The Derg had mandated that education be in Amharic, a Semitic language with its own script, very different from Oromigno, a Cushitic language spoken by the Oromo people and written in the Latin script.

Derg规定教育必须使用阿姆哈拉语，阿姆哈拉语是一种闪族语言，有自己的文字，和奥罗莫语非常不同，奥罗莫语是奥罗莫人使用的一种库希特语族语言，用拉丁文书写。