Kidane Meheret School (KMS) is a primary and secondary co-educational school with a pre-college (similar to a sixth form) in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The school is run by the Ethiopian Catholic Church and has long-established links with Malta as it was founded by the Franciscan Sisters of Malta in 1957. The nuns continue to play a leading role in its overall management and administration to this day, and the present author is a Maltese national.

Foreign Minister Ian Borg inaugurated the ICT Laboratory and Connected Classrooms Project at the school in the presence of Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Suraphiel, metropolitan bishop of the Ethiopian Catholic Church.

On May 8, Foreign Minister Ian Borg inaugurated an ICT Laboratory and Connected Classrooms Project at the school in the presence of Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Suraphiel, metropolitan bishop of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, as well as members of the Maltese community and senior officials. Connected Classrooms is an overseas development assistance project to which the Maltese government allocated a budget of €37,000.

School principal Sr Laetitia S. Borg is a Maltese national, and the school has long-established links with Malta as it was founded by the Franciscan Sisters of Malta in 1957.

The setting up of this ICT laboratory with high-tech computers and adequate internet connection is a dream come true for me, and in terms of the rich opportunities this infrastructure can provide; especially in terms of connectivity, the sky is the limit. Its main purpose is to connect KMS students with peers in Malta and to empower them with information technology skills and, in particular, familiarity with virtual learning environments, besides linguistic and cognitive skills, as well as learning through cultural exchanges.

The Connected Classrooms project encourages student-to-student dialogue, which will lead to better understanding between young people in Europe and Africa. Kidane Meheret School’s link with Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph’s School, Paola, will eventually be extended to reach out to other schools in Malta and, more widely, to other African countries as the project grows in line with the Maltese government’s aspirations to create better links with Africa for enhanced education and understanding.

During the inauguration ceremony, the Maltese and Ethiopian flags stood side by side.  The two national anthems were duly played as the foreign affairs minister cut a white and red ribbon and unveiled a plaque commemorating the event. Ethiopian students sang and danced Viva Malta in red and white outfits, and performed an Ethiopian traditional dance to honour the good relations between the two countries.

The link with Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph’s School, Paola, will eventually be extended to other schools in Malta and more widely to other African countries

In his speech, Borg said: “Education is the most important sector in which we could continue to invest, especially connecting our schoolchildren together.” He also underlined that relations between Malta and Ethiopia are going from strength to strength and, through this project, the school would continue doing its part to strengthen or build bridges between the two countries. The minister expressed his delight and pride at the unfurling and flying of the Maltese flag in Ethiopia.

Kidane Mehret School principal Sr Laetitia S. Borg presenting a certificate of appreciation to Dr Borg.

Four preliminary virtual synchronised lessons have already provided a groundbreaking experience – a real and genuine opportunity for pupils of two primary schools on either side of two continents to become aware and familiar with each other’s cultures, value systems, daily lives and personal outlooks.

These test lessons enabled the pupils to gain more confidence in using the English language online. Having an external audience to present ideas or information online considerably raised the pupils’ motivation to complete classroom activities.

In my speech, I stressed that the launching of the project marks a milestone in the relations between Malta and Ethiopia. This was also echoed by Yordanos Fekadu, a KMS student from the Pre-College Section, who said in her speech that “relations between Malta and Ethiopia have been established since the 1920s, and both countries have much in common; for instance, they are both very ancient and rich in historical culture”.

She said the project would make education at the school more efficient, adding “that one day some KMS alumni software developer is going to thank you for making his or her ICT classes more effective by donating these modern computers”.

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my appreciation to Minister of Foreign Affairs Ian Borg; to Ronald Micallef, Malta’s Ambassador for Ethiopia, Djibouti and the African Union, and his team, who played a leading role in the implementation of the project. I  also thank the principal of Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph School, Paola, Kenneth Vella, and teachers from his school – Cristina Spiteri and Mary Grace Grech, and from KMS, Dawit Tsegaye and David Watkins – for facilitating the preparations and the test lessons to connect the classrooms between the two schools.