Mozambique: 86 textbooks to be revised

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Mozambique: 86 textbooks to be revised

9:15 CAT | 12 Aug 2022

Photo: Ministério da Educação e Desenvolvimento Humano - MINEDH

The Mozambican Ministry of Education has started to review 82 textbooks for the primary and secondary education subsystems, in order to improve their scientific, linguistic and didactic quality.

Education Minister Carmelita Namashulua gave this information to a meeting of her Ministry’s, Coordination Council, which ended on Thursday in Gondola district, in the central province of Manica.

According to Namashulua, quoted by the Maputo daily “Notícias”, 20 primary school textbooks are under revision while the remaining 66 belong to the general secondary subsystem.

“Everything is being done so that the books under revision do not contain methodological, scientific and linguistic errors, as happened with the sixth grade Social Science textbook”, the minister said.

The external revision of elementary school books, according to the minister, is in its final stage, in the reprinting and printing process, so that in 2023 the sector can count on textbooks in good condition.

“The process is being done with the technical support of trainers from the Teacher Training Institute, teachers from primary, secondary and university schools, under the scope of the memorandum of understanding signed with institutions of Higher Education”, she said.

Nhamashulua acknowledged also that the first half of the year was marked by challenges in the provision of textbooks, “which did not reach all the beneficiaries at the same time due to lack of means of transport from the countries where the printers are located.”

In the case of the sixth grade social science textbook the problem was not simply one of delays in distribution, but of errors so crass – including basic mistakes in geography – that the Ministry felt obliged to withdraw it from circulation.

“The quality of education is the key to the development of a society, because only literate and trained people are able to draw on knowledge to solve individual and collective problems”, Namashalua stressed.

She also pointed out that the high student-teacher ratio, the poor maintenance of school buildings, and the continuous need to equip all schools with school furniture continue to concern the Education Ministry.

“The sector is also concerned about episodes of violence in schools as well as drug and alcohol consumption, which threaten to compromise the future of children and young people”, she said, adding that it is urgent that other vital forces of society (such as families, churches, associations and other authorities) strengthen their actions, especially in preventing these problems.

Source: AIM