History

ELDAN education center was established in 2002 by two childhood friends who grew up and completed their high school education in Jimma town. Jimma, a beautiful town located in South Western Ethiopia has a population of 154,000 in 2005 (UN, 2002). It is 335Km away from the capital city Addis Ababa. The Jimma campus is the first legally registered private elementary school in town. The school is situated on 40,000 square meters of land which is made available to us by the Jimma Town Council. The head office and ELDAN-Jimma elementary school are located in Higher 3 Kebele 07 not far from the center of the town. When it began, ELDAN-Jimma had 28 students, 3 classrooms and 10 teachers. Currently it has 46 classrooms, 94 faculty and staff and over 1500 students enrolled from GK to Grade 7. ELDAN-Jimma will expand to a high school level through advancing to the next higher grade every year. Following our expansion plan we have opened ELDAN-Agaro, in a neighboring town, in September 2005. ELDAN Agaro is located in Agaro town kebele 3 commonly known as CHELLO SEFER. The Agaro Town Council has provided the land the school is built. Currently it has 4 classrooms, 14 staff members and close to 200 students from grade 1 to 4. ELDAN Agaro will also grow to a high school level.

About the name

The name of the education center is coined from the first few letters of its founders. The first two letters, EL, taken from the late co-founder Elias Beyene (BSc. Physics; Diploma, Business Administration) while the last three, DAN, taken from the other co-founder Daniel Sahleyesus (Ph.D).

Objectives of ELDAN

• To respond to the need for quality affordable education in various communities especially at the elementary, junior and high school levels. 
• To contribute to the country’s effort to nurture competent citizens that will build the future Ethiopia. 
• To create job opportunity for qualified teachers and administrative staff.