Asmara — Enlarging and developing the educational service sector is a national priority that is placed on the vanguard of development strategy of Eritrea, where huge investment and relentless effort is being expended, mainly for two basic reasons. Firstly, anyone has the right to know about him/herself as well as about his/her surrounding environment. And secondly, nowadays it has been confirmed that education is a compulsory prerequisite for economic and human development of any given society. Surely, building a nation and people means building a person, who is a master of knowledge and wisdom. Based on this the National Charter of Eritrea highlights: "our development strategy must be human centered and should target to ascertain the decisive role of human beings".

Upon this conviction, right from the dawn of independence, the Government of Eritrea, has been undertaking extensive work and expending huge investment as well as effort to provide educational facilities, equipments as well as efficient teachers to all citizens in the country, especially to remote areas, which have been deprived of educational service, so as to make them equal beneficiaries. As a result of this tireless effort, the number of elementary, junior and secondary schools, which was only 292 in 1990/1991, grew to 1,040 showing an increase of 356%.The number of students, which was only 168,000 during the advent of independence grew to 584,762 (last years record) exhibiting an increase of 345%. And the number of teachers, which was only 4,505 during the early days of independence has risen to 11,159(247% increase).

These figures specially focus on the effort made on ascertaining access to basic academic education. But, looking at the collective effort expended on providing "Education for all", which is a national aspiration and goal, the change that was scored as well as the capacity gained on pre-schools, vocational centers, colleges and universities is a clear indication of how fast the progress as well as the performance has been. Knowing beforehand that building a number of schools and providing teachers and educational facilitates alone can not help in attaining the national vision and goal, the Government of Eritrea has focused its attention on changing the quality of education. In addition it has been striving hard to score a tangible progress with regards to education, by working resolutely towards making quality education accessible and accompanying it by modern technology. The Government has also been promoting higher participation of women and other disadvantaged segments of the society, who were lacking access to education. Based on this, reviewing the current education system of the country, the Government has been working on reshaping education service to serve as a podium of vocation and capacity building, while encouraging education centers to make use of modern information technology and excel their services as well as introduce an education system that enables students to score a change in their lives and attain tangible know-how. In general, the Government has been working relentlessly to change the education sector both in quantity and quality.

To materialize this national goal and objective therefore, parallel to the cumbersome effort the Government is undertaking, the interest of students, teachers and parents needs to grow. Because, the profit of education is two sided. First and foremost for the individual, and secondly for the nation as well as the society. In our time, only the imperishable wealth and the profession gained from education can assist in leading a smooth life any time any where. Hence, the youth should look far and beyond and get rid of short term imaginations. They should strive to achieve this advantageous wealth, which would live with them throughout life. Parents as well, more than anything else should understand that more than any other capital and possessions, endowing education to their children is the best of all legacy and understanding this beforehand they should play their role on enabling their children raise their interest in education. It is only when the effort of the government as well as the society merge, that the goal and national objective is attained and this will serve as a leverage for the nation to achieve the aspired level of civiliazation.