The Ethiopian Renaissance Journal of Social Science and Humanities

Multivariate Analysis of the Predictors of Women’s Delivery at a Health Facility: Evidence from 2016 Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey

Kassahun Tegegne — 2018-03-19

The prevalence of women’s health institutional delivery in developing countries, particularly in Ethiopia
is very low. The empirical data show that migration and socio-demographic factors are responsible
for low institutional deliveries in developing countries. Therefore, the overall objective of the study
was to establish whether there were differences in women’s access to delivery facilities across the
different migration status and socio-demographic factors. To achieve this objective, a cross-sectional
analysis of data from 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) was conducted.
The 2016 EDHS interviewed a total of 15, 683 women, aged 15 to 49 years both in rural and urban
areas. Out of the 15,683 interviewed women, only 7590 women who had live birth(s) in the last
five years preceding the survey were taken as a study participant. The bivariate and multivariate
analysis results show that urban to urban migrants and urban to rural migrants were more likely
to deliver at a health facility than those from other migration status. In relation to socio-demographic
factors, women who live in rural areas, women with no education, non-working women, older women,
women with high birth order and women in the poorest wealth index were less likely to deliver
at a health institution. Therefore, maternal health remains a public health concern due to lack of
sufficient access to delivery facilities. Attention should be given on migration and socio-demographic
factors that are responsible to inhibit women’s institutional delivery. The government should target
the most vulnerable groups such as rural women, non-working women, women in the poorest
wealth category and women with high birth order to further reduce maternal mortality in the country.

The Perplexity of Scholars: Media Relationships in Ethiopia: Exploring the Implications of the Democratization of the Nation

Asmamaw Addis — 2018-07-17

The role of media in democracy has been understood in terms of providing the general public with
information on what the voters have for the public, how politicians behave, and how citizens increase
their political participation. Scholars’ media participation has been insignificant in the democratization
process of Ethiopia despite its divergent interpretations in previous studies. Scholars’ media participation
in Ethiopia highly waning and waxing from time to time. Therefore, the objective of this exploratory
research is to examine the intricate relationships between scholars and media in Ethiopia. The research
is mainly qualitative: Sixteen key informants were interviewed from both media people and publicscholars.
And three FGDs were held with journalists and public-scholars. The findings have shown
that the scholar-media relationship has been weakening because of the following major factors: media
credibility went down, there are abusive uses of scholars’ opinions and expressions by the media,
there is intolerance of criticisms by the government, and thus polarized political ideologies have been
practiced by many scholars and the media.

Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics and Driving Forces in Simien Mountains National Park, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Ebrahim Esa — 2018-07-17

The Simien Mountains National Park (SMNP) was inscribed by UNESCO as world heritage site in 1978
due to its unique landscapes and rich biodiversity resources. However, many parts of the park have
been farmed for more than 2,000 years and is seriously degraded due to unsustainable land utilization.
The main purpose of this study is to quantify the magnitude and rate of change of major land
use/land cover (LULC) types by identifying the major drivers of change in SMNP using GIS and remote
sensing techniques. Three Landsat images of the periods between 1985 and 2015 were classified and
analyzed using Erdas Emagine 13 and ArcGIS 10.1. The results of LULC analysis indicated that a
remarkable expansion was observed in shrubs cover by 110.8% (79 ha/y) followed by farmland and
settlements by 53.7% (81 ha/y) between 1985 and 2015 although some portions of their original extent
were converted into other LULC classes. The results also indicated that the reduction of areas under
forests and grassland covers by about 56.4% (98 ha/y) and 49% (142 ha/y) were evident. The major
institutional and policy factors identified in the study area were civil war between 1976 and 1991,
changes in political structure and land reform of 1997. However, population pressure in the park was
the most important human factor of land use and land cover change. Therefore, sustainable management
in the park is vital to curb the biodiversity depletion and loss of tourist attractions in the area.

Attitude of Junior and Secondary School Students towards Basic Science Subjects in North Gondar, Ethiopia

Missaye Mulatie — 2018-03-19

Education has become one of the most powerful weapons to reduce inequality and poverty (UNESCO,
2000). The main purpose of this study was to investigate attitude of junior, secondary and preparatory
school students towards basic science subjects in North Gondar. The study used a quantitative
research approach with cross-sectional survey design. To this end, 150 junior/secondary and preparatory
school students who were selected from North Gondar zone to attend kiremt (rainy season)
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training at University of Gondar participated
in the study. Data were collected through self-report questionnaire and analyzed using inferential
and descriptive statistics. The results indicated that those students scored high on attitude towards
basic science subjects (chemistry, biology and physics) and had excellent Grade Point Average. Besides,
there was no significant difference in attitude towards basic sciences between male and female
students. Most importantly, attitude towards science significantly influenced Grade Point Average on
chemistry and biology subjects. Here, career interest was found to be the most important predictor of
achievement in biology. But, the adoption of positive attitude toward science was the most important
factor to explain achievement in chemistry. Career interest and adoption of scientific attitudes are vital
dimensions influencing students’ achievement in chemistry and biology respectively. Overall, this
study concludes that attitude towards science has a collosal influence on students’ achievement in
chemistry, biology and physics. Therefore, institutions such as the Ministry of Education, teachers, and
parents should plan and work in tandem to maximize students’ positive attitude towards chemistry,
biology and physics education.

Temporal Trajectory Analysis of Lake Surface Area: Case study on Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Abrham Zelalem — 2018-06-13

Lakes are facing challenges due to climatic and anthropogenic activities with slow changes causing
unnoticed damages over a long time. The long term historic data provides concrete evidence of change.
The earth observation satellites which include both geostationary and polar orbiting satellite provide
different types of environmental data. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the temporal trajectory
change of the lake surface area of LakeTana from 1985 – 2015 using geospatial technologies. The
study uses seven Landsat TM and ETM+ images to detect the lake surface area change. The change
was examined using modified normalized difference of Water index (MNDWI) method. This was attained
by making use of ERDAS Imagine 2014 and ArcGIS10.1 software. The results of this study
indicate that within the past three decades, the lake area has shown a significant decrease–about
362.74 sq.km. The area calculated from bathymetric surveys and the ccorresponding results from other
alternative methods were gathered and computed with the findings of this study. The results portray
that there is strong relationship between the estimates of lake surface area results of MNDWI with NDVI
alongside the bathymetry results. Hence, lake surface area quantification and characterization using
remote sensing and GIS techniques enables resource managers to project realistic change scenarios
helpful for lake surface area management.

Challenges in Assessment Methods and Practices across Departments by Secondary School Teachers in the South West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia

Aschalew Terefe — 2018-07-18

This study was conducted to assess the most widely used assessment methods and practices across
departments and the challenges that hinder high school teachers’ classroom assessment. To this end,
it employed descriptive survey design. Data were collected from 197 teachers’ by using questionnaire
adapted from Zhang and Burry-Stock (2003) assessment practice inventory, and some open-ended
items developed to measure challenges. The data was analyzed using quantitative data analysis methods.
Moreover, the findings regarding challenges in classroom assessment practices from the qualitative
open-ended questions were analyzed and presented by content analysis using words and sentences.
The result indicated that teachers mostly use traditional assessment methods than alternative
assessment. It also revealed that there were statistically significant differences across departments
in constructing test items, F (2,172) = 190.849, p < .05, communicating assessment results, F (2, 172)
= 208.963, p < .05, and grading, F (2, 172) = 63.935, p < .05. In contrast, no statistically significant
differences were found across departments in analyzing test results and test revisions and using performance
assessment practices. Furthermore, teachers’ attitude and belief, shortage of time, lack of
resources, assessment training gap and large class size were major identified challenges. Eventually,
the researchers would like to suggest that teachers should focus on using the alternative forms of assessment
than traditional assessment methods.

በሶስተኛና አራተኛ ክፍል የአማርኛ ቋንቋ መማሪያ መጻህፍት የስርዓተጾታ ፍትሃዊነት ፍተሻ

አራጋው ሺባባው — 2018-07-17

ይህ ጥናት በሶስተኛና በአራተኛ ክፍል የአማርኛ ቋንቋ መማሪያ መጻህፍት የስርዓተጾታ ፍትሃዊነት ምን እንደሚመስሉ
መመርመር ላይ ያተኮረ ነው። ለዚህም ሁለቱ መማሪያ መጻህፍት በዓላማ ተኮር ስልት ተመርጠዋል። መረጃዎችም በሰነድ ፍተሻ
ስልት ተሰብስበዋል። የተሰበሰቡ መረጃዎም በካይ ካሬ፣ በድግግሞሽ ቆጠራ፣በሬሾና በመቶኛ ተተንትነዋል። ከተገኘው ትንተና
እንደተስተዋለውም፣ ሴቶች በስም የቀረቡበት የድግግሞሽ መጠን 66(54.09%) ሲሆን ወንዶች የቀረቡበት የድግግሞሽ መጠን
ደግሞ 56(45.9%) ነው። የካይ ካሬ ፍተሻ እንዳሳየውም p>0.05 ሆኗል። የጉልህነት ውጤቱም .157 ሆኗል። ይህም በሁለቱ
ጾታዎች መካከል የጎላ ልዩነት እንደሌለ የሚያሳይ ነው። የሴት ወንድ የስም ድግግሞሽ ሬሾ/ጥምርታ/ ሲታይ ደግሞ 1.12 ሴት
ለ1 ወንድ ነው፡፡ ከዚህ አንጻርም በጾታ ድግግሞሽ የጎላ ልዩነት አልተስተዋለበትም። የሁለቱ ጾታዎች ማህበራዊ ሚና ሲታይ
መጻህፍቱ ሴቶች ዋናዋና በሚባል ደረጃ በብዛት የቀረቡበት ሚና የለም። ከተሳተፉባቸው ሚናዎች መካከል ግን ሴቶችን መግረዝ፣
ዳቦ መግዛት፣ ዳቦ መሸጥ፣ ልጅ መንከባከብ፣ የህክምና ምክር መስጠት፣ መብት መጠየቅ፣ በሽተኛ መንከባከብ ይገኙበታል።
ኳስ መጫዎት፣ በሽተኛ ተሸካሚ መሆን፣ ሩጫ ደጋፊ መሆን፣ ሳርቤት መክደን፣ፖሊስና ሹፌር ሆኖ መስራት ወንዶች በብዛት
የተሳተፉባቸው ዋናዋና ሚናዎች ናቸው። ከዚህ አንጻር ሚና ላይ የፍትሃዊነት ችግር አለ ማለት ይቻላል፡፡ ውክልናን በተመለከተ
ደግሞ በሁለቱም ጾታዎች ሴት ወይም ወንድ ሲባል ትዝ በሚል መንገድ የተስተዋሉ ውክልናዎች የሉም ማለት ይቻላል፡፡
ሳይደጋገሙ የቀረቡ ውክልናዎች ሲታዩ ግን ወንዶች በአንጻራዊነት በተሻሉ ነገሮች የተወከሉ ሲሆን ሴቶች ደግሞ ዝቅ ባሉ ነገሮች
ተወክለው ቀርበዋል። ይህም ከውክልና አንጻር ክፍተት መኖሩን የሚያሳይ ነው። በመሆኑም ወደፊት የስርዓተትምህርት አዘጋጆች
በሚያዘጋጇቸው መጻህፍት ጥንካሬዎቹን በማስቀጠል በድክመቶቹ በኩል ማሻሻያ ቢያደርጉ መልካም ነው።

Effects of Awareness Raising About Reading Sub-Skills on Students’ Reading Comprehension Enhancement: A Case of Woldiya College Of Teachers’ Education

Oumer Ali — 2018-03-19

The major objective of this study was to investigate the effect of awareness-raising about reading subskills
on the reading comprehension enhancement of students. This research is quantitative in nature
employing a quasi-experimental design. Two group of students, experimental and contol with 32 and
and 31 respectively students involved. A reading comprehension pretest and posttest were used to
gather data. An independent t-test was used in order to determine the significance of the mean score
difference between the experimental and control groups. After awareness raising activities about these
micro-skills, a significant difference was found out between the learners in the experimental and control
groups as (-6.821, df=61, p=.000 which is p<0.5) in favor of the experimental group. At the same
time, the finding in the paired t-test showed that (t=-7.74, df= 31, p= .000) which is(p<0.05) implying a
comparison of the means of scores obtained by the experimental group subjects in the pre-and post-test
showing a significant difference.

Historicizing Urbanism: The socio- economic and cultural pattern of the city of Gondar, Ethiopia

Muluken Fikadie — 2018-03-19

The establishment of Gondar in the 17th century marked a very promising chapter in the history of the
Ethiopian urbanization. This research aimed at exploring the meaning of urban space, the change of
meaning through time and effects of displacement on the social bonds. In doing so, qualitative method
(document analysis, interview, observation, photo voices) were used for thematic analysis. Various social
institutions such as religion, market, monarchy, and long-distance trade promoted the Gondarian
urban development. All the three Abrahamic religions, namely, Christian, Islam, and Judaism were
developed in urban Gondar. Although these religions meant to divide the communities, the Gondarian
Markets served to unite and glue the believers of these religions together. However, the residential
places were segregated on the basis of religions, leading to sprawling. The sprawling was ensued by
unplanned urban expansion, triggering developmental imbalances across the city. The corrective remedy
of redevelopment injected by the municipality also caused slums of despair. Despite these shortcomings,
urbanization marshalled with holistic goals of making Gondar one of the icons of the Ethiopian
centers of religion and culture tinorder to promote and maintain national unity.