* The UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) measures a country's achievements
in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.
Country background
VSO Eritrea volunteers are working in the area of education. There are three areas of focus: to improve the quality of English language teaching; address needs in pre-service and in-service teacher training and support institutional development for vocational learning centres and selected departments of the Ministry of Education.
There is a severe shortage of teachers in Eritrea across all school levels and only a limited number of them are qualified for the particular school level in which they are employed. There is also a very big gender gap in the teaching profession in Eritrea. Female teachers comprise 40%, 12% and 10% of the teaching force at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels respectively, which means that many girls who attend school lack female role models.
The ability of existing teacher training institutes’ capacity to train sufficient numbers of new teachers is extremely weak so education management and teacher trainer volunteers are working with these institutions to train and retrain national teachers to deliver higher quality teaching. Volunteers are also supporting the Adult Education Media Unit of the Ministry of Education to develop its programme of distance learning, and supporting the development and management of resources centres for teachers.
English is the language of tertiary education in Eritrea yet English teaching at earlier education stages is so poor that students who do not complete primary education are often unable to communicate with the external world. Volunteers who are experienced English language teachers are working to improve distance learning programmes for teacherby supporting the activities of the English Language Teachers Network and working on the production of English language resources for teachers.
The Ministry of Education is also promoting the role of vocational training institutes which offer students the opportunity to develop skills which will later help to secure employment. Volunteers in this area are helping to develop relevant and practical curricula; assisting technical and vocational instructors to link training to the needs in the job market; developing and implementing apprenticeship schemes so students have an opportunity to acquire practical work experience and by working with the Ministry of Education to refine and implement its information communications technology education strategy.
