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Article: The long road to eighth grade Observer
- Article from:
- International Herald Tribune
- Article date:
- April 29, 2005
- Author:
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Helene Cooper
International Herald Tribune
04-29-2005
For seventh graders here, class is held under the shade of a ficus tree because there are only six rooms in the village school. On a recent day, students sat and listened as a visitor from Addis Ababa, hundreds of miles away, asked which of them expected to go on to the eighth grade. Twenty-nine hands went up the entire class. Their Addis Ababa visitor, Hailay Teklehaimanot, looked at them with frustration. ''How will you get there?'' he asked gently. Seventh grade is the highest class offered at the Koraro Primary School, and the nearest eighth grade is 30 kilometers, or nearly 20 miles, away. That's a good six-hour walk because the ...