Mozambique: Education Minister acknowledges delay in overtime payments – Watch

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Mozambique: Education Minister acknowledges delay in overtime payments – Watch

5:02 CAT | 04 Aug 2025

Screen grab: STV

Mozambican Education Minister Samaria Tovela has acknowledged that the government still owes some teachers money for overtime worked over the last three years.

According to Tovela, there are teachers who have not even received the first tranche of overtime payment accumulated since 2022.

The minister explained that the delay in paying the amounts is related to serious communication failures between the ministry and some districts, “because the sector lacks consolidated data on how many teachers have already been paid and how many are still waiting.”

“There is a lack of communication between the central institutions and district services. The education system welcomes around 1.5 million new students annually, a number that far exceeds the current response capacity. As a result, thousands of teachers are forced to accumulate classes and work overtime to meet the demand”, the minister said, cited by the independent daily “O País.”

Currently the Mozambican education system employs about 160,000 teachers. The country’s education system, in the 2025 school year, is functioning with a shortage of 12,000 primary and secondary teachers.

The failure to pay for overtime has led to repeated disputes between the government and the country’s teachers. Mozambique’s National Association of Teachers (ANAPRO) has been accusing the government of telling lies about overtime payments. The teachers have also been threatening not to work with classes of over 100 pupils, since overcrowding has been harming the quality of education.

Source: AIM