Last week Ministers and Regional Administrators (governors) were dispatched to various towns around the country to lead ‘seminars’ with ‘community leaders’. The government media briefly reported the seminars, conducted in the Northern Red Sea, Southern and Anseba regions, without revealing some of the contentious issues raised, but reports reaching Gedab News indicate that the “seminars are not going as smoothly as the organizers had hoped."
The “seminars,” which were extensions of the “dialogue” initiated by the PFDJ senior cadres in April of this year, were conducted by the ministers of Agriculture, Health, Education, Finance, Energy & Mines as well as the administrators of the three regions mentioned above. The agenda focused on two main issues: the status of the conflict with Ethiopia and the continued exodus of young people out of Eritrea.
In Adi Keih, the Minister of Health, Mr. Saleh Meki, asked his audience: “why does it seem that everybody is so keen on fleeing the country?” In his words: “temeharay yhadm, serahtenya yhadm, agelglot yhadm … enty yu eti tsegem?” [Students flee, workers flee, national service participants flee, what is the issue?]”
A woman in the audience ventured with an explanation saying that the youth do not see a future, and that’s why they look for their own solutions. She added that it has become the custom for girls to retire to their homes at the end of 11th grade, rather than go to Sawa. The Minister’s response was that those were temporary difficulties that ‘we, as a nation and as a people’ have to endure.
In another “seminar” held earlier this month in Cinema Capitol which was attended by students completing 11th grade this year and chaired by the ruling party's political director, Mr. Yemane Ghebreab, a young student addressed Mr. Yemane Gebreab saying that he (the student) had not seen any engineers or doctors graduating in Eritrea, but only hears about “kedamai zuria, salsai zuria, wezete” [“first round, third round, etc”], a reference to the different national services batches.
Similarly, in a number of programs aired by the state radio that were dedicated to discussing the issue of education, several listeners voiced their concern about the deteriorating quality of education and the conditions of their children. Asked why students today fare poorer than earlier generations, one woman responded “because they are not motivated, as the only prospect open to them is going to Sawa.” The host of the radio program was noticeably disturbed by the response and, forgetful that he was there to moderate the discussion, started a lengthy lecture about Sawa’s role in “defending the nation, educating and disciplining our youngsters.”
