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| Ambassador's Speech>2011 >110226 | |||||
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| at the Inauguration Ceremony for the Project to Renovate Bulbulo School, Gomma Woreda, Jimma Zone, Oromia on 26 February, 2011 |
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| Ato Nazim Husen, Administrator, Gomma Woreda, Distinguished Guests, Teachers and students of the Bulbulo School, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning. Akkam Bultan. I am most grateful to all of you for your very warm welcome yesterday and today. This is my first trip to the Jimma Zone, the center of southwestern Ethiopia and one of the most important coffee producing areas in Ethiopia. Indeed, Japan has close ties with your area as one of the major coffee consuming countries, as well as through JICA’s technical cooperation for forest management in Belete and Gera forests. JICA has extended assistance for local communities to organize forest management cooperatives called “WaBuB” and for them to work out forest management plans. Natural, organic coffee produced in this area is sold by WaBuBs to the Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise, which exported about 30 tons of such natural coffee to Japan at a very good price last year. Now your natural, organic coffee is sold in the Japanese market under the brand of “Mocca Wild Belete-Gera.” This is the linkage between Japan and Jimma. I just wanted to remind you how close we are through coffee across the oceans. Now, it is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to attend the inauguration ceremony for the school renovation project in the Bulbulo Kebele, Gomma Woreda, Jimma Zone, Oromia. The project was funded by Japan’s grant-in-aid scheme for grassroots and human security projects, amounting to about USD 97,000. Our project partner was the Gomma Woreda Education Office, a competent local authority. Improving the educational environment is a great challenge in Ethiopia, and the Gomma Woreda is no exception. The Bulbulo Elementary School was established in 1960 and is today the only school that exists in the Bulbulo Kebele. It is an old school. Although there are 13 classrooms at the school, only eight classrooms have been in use due to serious dilapidation. As a result, enrollment has been constrained to the present 1278. In these circumstances, this project aimed to improve the educational environment by increasing the number of usable classrooms at the school. A block with four classrooms has been newly constructed. Three blocks with eight classrooms, five of which were not in a usable condition, have been renovated. As a whole, nine classrooms, equipped with new blackboards, desks and chairs, have been added to the existing eight, making the total number of classrooms 17. As a result, now an additional 760 students can be enrolled at the school. In addition, the average number of students per class will be reduced from about 80 to 60, and the days of the overcrowded class will be gone. A block for teachers and one for the PTA have been renovated as well. Improved working conditions in the teachers’ block will also contribute to the better educational environment. Now they can better prepare learning materials, give better guidance to students and so on. There is one more point worth mentioning about this project. This is a community project, in which the residents, particularly PTA members, participated by offering their labor and construction materials. It is also worth noting that a special committee was established to evaluate and monitor the progress of the project jointly with the PTA. Madame Rahel Zewdie has played an important role from the outset in this process, and I would like to pay tribute to her on this occasion. Ladies and Gentlemen, The newly built and renovated school blocks are now handed over to the community. I am confident that you will make the most use of them and enjoy great benefits. Please keep in mind that it is equally important to maintain the facilities in good condition so that the school will serve the local interests for a long period. Finally, I do hope that we can work together in the future for the economic and social development of rural areas in Ethiopia. Thank you for your attention. Galatoomaa. Fayyaa ta’a. |
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