44 new Peace Corps Volunteers at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa were sworn in by Chargé d'affaires Peter Vrooman today.  These Volunteers will be working as English language teachers in rural towns throughout Ethiopia. This group is the fifteenth group to swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers since 2007. They will join over 200 currently serving volunteers in Ethiopia and over 7,000 currently serving volunteers around the world. The G15 PCVs will be living and serving in Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, and SNNPR.

Peace Corps Ethiopia’s Education program began in 2011 with the first Volunteers working as teacher trainers in primary schools and teacher’s colleges.  After refinements based on feedback from the Ministry of Education and schools, Volunteers now work as direct English teachers in local high schools around the country.  The refocused education project is titled Promoting English Language Learning in Ethiopia (PELLE). Since 2014, Volunteers are placed in high schools as direct English teachers, with a maximum of three sections of their own.  Additionally, Volunteers plan and lead extracurricular activities including student and teacher English clubs, gender-empowerment clubs, and teacher trainings.