Home Academics Undergraduate Humanities Ethio. Lang. & Lit.

Amharic department was established as independent department in 1980 under Bahir Dar Teachers college. The department started its function by offering courses to pedagogical science major and Amharic minor students. Later, further changes were introduced in the college and diploma-offering departments, which train junior secondary school teachers in social and natural sciences, came into existence. The Amharic department was one of the new diploma-offering departments in the college. Then after, the department started its degree program in 1998.

Currently, the department, in its undergraduate program, is offering degree programs in the regular, summer & distance and diploma program in the extension program. Similarly, in its post graduate program, it is running Teaching Amharic (Team) since 2006.

In this academic year Amharic department, like other departments of Bahir Dar university, has been undertaking an overall review of its undergraduate regular programs curriculum based on need assessment results and the directives the university received from the Ministry of Education that requests the university to change the curricula of the various programs to catch up with the societal demands and new developmental strategies.

The department, thus, benefited from the curriculum development process and designed two new curricula for undergraduate programs. These new curriculums are curriculum of Folklore and curriculum of Ethiopian Language(s) & Literature- Amharic. Hence, this curriculum is the new curriculum of the Bachelor of Arts degree program in Ethiopian Language(s) & Literature – Amharic. Following the development of this new curriculum the department has changed its name from Amharic to Ethiopian Language(s) and Literature.

In order to satisfy the needs of the country’s skilled manpower & to produce competent, interested and skillful graduates who will serve as general language experts, this curriculum has been prepared by incorporating new courses that are believed to equip students with professional and practical orientation. The training program takes three years. The rationale behind this is the fact that at a preparatory level (during the second cycle of secondary education) the students are expected to take introductory courses, which serve as bridge for the university study.

DEPARTMENT OBJECTIVES

As a Language & Literature trainer department, the Ethiopian Language(s) and Literature – Amharic department has the following objectives:

1. Train writers and critics, public relation officers, editors and translators

2. Train researchers in the field of literature and human concerns

3. Organize and offer short term training and workshops

3.1 Offer short term training on language skills and literature

· Report writing

· Literature principles and related issues

· Translation

3.2 Organize workshops on:

· Languages study( Linguistics)

· Literature (editing, literary criticism etc.)

4. Offer language related services related to:

4.1 Translation service

4.2 Editing service

4.3 Preparation and evaluation of language curriculum

5. Conduct Research on the various languages and literatures of Ethiopia

· With reference to the problems of organization and institutions, thereby give consultant service

· To participate at regional and national forums