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SEPAG
'House of Books'
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Students in the Library
© Beatrice Watson
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One of the most difficult problems facing the
people of the Southwest is poor of education. Fewer people go on
to higher education than from other areas. As a result only a small
number people find themselves with positions in local government
or in commerce, which adds to the area's lack of representation
in decision-making processes.
Early in 2005 SEPAG created a small library
in Masha. The room is rented, the books are few, our librarian is
a student in the morning and opens the library only in the afternoon,
but it has been a tremendous success. Each day the 'House of Books'
as it is called is crowded with students and local young people
have been pleading for more.
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Our aim is help students get a foothold on the Ethiopian
educational ladder. Education is conducted in English after Year 6, but
we do not want to send a lot of books out from England. Some of these
are useful, but the Ethiopian exam system involves a lot of factual learning
and texts are produced each year by Ethiopian teachers to help candidates
pass the state exams. Our aim was to have a good stock of these texts
as well. Currently they cannot be bought in this remote region far from
the capital, so our representative has to travel to Addis Ababa to buy
them. What is important is that we have a range of books that will help
increase the number of students going to university.
| Our library might look somewhat
tatty (it is!), and it may have a limited range of books, but in a
town with no other library it is already highly valued and, if our
plans are achieved, it will become even more so. |
Librarian
© Beatrice Watson
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