Eritrea - Ministry of Information

The Government of Eritrea has long recognized education, as a central element in sustainable growth, human capacity development, and nation building. Following this, the Ministry of Education is empowered to spend up to 45% of the annual national budget on education.

The United Nations defines illiteracy as “the inability to read and write a simple message in any language.” Let’s first understand the definition closely. An illiterate is equal to a handicapped person who is unfamiliar with his surroundings and is unable to perform day to day activities.

The Government of Eritrea remains committed to and engaged in tightening the gaps and providing the needed services to the society. This is witnessed by the ongoing developmental activities underway nationwide.
Development targets have been achieved at all levels and in various sectors. These include the building of roads, water harvesting facilities, communication networks, transport fleets, development of seeds and animal husbandry that go beyond food self-sufficiency, upgrading capacity as regards manufacturing activities in industry and enterprises, development of tourism potentials and the expansion of education. The same applies to a host of other obligations in the process of nation-building. One worth highlighting involves the health sector.

A simple compound with a bunch of flowers, leaves and a backyard with green scenery is undeniably pleasing matter for people to live comfortably and pleasurably inside their homes. The atmosphere within the compound creates a sense of peace, joy and freshness for the people living there and a simultaneous heavenly mood on earth seems to prevail. In our tradition, mothers, take the green color as a sign of harmony and say Beal Qetelya Yitaareqena, roughly translated as let the Green Fellow bestow Peace on us.

Traditional Sedentary Agro- Pastoralism in Low Land-1

Found in Sub-Zone Mogolo, Barentu and Gogne, the communities in this LS are sedentary that have permanent villages with some members of the household migrating seasonally with their livestock to the banks of Gash and Setit rivers. The ethnic groups that belong to this livelihood are the Nara, Tigre and Kunama. Crop and livestock are roughly of equal importance in this livelihood. It must be noted here that the migration is during dry season only for the livestock with one or two members of the family and not the entire family. Some households in these areas make arrangements to send their livestock with other persons for fee or other services. Major crops grown in this LS include sorghum, pear millet, and sesame.

Nine ethnic groups namely the Bilen, Hidareb, Kunama, Nara, Rashaida, Soho Tigre and Tigrigna, inhabit Gash Barka Region. The Tigre and Hidareb are found in the north along the Barka River, Nara and Kunama in the middle and Tigrigna in the south and east. The Bilen and Saho are found among the Tigrigna in the south, while the Rashaida are found in the west and northwest along with the Hidareb. The Tigre and Hidareb ethnic group are basically semi-sedentary pastoralist while the remaining ethnic groups are sedentary Agro-pastoralist except the Rashaida who are mobile following their goats and actively involved in cross border trade.