Ethiopia's Children - 3

One of the other main reasons children don’t attend school in Ethiopia is because their families don’t understand the importance of it, and prefer to put their children into child labour so that they can earn some money.

Around 72% of children in the country have no access to formal education. More than 60% of children don’t have the opportunity to progress past grade 5 either.

Across the nation, only 3% of Ethiopia’s schools have clinics serving students. This is a scary thought, since nearly 75% of the population suffer from some form of infectious disease.

Because of the lack of schools in the country, and the number of children living in rural areas, most primary schools are several miles away from where children live. Many children have to walk these long distances, only to attend a school that is overcrowded, has inadequately trained teachers, and poor schooling materials. 2a

Adolescence in Ethiopia
Adolescence is a difficult time for any child, but for the children in Ethiopia these problems are compounded by the various life obstacles they face.

There are around 2.3 million Ethiopians infected with HIV, and nearly 1.2 million are HIV/AIDS orphans. In addition to this, adolescents are faced with the fact that most of the country lives in poverty, and that around 82% of the population survives on less than $1 per day.

Young girls are faced with the possibility of early marriages, and female genital mutilation contributes to the rapid spreading of HIV/AIDS in the country, especially to young girls.

Shockingly, almost 4.9 million adolescents are not enrolled in school due to various social and economic reasons. 2.4 million of these children are girls, and 2.5 million are boys.

But these are not the only problems facing the adolescents of Ethiopia. Unemployment rates in the country are highest for those in the 15 to 19 year old age groups, and females constitute the majority of those people. Due to this lack of employment, adolescents are more susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse, early pregnancy, and unsafe sexual relations. 2b

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