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Objectives: In Ethiopia, western modern education has been introduced in 1908, though there has been traditional educationstarting from the entrance of Christianity in Ethiopia in the sixth century. Currently, there are thousands of governmentand private schools in the country. The objective of this study is to identify who scores well in anatomy in the university;students coming from government or private schools?Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the effect of high school background on medical students’ performancein anatomy among 120 randomly selected students at Bahir Dar University College of Medicine and Health Sciences.Results: Anatomy is given for medical students as separate course in regional approach for ten months after they complete premedcourses as five hours lecture and one hour practical session per week. Students than take an exam with theoretical andpractical parts, after completion of each region. Out of 120 randomly selected students about 64% joined the university fromgovernment schools and the rest were from private schools. From the government school group, only 17% of the studentsscored low. However, out of the total private school students 40% were low scorers. There was a statistically significant correlationbetween school background and medical student performance in anatomy (p=0.007). The odds of private school studentsperformance in anatomy was 3.22 times lower than those of government school students (p=0.007)Conclusion: Students graduated from government high schools perform better in academics than students graduated fromprivate schools.

The sigmoid colon is about 40 cm in length and begins below the pelvic inlet and ends at the rectosigmoid junction. It normally lies in the lesser pelvis. Anatomical variations of the sigmoid colon were described by various authors. The length and form of sigmoid colon are the most variable of all colonic segments. In this case, the sigmoid colon was found covering the left half of the transverse colon, hiding the spleen and in contact with the left lobe of the liver. In addition, it had no visible taeniae coli and sacculations. The sigmoid colon was 66 cm in length, 7 cm in lumen width, and in suprapelvic position. Awareness of the possible variation of colon especially of the sigmoid is necessary for adequate clinical, surgical and radiological management.