Your Excellency Ato Workneh Gebeyehu, Commissioner-General of the Federal Police,
Ato Habtamu Haile-Mikael, Mayor of Shashemene Town,
Distinguished Guests,
Community members of Shashemene Town,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Endemen Aderachehu.  Akkam Bultan.

I am most grateful to all of you for your very warm welcome this morning.  I am enjoying this lovely costume and feel very much like an honorary citizen of Shashemene Town.  This is my first trip to your town but my sixth trip to the Oromia Region.

It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to join you to inaugurate this school construction project here in Shashemene Town.  This project was funded by Japan’s grant-in-aid scheme for grassroots and human security projects (GGP), amounting to USD 112,356, based upon the grant contract signed last September.  Our project partner is the Shashamane Town Education Office, a most competent local authority.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Improving the educational environment is a great challenge in Ethiopia, and Shashemene Town is no exception.  In 2007, the Millennium High School was built in the school compound of the Burka Bekumsa Primary School, in order to improve access to secondary education in the town.  However, the high demand for secondary education is not yet met.  Indeed, nine primary schools exist nearby, from which approximately 1,200 graduates are eager to go to secondary school every year.  This is beyond the capacity of the high schools in this area to absorb.  In addition, joint use of the same campus by primary school students, numbering over 2,200, and by over 2,000 high school students, creates various problems such as excessive noise, making the educational environment a bit more difficult.

Therefore, this project aimed at improving access to and quality of the educational environment for both primary and secondary education in Shashemene Town.  Through this project, two blocks with a total of eight classrooms have been newly constructed for the primary school in a new compound across the road.  They have been fully furnished with 160 combined desks and chairs and eight blackboards.  As a result, the two schools that previously coexisted are now separated and in their own compounds.  The original school compound serves only for the Millennium High School and this new one for the Burka Bekumsa Primary School.  Class sizes will be reduced, from 76 to 69 students per class in the primary school and from 69 to 40 in the high school.  In addition, the high school will be able to increase its enrollment by 10% (200 students).  Thus, the students of both schools will enjoy a better educational environment.

There is one more point worth mentioning about this project. The Shashemene Town Education Office, especially Ato Mohammed Hamde, facilitated this project with us to complete it in time and in line with the project guidelines.  I do appreciate such an excellent partnership.  I would also like to touch upon the community endeavor.  Two school blocks with eight classrooms and one administration block are now under construction in the same compound.  These are being funded by the municipal office as well as the community, which has carried out extensive fund raising.  Your efforts are laudable.  I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all those who have made a contribution to this project.  I do hope that all the facilities will become available to primary school students before the beginning of the new school year.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The newly built school blocks are now handed over to the community and the town.  I am confident that you will make the most use of them and enjoy great benefits.  At the same time, 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 time.  Finally, I do hope that we can work together again in the future for the economic and social benefit of underprivileged people in rural areas of Ethiopia.

Amesegenalehu.  Galatoomaa.  Fayyaa ta’a.