[This article, like all Lt. Kidane's articles, was submitted in Tigrigna and translated to English by Awate.com.  Lt. Kidane lives in Eritrea.]

A week ago, Osman Saleh, [Eritrea�s Minister of Education] chaired a meeting of directors and supervisors in his ministry.   Also attending the meeting was the social affairs director of Zoba Maekel, a colonel whose name escapes me. In the meeting, the colonel attacked Osman Saleh�s ministry for asking parents to pay 15 Nakfa per month per student as an �incentive� fund for teachers.

The minister responded, �I never passed such a directive.  It is true that I asked the government for approval, but the government denied it saying the people cannot pay because they have no money.  It was the parents committee in the various schools that implemented it on their own.�  In short, he tried to be Pilate!

In fact, he and his associates are trying to implement the payment through various means. One of the techniques is by lobbying the parents association the EPLF way. You should know that the major schools, private as well as government, are led by parent associations, 90% of whom are veteran fighters. These people are clandestine elements of PFDJ for implementing its policy and doing its dirty surveillance work for it.

The problem with the policy is that it creates a hell of problems in the country because there are areas like Sahel, Barka, Southern Zone etc where people can�t pay. Then, teachers will try to go to areas where there is good incentive for teachers, that is, in Asmara, Massawa, Keren, Mendefera etc. The absence of teachers will finally hit the remote areas strongly.

In general, it is a very nasty initiative. Many teachers said, �Mengisti entedelyu ba'Elu demozna yeteAraryo; kab'u terefe kab dekatat menTilna tikqabo ayniwesiden ina.� [The government can adjust our salaries if it wants to; beyond that, we are not going to snatch money from the hands of the poor.�]

The PFDJ Reclaiming The�Sahel Spirit�

Once in a while, when the government doesn�t know what to do, it says it wants to �go to Sahel.�  This began shortly after 2001, and it has been re-appearing every time the government feels that the answers to the future challenges are found in the past.  This feeling is strengthened when it has big setbacks, like its recent experience in Somalia.  The people say, Hrqanom nabana Kewxiuwo iyom! [They will take it out on us!]

The word in the streets of Asmara is that the government will not demobilize any soldiers hereafter.  This was told in various seminars for new recruits and other military units. The generals say mTyasna adfiruna! [demobilization is the cause of our being belittled.]  The Kiloma batch which recently graduated has already been assigned to various units and many have started disappearing into thin air.

The military indoctrination is increasing in its intensity.  But the soldiers are fed up and they know that it is too late to remedy the situation in such fashion. The generals say that there is no other option. The opinion of many cadres is that there should be a general change in the right direction, such as uprooting corruption, enforcing accountability, introducing transparency etc.   But nobody listens.    

The opposition media, specially Awate and Asmarino, are having some impact because in some junior schools, including private ones like Biet tmhrti Awet, children as young as 12-13 years of age were told not to look into opposition websites because they �slander our nation�! 

Meanwhile, every day, there are rumors and news that a group of ten or a group of twenty left the country via Tessenei or Senafe.  The government is now so used to people escaping that even people who were caught red-handed trying to escape, if they are well-known people, specially media people, are not always being arrested.

We need change!