Dr. Hawi Kidanu Kebede

When nearly half a million young Ethiopians are told they have failed their university entrance exam, what exactly do we mean? Who failed whom? This year, only eight percent passed, but this crisis did not begin today. In an interview aired by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) approximately five months ago, the interviewer noted that between 2021 and 2024, an estimated 2.3 million students failed the university entrance exam. Now, another half million have been added to that number in 2025. How many more do we need to sacrifice before we accept that something far deeper is wrong? The Ministry presents this year’s result as a sign of progress, yet behind the statistic is a painful truth: Ethiopia is facing an education collapse unlike anything in its modern history.

The disparities reveal the truth. As Addis Insight previously reported, performance varies sharply across school types. This year, boarding schools scored 71%, private schools 51% percent, and government schools scored only 30.6%. Most Ethiopian families cannot afford anything except government schools. Therefore, we must ask whether we are drifting toward a system where quality education becomes a privilege for the wealthy few.

When the Ministry of Education says cheating has decreased, the suggestion is that students failed simply because they used to cheat. But education is never that linear. Learning outcomes reflect many forces at once: school quality, teacher competence, infrastructure, access to materials, mental health, household poverty, gender burdens, conflict, displacement, and the basic ability to study in safety. To place the blame solely on students is not only simplistic. It is unjust.

What the Research Shows About Our Schools

National and international assessments consistently point to chronic shortages of textbooks, laboratories, libraries, and functional classrooms. Schools are overcrowded, and the infrastructure is weak. Many teachers lack proper subject mastery or pedagogical training. Urban and rural schools show stark inequality in access to materials, tutoring, and stable learning environments. These findings appear repeatedly in the Ministry’s own reviews and in independent studies.

The televised interview on Oromia Broadcasting Network added further evidence. Dr. Tola Bariso, head of the Oromia Education Bureau, stated that only 23% of teachers passed a competence exam in the subject they are teaching. If a teacher cannot meet the basic standard in the subject they teach, how should we expect the student to do so? How can a child excel in chemistry without a functioning lab, an updated textbook, or a qualified instructor?

Dr. Tola also stated that about 89% of schools in Ethiopia fall below the Ministry’s minimum standards. When nine out of ten schools lack the essential conditions for learning, the question is no longer why 92% failed. The real question is how any student passed at all.

One mother interviewed in the same segment said, “I am sending three of my children to school, but I know they will fail. They will come back to me as a burden.” This is not a parent who dismisses education. This is a parent who has lost faith in the system meant to serve her children.

The Inequality No One Wants to Acknowledge

Students from wealthy families often attend private schools with qualified teachers, modern curricula, computers, laboratories, and tutoring. They return home to quiet study spaces, electricity, stable meals, and supportive environments.

Students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds attend underfunded public schools with no materials. They walk long distances, struggle with hunger, and study by candlelight. Many shoulder household responsibilities before and after school. Girls face the added burden of domestic labor, unsafe school environments, early marriage pressures, and a lack of menstrual hygiene support.

So, when a girl from a rural village is told she “failed,” what does that result actually measure? Her intelligence, or the weight of the barriers placed on her?

Affirmative action existed to address these realities, and its sudden removal has aggravated the inequality even more.

The Collective Response

After the announcement that 92% percent had failed, a public outcry emerged. Together with Mr. Seifu Kebede, a PhD candidate in Australia, we launched a petition calling for the Ministry to temporarily lower the pass mark to 40% or even lower as an emergency measure. The intention was not to weaken standards but to prevent irreversible harm while deeper reforms take place.

My short explanatory video unexpectedly reached wide audiences. The response showed that Ethiopians are not silent out of apathy but out of exhaustion. We collected three thousand five hundred signatures from inside the country and abroad and presented our request directly to the Ministry.

I sat across from H.E. Prof. Berhanu Nega and his advisor, Mr. Solomon Shiferaw. They told me that lowering the pass mark would reduce quality. But quality for whom, and at what cost? What kind of quality are we defending when classrooms have no books, schools have no laboratories, and many areas lack peace?

The Remedial Program: A Solution or a Deflection

The Ministry’s preferred alternative is the remedial program. Students must study for an additional year and retake the exam. Yet student after student tells us that the remedial materials do not align with the actual exam. Their concerns are dismissed. Parents already struggling to pay basic school costs cannot fund an extra year. In our interviews, students report that university instructors give poor-quality instruction and treat remedial classes as an extra burden. These programs should not serve as a way to quiet public frustration. They must be redesigned into a genuine pathway that supports rather than delays the futures of young people.

What the Ministry Might Say

The Ministry often states that it aims to raise standards and ensure exams reflect true competency. They argue that lowering the pass mark sends the wrong message and that reducing cheating restores trust.

These goals are reasonable. But raising standards without providing the resources to meet them is not reform. It is punishment. You cannot demand excellence from a system deprived of basic tools. You cannot ask half a million young people to climb a ladder whose first ten steps are missing.

The Real Causes of the Collapse

Ethiopia’s education crisis is driven by several interconnected factors:

1. Underqualified teachers and weak training systems
2. Shortages of materials, laboratories, libraries, and digital resources
3. Overcrowded classes and poor school conditions
4. Conflict, displacement, and trauma
5. Poverty and inequality
6. Gender burdens
7. A high-pressure exam system disconnected from classroom realities

If ninety-two percent fail, the problem is not the. The problem is the system.

A Way Forward

Ethiopia can begin to reverse this crisis through:

1. Investment in teacher training and licensing
2. Rehabilitation of school facilities, including sanitation, electricity, and internet
3. Restoring affirmative action for girls and vulnerable groups
4. A transparent review of national exams and remedial programs
5. Mental health support for students affected by conflict
6. Partnerships with UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank
7. Public participation in policy and exam reform

Final Call to Action

To the Ministry of Education: Half a million lives cannot be dismissed as necessary losses in a transition period. Transparency and urgent action are needed.

To policymakers and donors: Treat this as a national emergency.

To the Ethiopian public: Raise your voices and demand accountability.

A country that allows ninety-two percent of its children to fail is a country failing itself.