Ethiopia Plans 1,452 Pre-Primary Schools in Nationwide Education Expansion

Mintesinot Niggusie

The Ministry of Education is rolling out a nationwide plan to build 1,452 pre-primary schools, signalling a shift toward earlier-stage investment in Ethiopia’s education pipeline.

The programme, spanning 727 woredas, splits delivery between federal and regional authorities. The ministry will construct 626 schools, while regional states will take on the remainder, reflecting a decentralised execution model aimed at speeding up rollout and local ownership.

Backed by 40 million US dollars from development partners, the initiative blends external financing with public sector coordination at multiple levels of government.

Education Minister Professor Birhanu Nega said 460 contractors have already been selected, with further procurement under way. Construction is expected to be completed within the current Ethiopian fiscal year, with schools set to open in 2019 Ethiopian fiscal year.

The expansion is expected to bring around 87,000 additional children into pre-primary education, widening access at a level often constrained by infrastructure gaps, particularly outside major urban centres.

Alongside the construction drive, the ministry is nearing completion of a 36 million primary school textbook printing programme. It has already printed and distributed 23 million copies this year.

Officials say the combined effort is designed to address two persistent bottlenecks at once: access to classrooms and access to learning materials. The ministry expects the student-to-textbook ratio to approach one-to-one in the upcoming academic year.