The HER girls recently received their scores for the Ethiopian National Exam. This exam is taken by all 10th grade Ethiopians and their numerical score determines whether they move forward to the 11th grade in high school, move to a vocational school or stop going to school and enter the workplace. The exam is comprehensive and Ethiopian students do as much as they can to prepare themselves, such as undertake extra tutoring. For students in IIE’s Higher Education Readiness (HER) Program, IIE held after school tutoring programs and tried to prep the girls on exam taking.
The scores were released in early September and even though most HER girls did very well and have progressed to 11th grade, there were a handful of girls that did not get the required numerical score and have subsequently had to drop from the HER program. We were all hoping for a 100 % pass score, but the reality is that success on the exam is based on two years of high school coursework and as we all know, it is hard to make up any deficiencies in a two month tutoring period.
We congratulate those HER girls that reached the required score and are looking forward to working with them over the next two years of high school. 11th grade has started and they are engaged in classes and other HER activities such as mentorships and additional leadership classes. In our next blog, we will report on the recent HER award ceremony that was held at Fetawerari and Addis Ketema schools in Addis Ababa. It was a moving ceremony that included the HER girls, their parents, teachers and tutors.