Disadvantaged Schools and Students in Ethiopia: Why is the GEQIP-E Reform Necessary?
The Ethiopian government has shown a great deal of commitment since 2008 to improving access to quality general education for all with its investment on the General Education Quality Improvement Program (GEQIP) (Asgedom et al., 2019; World Bank, 2017). The GEQIP in general has been aiming to improve teaching and learning conditions in primary education, and to strengthen educational institutions and service delivery at federal and regional levels (World Bank, 2008). The first phase of this programme, GEQIP-I (2008-2013) focused on providing essential inputs for improving teaching and learning, and the second phase, GEQIP-II (2013-2018), continued the focus on resource provision and improvement activities of GEQIP-I and incorporated information and communication technology as an additional component (Hoddinott et al., 2019; World Bank 2012). The third and current phase of the programme is GEQIP-E (2018-2022). Building on the strengths and challenges of GEQIP-I and GEQIP-II, the current GEQIP-E programme aims to improve the quality of general education with an explicit focus on equity (World Bank, 2017). Equity in education refers to providing all children with the opportunity to reach their full potential and achieve at least a basic level of good quality education, regardless of their gender, family background, or disability status.