Even worse, 70% of all Ethiopian kids don't even have access to primary education and only 18% reach grade five. This is reflected in literacy rates of 50% for males dropping to just 35% for females. Organisations such as Save the Children, whilst focussing on education for all Ethiopian kids, is particularly pressing the case for deeper female engagement in schools.

The situation is more chronic for the country's four million orphans and for those children who have one or more parents affected by AIDS for, like in so many countries, meeting the health care needs of these adults is more of a priority than getting an education in a country were about half of all 15-30 year olds are unemployed, one of the highest unemployment figures in the world.

This perception is gradually changing, albeit slowly, however many educated people from Ethiopia leave the country to earn more money elsewhere so that the education learnt fails to cascade down the generations. For example, there are more Ethiopia-trained doctors living in Chicago than in the whole of Ethiopia.