Eritrea: Building or Destroying the Hope

(Asmara 20/08/2014)

It was at the end of the month of September of 2013.

Students in the Certificate program (from the 25th and 26th round) and those that did not get a passing mark from the 26th round arrived in Sawa for their further studies

Soon after their arrival they were told they will walk on foot to Nakfa, and this has created a distress not only to the students who expected a further study but it also broke the hopes of the new students (Round 27) who arrived in Sawa on July 20 2013, and many begun to quickly flee to the neighboring countries (Sudan & Ethiopia) and some also returned to their homes.

As they were told the 25th and 26th round of the certificate program and those which did not get a passing mark begun their walk to Nakfa on the beginning of the October and they traveled on foot to Nakfa for the whole two months (October and November) and reached Nakfa at the beginning of the month of December.

On their way to Nakfa, several students committed suicide and this has created a lot of distress in Eritrea and especially in Sawa.

On December they were given a job, doing a labor work for the ዉቃው እዝ Wikaw Iz which was to be celebrated on March 21-23, 2014.After working for the whole month of December, the students within the certificate program returned to Sawa on the middle of January and those which don’t get a passing mark were divided into two group: some of them stayed in Nakfa and the others were send to Afabet (and they are still there). And now the effect of this tragic process is - the number of students going to Sawa has been decreasing.

• The 26th Round: 17,700
• The 27th Round: 24,000 students
• The 28th Round: 9,000 Students Many students (28th round) on the border area choose to flee while the others choose to stay on their homes.

For the 26th round their matriculation results were told in their home cities but now the students from the 27 round are being told to arrive at Sawa on the 5th of September of 2014, the colleges will start registration on the 2nd of September 2014. The government has threatened the students if they don’t arrive on that date it will use strong measures ( most students believe the government will use its usual round up in the cities ) to bring them to Sawa.