| The Cistercian Monastery Mariam Tsion School is under the
umbrella of the Archdiocesan Catholic Secretariat (ACS) and is
administered by the Cistercian Monks. It is located in Region 14, Zone
3, Woreda 28, Kebelie 4.
This educational sector dates back to 1975, when a small group of
Cistercian Monks from Mendida settled in a small house and started
teaching the children of the neighborhood gathering them in a temporary
shelter, and almost informally. Soon later they built the first block of
the existing building and got recognition from the Ministry of Education.
Like any other Catholic School the objective of Mariam Tsion
Cistercian School is basically humanitarian: intellectual, moral, and
cultural formation of the youth without discrimination on basis of
social statues, religion, or gender.
The Cistercian of the Common Observance have four monasteries in
Ethiopia, one of them is at Addis Ababa. Its primary school was opened
by two monks when the new monastery was founded in Addis Ababa in 1972.
It was started in an informal way with 20 pupils in a small garage. The
monks endeavoured to give the pupils a good foundation in basic
education with Christian ethics. As a result the number of pupils grew
dramatically. So the monks asked donations from some Italian donors and
built a new school. It was opened in 1975 E.C.
At the moment this school has about 1,338 pupils with 43 teachers and
helpers. It is a mixed school for boys and girls and it is a day-school
operating from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In Ethiopia there are many children who do not go to school because
there are not enough schools. In some government schools there are 120
pupils per class. In the monastery school (Cistercian Monastery Mariam
Tsion) there are 80 pupils in one class-room.
The government is not able to give any help or to pay the teachers
who are teaching in church schools. So each pupil pays € 5 per month
for the salary of the teacher and helper. Some who cannot pay even the
€ 5 are helped by the monastery and have education practically free.
There are no school buses. All the pupils come on foot with their
lunch in their school bags because it is difficult to go home for their
dinner on foot.
We teach the following national curriculum designed by the Ministry
for Education: Amharic (the national Language), English (as the second
Language), Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Christian Ethics
and Physical Education... In addition to the national curriculum we
teach Christian Ethics which are very necessary in the country.
The number of Catholics in Ethiopia is under 1% of the population so
we have about:
v 1% Catholic pupils
v 2% Muslim Pupils (in Muslim regions the number of Muslim pupils is
higher,)
v 3% Protestants,
v 1% from other religions,
v 93% Orthodox.
It is not difficult to teach Christian Ethics in Catholic Schools
because about 97% of our pupils are from Christian families.
When we teach Christian Ethics we have great respect for the
non-Christian pupils and their religions and keep then comfortable with
us. Because of this even the Muslims like to send their children to
Catholic schools.
The Ethiopian Catholic Church is the smallest in numbers but very
influential. There are 250 Catholic schools in the country while the
Orthodox Church has only about 10 schools.
Our school has enough space for play-grounds and the pupils play
football, volley-ball, table tennis, athletics etc...
For years the people have been asking the monks to build a secondary
school. They have a plan to upgrade the school to a secondary school but
they do not have the resources. It is a great challenge but they hope
the project will be one day realized.
The school is run by the St. Joseph's Cistercian Monastery. | 
