Comparative Analysis of Education Quality for Internally Displaced Children in Ethiopia: A Focus on Oromia and Amhara Regions

Abstract

This study provides a comparative analysis of educational quality for internally displaced children in Ethiopia's Oromia and Amhara regions, employing a convergent parallel mixed-methods design with 624 participants. Through systematic integration of quantitative data (analyzed via t-tests, ANOVA, and regression) and qualitative thematic analysis, the research reveals striking regional disparities. Oromia demonstrated significantly superior outcomes across all measured domains: academic performance, learning space quality, TLS functionality, and mental health service access. Critically, the same interventions showed vividly different effectiveness between regions, with TLS and ALP interventions demonstrating 50-71% greater predictive power in Oromia. The analysis identifies distinct implementation approaches as the key differentiator: Oromia's contextually integrated, community-owned model contrasted fundamentally with Amhara's standardized, externally dependent approach. These divergent pathways resulted in substantially stronger sustainability prospects in Oromia. The findings challenge standardized approaches to education in emergencies, demonstrating that educational resilience emerges from community agency, cultural integration, and historical institutional patterns rather than technical intervention design alone. The study recommends a twin-track strategic approach: building foundational systems and ownership capacity in Amhara, while strengthening and scaling existing resilience factors in Oromia.