The main purpose of this research was assessing the contributions of ABE to primaryrneducation in terms of access, equity, efficiency, relevance and quality. The method employed tornconduct this study was descriptive survey. Regional Education Bureau and Woreda EducationrnOffice officials and concerned experts, facilitators, the parents around the ABEs and 2 MOErnexperts were used as sources of data. To this end. the main contributions of ABE in terms ofrnaccess to education, improvement in equity and internal efficiency were assessed. In addition,rnrelevancy of ABE curriculum to the pastoralists and the level of quality of ABEs were alsornexamined. The necessary data for the study was collected through questionnaires, interview,rnfocus group discussions, observation and dacument review. The study was conducted in sixrnrandomly selected Woredas of Afar region. A total of 90 respondents, namely 2 MOE, 6 REB,rn23 WEO, 20 facilitators and 39 community members have participated. The data analysisrnmethod used in the study was textual analysis and statistical tools.rnThe findings of the study revealed that: Although ABE has a positive impact and helped tornreach more pastoralists than the formal schools, illness of students and mobility of thernpastoralists during dry season in search of water and pasture increased dropout rate,rnespecially girls; parents also showed preference towards Quranic teachings for theirrndaughters, ABE was considered as an inferior education by the parents and their reasons werernthe contents of the text book and the length of time spent by children in schools; inadequaterneducational inputs, facilitator's motivation and absenteeism, low qualification of facilitatorsrnwere identified as quality problems.rnThe major conclusions drawn from the study were: ABE played a very important role inrnensuring education to the pastoralists; although ABEs are established nearer to therncommunities, mobility makes it difficultfor most parents to send their children, especially girls,rnto school; the drop out is found to be very high due to drought and illness of children,rnInadequate educational inputs and low educational qualification of facilitators.rnFinally, the study recommended: launching feeding programme, providing incentives forrnfemale students, recroiting more female role model facilitators and applying flexible schoolrncalendar to increase access, improve equity and reduce dropouts. Revisiting the curriculumrnwill ensure relevance and increase competitiveness of ABE students in grade 5. In order tornimprove the quality of ABEs; increasing the frequency of supervision, providing the necessaryrneducational inputs, increasing the salary and minimum qualification and more training to thernfacilitators to make teaching career attractive to the natives.