ADDIS ABABA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday called for concerted efforts in building effective education system so as to create a better socioeconomic and political future.
Ahmed, who met more than 3,000 Ethiopian university teachers on Monday, stressed that the education sector should effectively perform its role in harnessing the country's burgeoning youth population.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with more than 100 million population, has a burgeoning youth as more than 70 percent of its total population categorized under 30 years of age, according to figures from the Ethiopian government.
Ahmed, while discussing with representatives of more than 50 public higher education institutions in the capital Addis Ababa, also urged scholars to take the lead in harnessing the demographic dividend of the East African country's youth population.
Ahmed, in relations to the recent waves of unrest that affected the country since the second half of 2016 mainly attributed to challenges related with corruption and maladministration, stressed that bad-governance and conflicts are manifestations of ineffective education system.
Noting academic freedom as the founding pillar to instill effective education system in the country, Ahmed also revealed his administration's readiness to reemploy dozens of scholars who were sacked from their role due to strong criticism against the Ethiopian government over the years.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Education earlier this month had revealed that in excess of 170,000 graduates will join Ethiopia's working force after graduating from public higher education institutions in the coming few months period.
The Ethiopian government had also recently introduced the university-industry linkage initiative as it envisaged to improve employment opportunities as well as to bridge the gap between demand and supply in the country's employment sector.
