Addis Ababa, January 11, 2021(Walta) – The Ministry of Education disclosed that it needs 19 billion Birr to rebuild and restore three higher learning institutions of the Amhara State namely Wollo, Woldiya, and Mekdela Amba universities that were immensely damaged and looted by the terrorist TPLF clique.
Speaking to local media, Higher Education State Minister Samuel Kifle (Ph.D.) said that due to the intensity of destruction, enormous amounts of resources are required to bring the universities back to normal operation.
Expanding the war to Amhara and Afar states, TPLF totally damaged 1,090 schools and over three thousand schools require restoration to resume the teaching-learning process. The situation forced over two million students to leave school and over 120,000 teachers have become jobless.
Noting the damages were so enormous, the state minister stated that seven campuses of Wollo, Woldia, Mekdela Amba universities are severely destroyed and plundered by the TPLF. The teaching-learning process in Samara University, Afar State was also disrupted by the conflict.
“The Ministry of Education has carried out various activities to bring the universities back to the teaching-learning process in the shortest time possible and we need the active participation and support from all actors to rebuild and restore the damaged facilities.” The ministry envisions rebuilding the damaged universities with the ultimate quality level.
Samuel further highlighted that TPLF’s targeting of universities and other higher education institutions aims to destabilize Ethiopia and portray the nation as unstable among the global community. TPLF masterminded and funded ethnic-based conflicts in various universities mostly in Amhara and Oromia states so as to disrupt the peace of the country and the long-cherished culture of peaceful coexistence.
“When we examine the root causes of conflicts in universities, we found that the sponsor of the conflict was directly attached with TPLF and their mission was raising hate and suspicion among the youth and the society at large. They also strive to abort the reform process via fueling ethnic strife in universities and other higher learning institutions.”
As to him, the faction intended to present Ethiopia as an unstable and hopeless country and instigated violence here and there using its paid agents, and many students lost their lives and were physically and psychologically harmed by the incidents. But due to dialogue with university communities and students, the conflicts have been solved.
TPLF’s grand intention is to make Ethiopians stateless because it targeted academic centers which are places where the future generation is being nurtured, the state minister emphasized.