Mozambique: Racket in the sale of primary school text books uncovered – AIM report

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Mozambique: Racket in the sale of primary school text books uncovered – AIM report

8:34 CAT | 06 Mar 2020

Representative photo: RM

Primary school textbooks, which are supposed to be distributed free of charge to children in Mozambican public schools, are being sold illegally in informal markets and even in some private schools.

An investigation into this scandal by the independent television station STV, using concealed cameras, showed how children are not receiving the books, even though the government acquired 18.45 million of them for the 2020 academic year.

STV found that in the 4th October Primary School in the southern city of Matola, children are forced to look over each other’s shoulders, because there are not enough books to go round. One fourth grade pupil, Assucena Chirindza, told STV “I don’t have a single book. When I want to study, I borrow a book from my friend. In the classroom, the teacher writes on the board and we copy”.

One teacher, Jafet Mabote, said he had to organise his pupils in groups of three. The one in the middle has the book, and the others have to peer over his or her shoulders.

Another teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused members of the school management of stealing books, and selling them on the informal market. “The people who should protect the books are taking them”, he said.

Some teachers were complicit in what he regarded as a large and growing network of theft, he accused.

The school director, Olga Francisco, denied there was any theft, but could not tell STV exactly how many pupils had received the free text books.

At the 3rd May Boarding School, a privately owned institution, STV found that each child has his or her own set of textbooks – and they are exactly the same books as those used in the state schools.

The parents say they purchased these books for their children on the informal market. The school told them what books to buy, and they found them in the informal markets. The books are sold – even though the cover of each book clearly states “Sale Forbidden”.

The “3rd May” school management is perfectly aware that these books are not intended for children studying in private establishments, but it allows these stolen goods to enter the school.

Worse still, STV found the books being sold by teachers in a private school in Matola. Posing as a parent, an STV reporter purchased books from two teachers for 250 meticais (3.8 US dollars) each.

In the informal markets, the books are hidden because the vendors know perfectly well that selling them is illegal, but anyone who wants can buy them clandestinely for 150 meticais each.

This illicit trade is a form of redistribution of wealth – but from the poor to the rich. It appears to be happening on a substantial scale – STV found, in Matola alone, seven primary schools with mysterious shortages of the supposedly free text books.

STV sought a reaction from the Ministry of Education, but the director for this area said he could only speak with the authorisation of the Minister.

Source: AIM