With a view of building the capacity of the cafeteria support staff at Main Campus and laymen from surrounding communities, Community Service wing of Arba Minch University will soon be launching an Integrated Adult Education Program. 

AMU can boast to be the first university having embarked upon such an employee-centric endeavor. Initially, AMU will target Main Campus cafeteria staff and farmers, housewives and laymen residing at the surrounding Shara and Weze villages (kebeles) in Arba Minch with a hope of its expansion in future, said the Director of Community Service, Dr Alemayehu Taye.

Pained at the trend in which, employees working at the cafeteria were found to be losing their jobs because they don’t fulfill the requirement of minimum education, the criteria, set by the Civil Service Ministry.

Taking up the challenge, Community Service has planned an Integrated Adult Education Program that not only will provide basic education but practical training as well; it will help them to retain their job. In order to reach out to the surrounding communities, AMU will establish Adult Education Centre at Shara and Weze villages (kebeles).

These three Integrated Adult Education centres with their representatives and nine trainers (extension workers) from the respective areas will teach the target audience. These trainers will be part-time workers for AMU. The program schedule will be decided as per the convenience of the support staff.

Service Learning and Development Works Coordination offices will collaborate to run this program. The technical committee comprising of academic staff, representatives from zonal education office and technical and vocational education personnel have recently designed the curriculum and will supervise its overall activities.

Initially, 150 out of around 500 AMU employees working at the cafeteria and 200 odd adults from above mentioned villages (kebeles) will be trained. If it works out well, then it will be replicated at other campuses and surrounding villages, Dr Alemayehu added.

In the coming week, Service Learning, Development Works Coordination offices along with Human Resource Management and Students Coordination offices will orient the target staff.

AMU has prepared an action plan with its stakeholders, Regional Educational Bureau at Hawassa and Zonal Education Department, Arba Minch; Action Plan will govern the program. AMU will facilitate logistics, Zonal Education Department will provide teaching materials and Regional Bureau is to take care of training of different types.

By Philips Joseph