Education in Mozambique

Education in Mozambique is organized by three main stages: primary education, secondary education and higher education. By 2003, the literacy rate was 48%. The largest and oldest university is the Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo, founded in 1962. Although having a national public education system, several educational programmes and initiatives in Mozambique are heavily funded and supported by the international community.

History

Under the colonial regime, public educational opportunities for poor Mozambicans were limited; 93% of the Bantu people was illiterate and many could not speak Portuguese. Most of Mozambique's rural black populations, a large majority of all black peoples, were educated in Portuguese language and history by several missionary schools established across the vast countryside areas. In mainland Portugal, the homeland of the colonial authorities which ruled Mozambique from the 16th century until 1975, by the end of the 19th century the illiteracy rates were at over 80 percent and higher education was reserved for a small percentage of the population. 68.1 percent of mainland Portugal's population was still classified as illiterate by the 1930 census. Mainland Portugal's literacy rate by the 1940s and early 1950s was low for North American and Western European standards at the time. Only in the mid-1960s did the country make public education available for all children between the ages of six and twelve, and the overseas territories profited from this new educational developments and change in policy at Lisbon.

Starting in the early 1950s, the access to basic, secondary and technical education was expanded and its availability was being increasingly opened to both the African indigenes and the European Portuguese of the territories. Examples of this policy include several black Portuguese East Africans who would become prominent individuals, and who had studied during the Portuguese rule of the territories in local schools or even in Portuguese universities and technical institutes in the mainland (the metropole) - Samora Machel (Lourenço Marques nursing school), Marcelino dos Santos ("Instituto Industrial de Lisboa"), Eduardo Mondlane (University of Lisbon), Joaquim Chissano (University of Lisbon), and Graça Machel (University of Lisbon), are just a few examples. A comprehensive network of secondary schools (the "Liceus") and technical or vocational education schools were implemented across the cities and main towns of the territory. In 1962, the first Mozambican university was founded by the Portuguese authorities in the provincial capital, Lourenço Marques (now Maputo, capital of independent Mozambique), as "Universidade de Lourenço Marques", awarding a wide range of degrees from engineering to medicine, [pt icon [http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/4285/ensino52.html 52. UNIVERSIDADE DE LUANDA] ] during a time that in the European Portuguese mainland only four public universities were in operation, two of them in Lisbon (which compares with the 14 Portuguese public universities today and several private institutions).

In the years after the independence of 1975, the government placed a high priority on expanding education, which reduced the illiteracy rate to about two-thirds as primary school enrollment increased. Unfortunately, school construction and teacher training enrollments have not kept up with population increases. With post-Mozambican Civil War (1977 - 1992) enrollments reaching all-time highs, the quality of education has suffered. As a member of Commonwealth of Nations, most urban Mozambicans are required to learn English starting high-school. Since after independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Mozambican students have been admitted every year at Portuguese high schools, polytechnical institutes and universities, through bilateral agreements between the Portuguese Government and the Mozambican Government. Many of those studying abroad, in European countries like Portugal and Russia, had either failed to complete their courses of study or had not returned to Mozambique.

Primary and secondary education

Education is compulsory and free through the age of 12 years, but matriculation fees are charged and are a burden for many families. Families below the poverty line can obtain a certificate waiving the fee. Enforcement of compulsory education laws is inconsistent, because of the lack of resources and the scarcity of schools in the upper grades."Mozambique". [http://usinfo.state.gov/infousa/economy/ethics/docs/tda2005.pdf "2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor"] . Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor (2006). "This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.]

In 2002, the gross primary enrollment rate was 103 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 55 percent. Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. In 1996, 51.7 percent of children ages 7 to 14 years were attending school. As of 2001, 49 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.3241 At the end of 2003 an estimated 370,000 children in Mozambique were AIDS orphans. It is estimated that HIV/AIDS could lead to a decline in teacher numbers by 2010.

Higher education

Universities include:
* Universidade Eduardo Mondlane - Maputo
* Universidade São Tomas de Moçambique
* Universidade Católica de Moçambique - Nampula, Sofala, Cabo Delgado
* Universidade Mussa Bin Bique
* Instituto Superior Politécnico e Universitário - Maputo, Quelimane
* Instituto Superior de Ciênicas e Tecnologia de Moçambique
* Instituto Superior de Relações Internacionais
* Instituto Superior de Transportes e Comunicações
* Universidade Pedagógica - Maputo, Sofala
* Universidade Técnica de Moçambique
* Academia Militar Samora Machel
* Universidade de Lúrio- Nampula

References

External links

* [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/inhea/profiles/Mozambique.htm INHEA country profile: Mozambique]