Issues in Ethiopian Language Policy and Education

In Ethiopia, the overthrow of the military government of the Dergue in 1991 ushered in a period of political reforms which are still in progress, including a policy of recognition of a range of indigenous languages other than the traditionally dominant national language, Amharic. This paper addresses the question of language planning and education in this pluralist, multilingual state. It presents a profile of some of the many languages in use within the country, both indigenous and foreign, and briefly considers their historical role in the education system, touching on the associations of Amharic and the classical Ethiopian language Giiz with Orthodox 'Coptic' Christianity, and of Arabic with Islam. An evaluative appraisal of the new policy is offered which, whilst acknowledging the enlightened nature of the reforms in light of current political and linguistic concerns for 'linguistic human rights' (Phillipson & SkutnabbKangas, 1995), considers a number of major obstacles to the implementation of the policy, and questions in particular the moves towards the preference of the Roman alphabet to the well-established Ethiopic syllabic writing system. The article points out that, contrary to the intentions of the reforms, the outcome could benefit English at the expense of a significant African language.