Ethiopia Archives - Camara Education

Empowering Dreams Through Technology: Yoas Mulatu’s Journey with Camara Education Ethiopia

October 31, 2024

by Sean Miskelly Camara Ethiopia Girls' education ICT in Education Youth Skills & Development

At Camara Education Ethiopia, providing internships and volunteer opportunities is one of the key ways we nurture the next generation of digital changemakers. Each year, approximately 40 young people join Camara as interns and volunteers, bringing with them ambition, dedication, and an eagerness to learn. For some, it’s a stepping stone to fulfilling careers in technology, while for others, like Yoas Mulatu, it’s an opportunity to explore, challenge, and realise their dreams.

Yoas Mulatu, a 20-year-old Information Technology (IT) student at Kirokos Manufacturing College, exemplifies the transformative power of our internship program. Growing up with a fascination for computers, Yoas pursued an IT degree to turn her passion into a lifelong skill. This drive to learn and grow brought her to Camara, where her journey began with a school-organised group internship. Having heard positive feedback from former interns, she was excited to see firsthand what Camara’s program could offer.

A Hands-On Experience in IT

Since joining, Yoas has had an immersive experience with Camara, gaining practical skills that extend beyond the classroom. Her internship has been hands-on from the start, including tasks like installing educational operating systems, diagnosing and solving hardware issues, and maintaining school computers. For Yoas, each project is an opportunity to dive deeper into her chosen field, developing her expertise in the Ubuntu operating system and learning how to troubleshoot complex hardware problems. “Each task teaches me something new,” says Yoas, “whether it’s problem-solving or better understanding computer systems. This experience is not just about learning technical skills; it’s about growing into a confident IT professional.”

Beyond the technical aspects, Yoas has benefited from Camara’s collaborative and supportive environment. Our programs encourage interns and volunteers to connect, share ideas, and support one another, fostering an inclusive culture where young women and men feel empowered to lead and innovate. For Yoas, working with a diverse team has expanded her professional network and strengthened her communication skills, providing her with tools that are critical to succeeding in the tech industry.

Breaking Barriers as a Woman in Tech

One of the most rewarding aspects of Yoas’s journey has been the confidence she’s gained working in a male-dominated field. “Initially, I had little knowledge of computer internals or how to solve hardware issues,” Yoas reflects. “But over time, I’ve learned through hands-on experience, and now, I feel empowered to handle challenges I once thought were beyond my reach.” She’s particularly proud to be part of a team that champions diversity and encourages women in tech, which is critical for breaking down stereotypes and inspiring more young women to enter the field.

Yoas believes that the industry needs more women and girls, and her message to other aspiring female IT professionals is to pursue their dreams boldly. “In my classroom, the number of women is quite low, and the same is true in the IT field,” she says. “We need to change that by encouraging more girls to explore technology. We all have the potential to achieve great things if we leverage the tools and knowledge available to us.”

Looking to the Future

As Yoas is near her graduation, she has her sights set on a future that blends her passion for technology with her desire to give back to her community. She hopes to open a computer maintenance store, providing reliable, affordable tech support and creating a welcoming space for community members to learn about technology. Her vision includes building a platform that not only serves her community’s needs but also inspires young people—especially girls—to see tech as a field where they belong and can thrive.

Camara Education Ethiopia is proud to be part of Yoas’s journey, and her story is a testament to the power of hands-on learning, mentorship, and the resilience of young people ready to create positive change.

Are you inspired by Yoas’s journey? Camara Education Ethiopia is always looking for passionate volunteers and interns eager to make a difference. Join us, and be part of a team committed to transforming lives through technology, by sending us an email to ethiopia@camara.org.

World Bank Partnership in Ethiopia

April 10, 2024

by johnfisher Ethiopia Partnerships

Late last year, Camara Education Ethiopia signed an agreement with the World Bank to become a partner in their project entitled ‘Response – Recovery – Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities in Ethiopia’. The recent conflicts in various regions of Ethiopia, on top of the grave human suffering that they caused, resulted in the destruction of countless schools and their infrastructure. As a result, many children were deprived of an adequate education for years. Through this new partnership, Camara Ethiopia is being funded by the World Bank to assist in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools affected by conflict. The highlights of our participation are:

Digital Learning Centres to be established in 100 schools
3,500 computers to be installed
550 teachers to be trained in the use of IT in education.

Here, some of the equipment is being checked and despatched from our offices in Addis Ababa.

Coding and Machine Learning workshop

November 9, 2023

by johnfisher Ethiopia Girls' education

We recently organized a remarkable training workshop in Ethiopia, the first of its kind for our schools. In conjunction with Dr Solomon Gizaw, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science at Addis Ababa University, who trained at and retains links with the University of Limerick in Ireland, Train the Trainer workshops were held on October 9 and 10 at the Addis Ababa University 4 Kilo campus. 40 IT teachers from 20 Camara supported schools, as well as Camara volunteers and staff, participated in the training.

The workshop covered coding, concentrating on the free Scratch programming language, and Machine Learning, featuring TinyML. Dr Solomon and his colleague delivered the Machine Learning components and Camara’s head trainer delivered the Scratch sessions as part of our Africa Code Week initiative. The training was hands-on and engaging, and the teachers were very excited about it.

*Dr Solomon Gizaw explaining machine learning*

Almost all of the teachers who took part were new to TinyML, so the workshop covered everything from the basics to its potential applications in various sectors, including education. This initiative is just one of the ways in which Camara seeks to impact the country’s education sector and empower teachers and students with the knowledge and skills they need to effect change for the better.

Crosspoint School – practical results

One of the teachers who took part in the October workshop was Mr. Hayleyesus, an IT teacher at Crosspoint School in Dukem, some 37km southeast of Addis Ababa. He wasted no time in passing on his enhanced coding skills to some of his students, who are preparing to take part in the 2023 AfriCAN Code Challenge. The AfriCAN Code Challenge is a coding contest open to 8-16-year-olds across Africa, in which they have to develop an original game using the Scratch programming language. Camara Ethiopia is the organiser of the ACC in Ethiopia.

These pictures show students at Crosspoint taking part in their own coding workshop. The eLearning centre at Crosspoint is sponsored by one of our local partners, Edify.

*Crosspoint students enjoy the coding workshop*

Progress in Tigray

August 31, 2023

by johnfisher Ethiopia Girls' education

Some great news from our colleagues in Ethiopia, as our first rehabilitation project in the Tigray region following the conflict there has been completed. The fighting between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government began in November 2020 and dragged on for more than two years – during which time around 85% of the 253 government high schools in the region suffered significant damage. Now, things are slowly returning to normal.

*Staff at Camara Ethiopia checking and loading a consignment of computers bound for Tigrayan schools*

Having transported a lorry-load of computers north, the first of the new networked eLearning Centres was established at Kallamino High School in the Tigrayan capital, Mekele.

*The centre during installation, and complete*

The school’s teachers were trained in the use of ICT in education with a special focus on encouraging girls’ active and continuing participation – a project in partnership with British Council Ethiopia.

Camara Education Ethiopia signed a new project agreement with the Federal Ministry of Education

July 17, 2023

by Sean Miskelly Ethiopia Partnerships

Camara Education Ethiopia recently signed a new agreement with the Federal Ministry of Education (MoE). The project, titled “Unleashing the Power of ICT in Ethiopian Schools: Improving student learning outcomes and building the capacity of educators through ICT integration from 2023 to 2028”, aims to continue and expand our collaboration with the MoE for a further five years.

Through this new project, Camara aims to:

Equip 875 rural schools with 35,000 computers – 35-40 computers per school – loaded with local curriculum-aligned content and innovative learning platforms.
Train 9,450 educators
Impact 790,000 learners

In addition to offering the support provided in previous agreements for project schools, there have been some additions in this agreement based on our learning over the past few years:

Additional refresher Training to be provided after one year
Scheduled Maintenance after one year
Improved computer specifications to meet current needs
Updated content from MoE and others
35-40 PCs per school, as number of PCs was found not to be enough in schools vs number of students
On request from Camara, the agreement contains further details on the removal of Ewaste from schools previously supported.

Our local team in Addis Ababa unpacks and thoroughly tests the refurbished computers we ship out. They install an open-source operating system (Ubuntu) and load educational software and content aligned to the national curriculum and in local languages on each computer. All the computers are also loaded with an offline version of Wikipedia, creating an extraordinary learning resource for schools which often have no library books and limited internet connections. And most important of all, the computers are installed with PDFs of Ministry of Education textbooks covering the entire school curriculum. Textbooks are in very short supply in many of Ethiopia’s 40,000 schools, so this alone is a crucial resource, enabling students to access information even in areas where the lack of good internet connectivity can mean they have no or sporadic access to online content.

Our technicians travel to each school and kit out a fully functional eLearning centre, installing cabling and anti-surge protection along with 35-40 refurbished computers.

A critical element of our programme is to actively train both school management and teachers to ensure they have the necessary digital skills to maximise the use of the eLearning centre in their school. Follow-up training courses are provided to ensure progress continues and targets are achieved.

Kidist Mulat during training at Semera Girls’ Boarding School

Camara Education and British Council Ethiopia

July 10, 2023

by Sean Miskelly Ethiopia Partnerships

Educating the Whole Family

Camara Education Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and British Council Ethiopia has installed e-learning labs in seven schools in Afar province and 14 in Amhara. Each computer is stocked with resources and programmes that work off-line.

The labs aim to build skills and confidence for female students. Gender and girls’ club members will be prioritised for using the labs and teaching their peers, raising both their status in the community and achievement levels.

“If the girl is educated, the whole family is educated”

Kidist Mulat

Kidist Mulat leads the gender club in Semera Girls’ Boarding School. This large, clean, well-organised school sits on the outskirts of Semera, the capital city of Afar. Students in Kidist’s school come from the whole Woreda. Though the school is only for girls, they still face many cultural challenges due to their gender.

There are a lot of cultural challenges around our school due to gender. The culture is that the parents will give their female children for marriage early and then they may also have a child too early. The families will arrange this without the daughter knowing. Then they will stop school.

Kidist explained how female students are eager to join gender club seeking their support if they face early marriage. Semera Girls’ Boarding School accepts students from grade five to ten. Students in their gender clubs are high achievers, “Because, they have the capacity to share ideas with their communities and change the feeling of their local culture”.

A Nurturing Community

The students in Kidist’s school form a close-knit supportive community. They may arrive with different mother tongues but learn English and Amharic, “They sleep here and talk together in the dorms and other communal areas.” Visitors are not usually allowed inside the compound, and if they come are met only at the gate.

If a student is unwell ‘student police’ support them, checking on them and finding out the issue. There is an open approach to consequences of periods, with sanitary towels provided. For discipline issues students may be asked to take on garden watering tasks.

The school wants to build the confidence and strength of female students. Along with this close supportive environment female role models are invited in to share experiences. The gender club leads these activities and is vital to helping students through issues they face from families and the community.

If the students have family nearby who want to make their girls have an early marriage the gender club will invite them into the school, encourage them to change their mind and explain why this should not happen. They even took one family to court to stop an early marriage.

Educating the next Generation

Kidist thinks the main priority for education should be raising access to technology, “It’s a big chance for us to show the wider process of technology to our students”. But her concerns about female students accessing education remain. The answer, she believes, lies with the influence of religious leaders.

We need to raise the awareness of religious leaders about the use of education and learning for girls. It’s the female student who will become the child bearer and have a family. If she’s educated her whole family and the next generation will also be educated. The society in Afar accepts the opinions and words of religious leaders more then the government.

Learning through Technology

Students who arrive from rural communities might not have had any exposure to technology. The school had very few computers before the new e-learning lab, not enough for the students to use themselves.

We learn through paper and blackboards now. But using computers motivates students; they have much more interest in using digital media. They learn more in a short time when using computers and phones. They can work for hours, much longer than when they use traditional materials.

Kidist sees digital literacy as adding value throughout her students’ lives. “Alongside their education they can work – they can do administrative tasks, becoming experts and working alongside their education.”

Technology also helps their family see their skills and think of them as valuable. It makes their academic performance greater and society sees their skills and values them.

Supporting Dreams

Kidist’s view reaches much further than the school walls. “I want to make society aware of the value of education, especially the community outside of the town.”

If the girl is educated, the whole family is educated; she will look after her children well and send her daughters to school. If she is aware of education she can stop her daughters from being victims of FGM. One educated female means four to five educated people in the family.

Kidist’s dream for others is reflected in her personal aims “I want to keep being educated, I want to achieve a doctorate. I want to help others through this especially in the rural areas”. She believes education is a right for everyone, and students should be fully supported to follow their dreams too. Empowering female students through digital literacy is one large step towards this.

My dream is seeing my students reach the top level of achievement in their whole lives. That would make me very happy. To reach their full potential in life, work, family and health.

Turning Roses into Computers

June 30, 2023

by johnfisher Ethiopia Girls' education Partnerships

Sher High School in Ziway, Ethiopia, has received not one but two brand-new e-learning centres, thanks to generous funding from the Dutch Flower Foundation and Afriflora.

Afriflora/Sher Ethiopia grows, harvests, grades and packs roses at three farms, the largest of them on the shores of Lake Dembel just outside Ziway. Between 2.5 and 4 million roses are processed every day and transported to Europe for further distribution. This makes Afriflora/Sher Ethiopia the largest rose grower in the world and the biggest supplier of roses in Europe, as well as a major foreign currency earner for Ethiopia. Around half of the students at the Ziway Sher High School are children of Sher employees.

Camara installed 50 computers and two servers in the two centres, and our trainers spent a week training 26 teachers on how best to use the computers to deliver the curriculum and giving advice on basic maintenance. We’ll also provide ongoing support. Camara’s computers run on the Ubuntu open-source operating system. They are pre-loaded with a range of educational software, from simple games to specialized Camara Learning Studio resources for maths and science. All computers are also loaded with an offline version of Wikipedia, creating an extraordinary learning resource for schools with limited internet connections. And most important of all, the computers are installed with PDFs of Ministry of Education textbooks covering the entire school curriculum. Textbooks are in very short supply in many of Ethiopia’s 40,000 schools, so this alone is a crucial resource.

The Dutch Flower Foundation (DFF) aims to improve the living conditions and well-being of people in need and in particular children. They focus on countries where Dutch Flower Group (DFG) companies are active with an emphasis on connected community projects. Through the activities of DFF, DFG gives substance to its responsibility for the world in which we live.

Hundreds of students will benefit from the new computers according to Sher School director Mr Negusse Aga: ‘Computer-skills are extremely important for our students. Sher schools have an excellent reputation in Ethiopia. Almost all the students qualify to attend universities. New computers enable us to uphold our reputation and open the digital world to our students. On behalf of the students and teachers we would like to sincerely thank DFF and Camara for their highly appreciated contribution in this project.’

Aiming for Leadership

June 23, 2023

by johnfisher Ethiopia Girls' education

Meyram sits with her friends in the bustling e-learning lab in Semera Girls’ Boarding School. Outside the morning temperature is reaching 40 degrees, but inside the lab the air is cooled by fans and air conditioning. To protect the computers from dust all the students leave their shoes outside.

The lab is part of a project in which Camara Education Ethiopia has been collaborating with British Council Ethiopia. Computers were funded by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, while Camara Education supplied the hardware, networking and technical support, and the British Council provided educational resources.

“I started using the computers one month ago”. Meyram explained. “It’s difficult to get hard copies of books so the computers make it easy to find the relevant content. The teachers have the real books, but we don’t.”

Not only has the e-learning lab provided students with textbooks, but it also helps understanding. Meyram finds that “the videos on the computers help me a lot.” If she doesn’t understand something her teacher is trying to explain, she can come to the lab after class and learn more.

Inku Fasil, British Council Education Programme Manager, discusses e-learning with Meyram and her friends

Meyram uses the lab every day for an hour or so. Her ICT teacher is always there to help (she was trained by Camara Education). Meyram feels “excited to learn new things so I listen carefully to my e-learning lab teacher. I am proud of what I have learnt so far.”

As an ICT club member Meyram has the responsibility to show her friends how to use the computers. “I feel well trained and this makes me happy to share my knowledge and teach my friends”, she explained. Next she aims to teach her family too. Though she lives in the boarding school, every time she talks to her family she tells them about her e-learning, “My family know I am learning how to use computers and they are proud of me. In the future I want to share my knowledge with them too.”

Meyram has high ambitions for her future and uses e-learning to help her journey towards achieving them. “Using these computers, especially experimenting on Wikipedia, helps me to know more about the outside world and I am exploring more. This helps me get different information about other countries.“

“Because, when I grow up, I want to be the prime minister of Ethiopia.”

The interview with Meyram was conducted in Amharic and has been translated into English.

Christmas Challenge Update

June 9, 2023

by johnfisher Ethiopia

Our Christmas Challenge campaign at the end of 2022 raised almost £55,000 to help rehabilitate schools that had been devastated by the conflict in northern Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Ministry of Education undertook any necessary reconstruction, and Camara Ethiopia is busy installing or re-installing computer labs and providing training for teachers.

This is the story of just one school. Kutaber Secondary is located in the small, rural town of Kutaber, in the South Wollo zone of Amhara region, about 420 km north of Addis Ababa. A government school established in 1947, it currently has more than 1745 students, just under half of whom are girls.

Some of the old computer equipment recovered from the school

Before the fighting, the school had two fully-fledged e-learning centres, but sadly these were destroyed during the conflict around two years ago, along with some of the school’s classrooms.

Thanks to funds raised by our supporters through the Christmas Challenge campaign, Camara Ethiopia has fitted out an entirely new computer lab with 25 desktop computers and trained (or re-trained) some of the school’s teachers in their use, and how best to incorporate digital learning into their everyday practice.

Thanks to the funds we raised through the Christmas Challenge, we’re in the process of rehabilitating ten more schools like Kutaber Secondary, but there are many others that are equally desperate for help. If you could fund a school like this, or would like more information, please contact us.

Dell Technologies Partnership update

June 2, 2023

by John Fisher Ethiopia Partnerships

The second phase of our latest project in partnership with Dell Technologies in Ethiopia was completed in April, as the tenth school was connected to the server at Camara Ethiopia’s offices. This project allows us to remotely monitor the eLearning centres at these ten schools, in addition to the five that were beneficiaries of the first stage of the project.

Each school has been furnished with a networked eLearning centre equipped with 25 desktop computers. In addition, Camara provides teacher and leadership training to promote stakeholder engagement, as well as access to Camara Learning Studio via the server, supplying curriculum-aligned content for maths and science classes for students in grades 9 through 12. Our technicians provide support and use the server to track and evaluate learning outcomes by analysing usage data on the Dell server.

The principal aims of the project are two-fold: to improve teaching quality through training; and to enhance students’ experience, academic results and life chances with digital education.

Each school has been furnished with a networked eLearning centre equipped with 25 desktop computers. In addition, Camara provides teacher and leadership training to promote stakeholder engagement, and access to Camara Learning Studio via the server, supplying curriculum-aligned content for maths and science classes for students in grades 9 through 12. Our technicians provide support and use the server to track and evaluate learning outcomes by analysing usage data on the Dell server.

The principal aims of the project are two-fold: to improve teaching quality through training; and to enhance students’ experience, academic results and life chances with digital education.

Teachers’ Professional Development will lead to:

Improved teachers’ capacity (both contents and pedagogy) in teaching Science, Mathematics and English subjects with IT
Improved teacher motivation and interest in the teaching profession

Provision of the networked lab and usage monitoring will lead to:

Increased classroom interaction in the teaching and learning process
Decrease in student dropout rate
More efficient management of the ICT infrastructure and resources resulting in more effective eLearning centre utilization

The schools involved in the second phase are:

MISRAK GOH SECONDARY SCHOOL
DON BOSCO DILLA SECONDARY SCHOOL
HARAMAYA SECONDARY SCHOOL
LIDETA CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL SCHOOL
DR. HADDIS ALEMAYEHU SECONDARY SCHOOL
ADDIS ABABA BETHEL MEKANE YESUS SECONDARY SCHOOL
KOMONA SECONDARY SCHOOL
HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY MODEL SCHOOL
DIMTU SECONDARY SCHOOL
BULBUL SECONDARY SCHOOL

While we continue to offer support to the five schools from the first phase:

SHIMELIS HABTE SECONDARY SCHOOL
ASSAI PUBLIC SCHOOL
NATIVITY GIRLS SCHOOL
BASSO SECONDARY SCHOOL
ST. JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Teacher Andualem Tsegaye praised the scheme:

Andulem Tsegaye, ICT teacher at Don Bosco School

“I have been an ICT teacher at Dilla Don Bosco Secondary School since 2005. Now that we are using the new eLearning center based on a timetable, we are noticing a gradual improvement in academic results and students are happier to learn thanks to the Camara computers. They are also more motivated in enhancing their education.”