International Schools Appeal Ministry’s New Foreign Student Threshold

Only six of 46 int’l schools meet new criteria: Education Ministry

Dozens of International community schools are appealing a new rule from officials at the Ministry of Education that threatens to strip them of their status if foreign citizens make up less than 30 percent of total enrollment.

The new requirement, announced by Education Minister Berhanu Nega (PhD) last month, will see international schools forced to pivot to the local curriculum or close entirely if they do not meet the threshold by the start of the next school year in September.

Ministry officials say only six of the 46 international schools in the country meet the new 30 percent threshold.

Ministry data indicates that just 4,231 (16.5 percent) of the 25,000 students enrolled across these 46 schools are foreign citizens. Ninety-five percent of the 2,244 teachers at these schools are Ethiopian citizens, while just 2.1 percent of 1,600 administrative workers are foreigners, according to official data.

Officials say they reiterated the new rule to school administrators this week, and they expect it to go into force in 2026/27.

However, parents, parent committees and international community school administrators who spoke to The Reporter say they strongly oppose the decision

“This new direction will have a negative impact on students, parents and the country. First, it goes against citizens’ right of access to education under the universal human rights law, rights of children, and the Ethiopian constitution. It also reverses the efforts of international schools to improve the dwindling quality of education in Ethiopia,” said a member of a parents’ community at one of the leading international schools in Addis Ababa.

“We’ve asked the Ministry to justify the decision or disclose any studies behind it. We’ve also asked it to undertake intensive discussions with parents and other stakeholders before imposing the rule. We’ve also asked that the decision be suspended until a study is conducted and consensus is reached. The new threshold serves government to collect revenues in foreign currency, rather than targeting education quality improvement.”

As things stand, no less than 40 international schools could be forced to switch over to the domestic curriculum or close their doors in less than a year’s time.

The Education and Training Authority has put out a call to all international schools to select a group of five individual parents to attend a discussion on curricula on Ministry premises on March 4. Parents who hold ownership in an international school or are members of a school board are not eligible to attend.