Mozambique | Storm Filipo aftermath: One dead, 500 families displaced in Inhambane province
DW
Some Mozambicans in Inhambane province continue to be ashamed to attend adult classes in the company of women – a mentality the government is trying to change.
Castigo Luis left school out of shame, but as an adult had the possibility of going back as part of a literacy campaign.
But Luis says he was embarrassed because there were too many women in the class, who might look at him “with evil eyes”. “Since there are women there, I’m ashamed because they tell me that this one has not studied, is stupid and illiterate,” he told DW Africa.
So Luis left and today works as a shoemaker on the streets of Inhambane. He has basic reading and writing skills, and says he’d rather to work to support the family of three children than return to school.
Luis is not the only person who feels like this. There are no statistics on this specific topic, but when looking at the number of adults taking classes in the schools of the city of Maxixe, we already have an idea of the possible dimension of the problem: of about 450 adults in literacy programmes this year, only 40 of them are men.
Countering embarrassment
Linda Sebastiao has been in adult school for a few years now, and does not understand why men should be ashamed to study with women.
“They should study with women, because they are also adults and shouldn’t be ashamed. Studying is normal for anyone who did not study when they were young,” he says.
When he was young, Benjamin Vilankulo could not study because of the war. He went to school later, as an adult, and advises other men to do the same.
“These men who do not want to study are a failure. What is there to be ashamed of?” he asks. Benjamin says that “He who does not know must go and learn”, and recalls that “in the past, it was not easy for people to study. Even now there are still young illiterates”. So, if “the woman is there to study, men should do the same, to at least be able to write, read and do mathematics”.
Anibal Naife, director of district education services in the city of Maxixe, acknowledges the problem of men not getting involved in adult education, but says the government is working to change the situation.
“We are working community and religious leaders and all social strata. We are preparing awareness fairs to show the positive side of the literacy. We believe that in 2019 we will have more men in these literacy programmes.”
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