One of Ethiopia’s third-generation higher education institutions, Adigrat University, has been damaged by war to the tune of three billion birr, the university’s management said.
It is one of the four universities in Tigray that have faced destruction during the recent two-year civil war that ended with a peace agreement signed between the federal government and the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF).
Sources at the University told The Reporter that a lot of the University’s teaching tools have been looted. University administrators stated that more than 20 buildings had been destroyed by the heavy weapons fired by Eritrean troops.
“The university sustained significant damage as a direct result of the war. Even the libraries are not exempt from this,” said Yohannes Kebede, who is in charge of the communications department for the university. “The books that were kept in libraries as well as the laptops that we had were also stolen.”
Estimates from the government show that more than USD 20 billion will be needed to rebuild North Ethiopia. The war has had a negative impact on the sector of education, as it has forced the closure of schools for more than two years, forcing millions of pupils to remain at home.
“In order to get education-related activities back up and running in the region, a significant amount of funding needed to be allotted,” said Redae Halefom, head of the communications bureau of the newly formed Tigray Interim Administration, which was just established a month ago.
According to him, from primary schools to universities, all are unable to get back to normal because of the enormous damage the war has caused.
“Registering students who are here and there because of the war and paying the salary of teachers is another headache that we will face at a time when there is no budget to run the region,” Redae added. “This is another headache that we will face at a time when there is no budget to run the region.”
The federal government is likely to release a budget for the Tigray region soon. A budget subsidy of approximately 12.4 billion birr was allocated for the state of Tigray at the beginning of the current fiscal year.
