PRINCE MEKONNEN HAILE SELLASIE SECONDARY SCHOOL

Located on the way to Harar on the right side the of the road and school is now known by the name of Dire Dawa Comprehensive Secondary School.
This School has been a hope for the Dire Dawa people for over 40 years and still is.
It gives a great service for the people of Dire Dawa.


The School started in 1963. Prior to this, there was no High school for the children of Dire Dawa, except two elementary schools; Prince Mekonnen elementary school and Christos elementary and junior high school,i.e.only from grade 1-8. After completing elementary school education, students were obligated to go to the city of Harar 55Km away from Dire Dawa to High school called Medhanialm Secondary School.


This was difficult for students, parents, as well as the government that spent 20 Birr Per month on transporting these students back and forth from dire dawa to harar. Parents used to worry about the possibilities of car accident, unreliable busses and may be inexperienced drivers, not to mention the how treacherous the roads are despite they are paved. There were two busses called KORARA 1 And Telfo bakisa 2. I believe these busses were the ones assigned to transport the students, but we don't know the origin of their names.


There is no record at least in our hand, for how long this went on. But in 1963 miracle happened in dire dawa city. The first and still the only public high school opened in dire dawa. That created a huge celebration among the people of dire dawa, young and old.


As we all know the 1960s were the time of political stress around the world and dire dawa also had its fare share. Schools, Stadiums and Hospitals were taking names of political leaders.
First the school took the name of a prince, PRINCE MEKONNEN HAILE SELLASIE SOCONDARY SCHOOL, THEN CHANGED TO MERHA MUYA THEN BACK TO MEKONNEN, AND FINALLY TO ITS CURRENT NAME, DIRE DAWA COMPREHENSIVE SECONDARY SCHOOL.


The school s program used to be pretty much compatible with the rest of the world academic programs. As I recall, any student who completed his or her high school education here and got a passing point on his/her ESLCE(Ethiopian school leaving certificate exam), is qualified to enter any college or university around the world, with a highest probability of success on his or her studies. Now that was a great success in school’s achievement and also a tremendous hope for parents and students future life and prospect.


This shows that people of dire dawa new good education can make your future brighter and still do.


The current academic program is a beat different than it used to be and students in most cases are not meeting the challenges of current technology and life itself. To bridge this gap former students of this school and the dire dawa residents donated computers and other hardware and software materials to the school. But the school’s problem is far from over, so dire dawa high school alumni should be encouraged to help in anyway they can. Letting the school down is letting your heritage go down to the drain.
For those who started helping, the school is extending its appreciation and we all say thank you.



The place of the school before 40 years
The school ground belonged to the Italian army and established in 1936. The Italian army reached dire dawa on may 9, 1936. And of course after the defeat of Italian Army, the school ground served as a police camp for the dire dawa police department for the next 25 years.



How the School is Started???
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To Build the School, the contract was given to Engineer Philipe Masha, a building contractor. The foundation started in 1960 with an estimated cost of half a million birr. It took three years to finish the project and when the building was completed, it had four stories with 31 classes, 1 lab, and 1 library.


Classes started from Grade 7- 9 had 5 sections but grade 10 had only one section. The total number of students was 618, which had 542 males and 76 females.


The teaching staff had 20 members. According to the article in the magazine published for the school’s 25th anniversary, 13 of those were from other countries. The school had one management personnel, one store leader, one secretary, one typist, two maids, and 4 security guards.
To get the list of the teachers and the directors of the school starting form
1963 please contact us by our e-mail address
ddcss2003@yahoo.com
or
ddss@telecom.net.et