Ethiopia plans to integrate 40 refugee schools into the national education system by 2029 under a USD 69 million program supported by the World Bank, a move that could further strain the country’s already constrained education budget as authorities attempt to expand services for both refugee and host-community students.
The four-year initiative, led by the Ministry of Education, aims to transition refugee schools into the national education framework by aligning them with government standards on budgeting, staffing, governance, and curriculum, according to a World Bank document.
Once integrated, the schools would be financed through the national education budget and supervised through the country’s regular education administration system. Integrating refugee schools into the national framework would require the government to absorb operational costs such as teacher salaries, learning materials, and administrative oversight into the public education budget.
The integration scheme follows the establishment of a national education trust fund to mobilize additional resources for the sector, citing persistent financing gaps and growing pressure on the education system.
From The Reporter Magazine
Ethiopia is one of Africa’s largest refugee-hosting countries and a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention.
According to a November 2025 report by Refugees International, the country hosts more than one million refugees and asylum seekers, with between 75 and 85 percent living in designated camps and settlements across several regions.
These camps have between them just 149 schools, 40 of which are slated for integration under the World Bank’s Ethiopia Education Transformation Operation for Learning (ETOL) approved last year.
From The Reporter Magazine
The program became effective in June 2025 and is scheduled to run until December 31, 2029.
As part of the initiative, additional financing has been proposed to expand ETOL’s interventions to refugee education and support students in both refugee and host communities.
The additional financing package totals USD 69 million, consisting of a USD 50 million grant from the International Development Association’s Window for Host Communities and Refugees and USD 19 million from the PROSPECTS Partnership trust fund.
Repeated attempts by The Reporter to obtain comments from the Ministry of Education on the potential fiscal implications of integrating refugee schools into the national education budget were unsuccessful.
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