or opportunism induced quietism (my conclusion), but the youth is energetic and willing to do something except that it has no direction and does not know how to navigate the direct call of our people for freedom. The youth “lacks the ability to communicate in a professional and strategically civilized manner”. It has the tendency to pollute common responsibilities by injecting personal grudges. The youth does not “tolerate each other” because it does not understand the concept of democracy. She said the Eritrean problem was “simple to solve through unity” but in vain because of the rigid and obstinate culture of the citizens in the resistance. She said that the youth has so far failed to initiate any practical motion towards unifying our forces scattered all over the world, says the Professor and affirmatively suggested that there is “help available from the very few intellectuals in the resistance including herself that can change the mentality of the youth democratically” but there is no drive to utilize this potential because of power struggle and lack of focus (my opinion included) needless to say that no one can twist the hands of the dormant intellectual brains into assisting the resistance except personal interest.
Nega Belay July 4, 2013
I have never seen the most retarded guy as Belay Nega . He is still in the armed struggle mentality (1960-1991 ).
And it is really interesting to see him worshiping a bastard guy like the mad dog. plus he calls him , he is the one who gave us the Eritrean identity . What a crap . I think this guy has lost a complete confidence in himself .
Ato Belay try to be yourself before being an Eritrean or Ethiopia . That comes by choice not by birth .I am Eritran because I want to be .
belay nega July 4, 2013
.” He is still in the armed struggle mentality (1960-1991 ).”
that is the main reason why the world never mention about you……….you narrow mind
ahmed saleh July 4, 2013
Belay nega
Open your eyes and ears . He just told you to free your self from the past ( ZEBEB INI_INI ) and think
modern .
belay nega July 4, 2013
ahmed saleh
“Open your eyes and ears ……”
First thanks for your concern,if I am not mistaken there is no opening eyes and ears more than revealing Ethiopian conspiracy.Apart from that his comment was not genuine, because from the very moment he choose that pen name to confuse readers with my real name.
Constructive corrections are accepted when they are coming out of genuine Eritreans like respectable MIGHTY EMBASOIRA and alike.
Aman July 4, 2013
The topic the writer opens could have raised many discussion points but went on irrelevant and immaterial to the subject matter.
There is one thing I want to underline and write about which I find very far and away from the reality. Here it is, ‘Ethiopians are more comfortable or in a better position there for example because they do not lose their kids for SAWA like the Eritreans. They conduct businesses normally while the remaining older Eritreans live in fear and extreme pressure from their government because of the networking nature of the 2% tax which now extends to abusing the rights of citizens with brothers, sisters or kids in the Diaspora.”
Seriously? Have you ever talk to any Ethiopian who lives in Eritrea before you put raise your pen to make this comparison? Do you know that any colonel in Asmara or any other zoba can kick out Ethiopians from their houses and put his family or mistress in their property? Do you know that all Ethiopians have to renew their residence papers paying thousands of Nakfa every year and fear of deportation every time they do that? Do you know that almost all business that were owned by Ethiopians are now sole properties of some rich Eritreans or military affiliate people because the former are forced to leave Eritrea? Do you know that Ethiopians in Gash-Barka and S.R Sea (Assab) are subjected to day to day humiliation just because they are Ethiopians? Do you know that all Ethiopian youth in Assab are thrown behind bar before for the May 24 beal naxinet and released after May 26? Do you know that Ethiopians don’t even want others to know that they are Ethiopian for fear of being isolated? I am talking about ordinary Ethiopians who have lived all their lives in Eritrea, come to Eritrea as Economic refugees or even are results of intermarriage. The stories can go on and on.
You could have just omitted this part of your article and may be made the comparison Eritrean of Italian or Arabic or Rashaida origin or even Eritreans from the diaspora who are first class citizens.
NIHATELATAT July 5, 2013
BEZI ATINE SEB AZI AMBER……TSEGEM ANTELEWO KEYDU BRET ZEYLIAL ANTAY GBERU YBLENA NAANA.WEY MEKELEKHA KID.ABZI AYNI SEB AYTEHMIM FUTSUM ZIBLUKHA AB MEKELE ANTEABEYE NAANA ANTAY GBERU YBLENA.AAMAN KIFENAQL TEKHEKH ELU WAGA NIZEYBLU HASHSAKA KKKKKKKK
Mehret July 5, 2013
ember hatelatat!
Facts-ain't-Pretenders! July 6, 2013
Ato Fetsum,
your points on the opposition, on obssession of demonstration are misplaced.
a)The problem lies not just at the few in the opposition or the entire opposition, it is rather at the entire Eritrean psyche. The entire Eritrean spectrum, unbeknown to many of us outsiders before, is the root problem. If you specifically look at the diaspora neither the educated nor the not so are ever looked at the root problem and march towards it. Instead each and everyone one of us fight for that human ego, pride. No one respects no one. if you don’t respect the other person then don’t expect the other person to respect you. if that is the case then it is doomsday. and that is what Eritrea has ended up with.
(b) Demonstration is NOt the obsessive department of Eritreans. If demo is used in the way a surgepon is using scissors & knife then it is lethal and effective. But the problem is in the name of demonstration the things that are are being done: the obssession for
(i) dancing, (ii) alchols, (iii) the wastefulness i.e. for ex. even untouched bottled water (iv) the endless bickering and not knowing your capability that honorably lets you to shut up when you need to (v) the cluelessness for concept of time (vi) the endless WezaHzah bezey Qumneger (vii) the abrasiveness ——–
so the issue is NOT demonstration in fact if used it is as lethal as it can be. but if it is used as stated above, it is useless, a waste of many genuine people’s time & energy.
” ——————
fetsum abraham on July 3, 2013 at 12:52 am said:
Mighty,
they are rather obsessed with demonstrations and candle lighting ceremonies instead of getting to the point. There is something wrong with the culture brother
— “
NIHATELATAT July 6, 2013
FUTSUM KURKUR WEYANE KKKKK
fetsum abrahamt July 6, 2013
Nihatelatat;
Your name itself indicates that u are most probably from ASMARA. HATELA is a typical word of the regime’s expression which actually directly implies the nature of the user of the term. Be civilized and change the name Mr. Hatela
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