THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION, PRINTING AND PUBLISHING IN ETHIOPIA

The history of education, printing and publishing in Ethiopia is not n early as long as that of language, script and manuscripts. This articl e describes the importance of literacy, education, printing and publis hing for the effective use of libraries and gives a detailed account o f the development of these factors in Ethiopia. Until the 20th century , the Church was the only means of education in Ethiopia. This served the limited purpose of spreading the Christian religion but could not produce mass literacy. Developments such as education and printing beg an under Menelik II (1889-1913) who established the first school of Et hiopia in 1908 in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia's present day educational syst em owes much to the grave concern of Haile Selassie I (1930-1974). Hig her education started in 1950 with the establishment of a university c ollege in Addis Ababa. The Revolution of 1974 proved a springboard for further development especially in the areas of education and literacy . The literacy rate rose from 5% in 1974 to its current 65%. The print ing of Ethiopian works, though, started as early as printing itself bu t in Ethiopia began in 1863 at Massawa. The first commercial printing press was introduced at Massawa in 1890. Most of these presses were us ed for printing newspapers, magazines, religious literature, governmen t documents and the like but little use was made for educational mater ial. At present there are about 25 presses in the country, but publish ing in Ethiopia is essentially non-existent.