Mozambique: Illiteracy rate fell more than expected

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Mozambique: Illiteracy rate fell more than expected

10:55 CAT | 26 Jul 2019

File photo: DW

The illiteracy rate in Mozambique fell over the past five years by more than was forecast, Education Minister Conceita Sortane announced on Wednesday.

Speaking in Maputo at the opening session of a meeting of her Ministry’s Coordinating Council, Sortane said the government’s target had been to reduce the illiteracy rate among young people and adults from 44.9 per cent to 41 per cent between 2015 and 2019. But in fact the illiteracy rate had fallen to 39 per cent.

She attributed this to the joint efforts of the government and of “our cooperation partners who never abandoned us in the moments of greatest adversities”.

Sortane said the number of children in the Mozambican educational system had risen from almost seven million in 2015 to slightly more than eight million this year. Over the same period, the number of schools serving these pupils had risen from 12,511 to 13,464.

This meant that, by the end of 2019, the government will meet its target for the five year period of building 4,500 new classrooms. The number of teachers working in the schools had risen from over 124,000 in 2015 to over 139,000 now.

Sortane stressed the government’s efforts to ensure that pupils would no longer have to sit on the ground during classes. She said that more than 572,000 desks had been distributed. These are double desks, at which two children can sit. Used during two shifts, they are now serving over two million children.

CONCEITA-SORTANE1 — *Minister Conceita Sortane. [Picture: O País]*

As for bilingual education, under which children are taught in their African mother tongues in the first years of primary education, before switching to Portuguese, Sortane said that this year 532,204 pupils, in 2,924 primary schools, began their education in their mother tongues. The Ministry is planning a massive increase in bilingual education, to cover over five million pupils in over 17,000 schools by 2029. By then, over 107,000 teachers teaching in mother tongue will be needed.

Source: AIM