Elias Daniel Passangeze

Year II/Semester I; English Language Teaching Course –EaD

ENGLISH III

National education system (1990 -2000 and 2006-2022)

The lecture: Magaia Iaronha

Rovuma university-Nampula

March, 2024

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Contents table
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
The System of Education in Mozambique in 1992-2000................................................................4
The Education Challenge.................................................................................................................4
Governmental strategies to achieve universal education access......................................................4
Pre-school education: nurseries and kindergartens..........................................................................5
Primary education: primary schools................................................................................................5
Lower/Upper Secondary Education: secondary schools.................................................................6
Technical/vocational education and higher education.....................................................................6
The main reforms in national education system..............................................................................6
The System of Education in Mozambique in 2006-2022................................................................7
Access..............................................................................................................................................7
Internal Efficiency...........................................................................................................................7
Equity...............................................................................................................................................7
Quality of Education........................................................................................................................8
Learning Environment.....................................................................................................................8
Procurement and Distribution of Teaching Material.......................................................................8
Curriculum.......................................................................................................................................8
Teachers...........................................................................................................................................9
Suggestion........................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction

The national system of education is composed by many stages or periods, since the colonial
period until nowadays. Each period is constituted by many and different happiness who describe
perfectly each period.
This present essay, his main focuses is describing or detail the national education system in only
two periods, that is, from 1990- 2000, called by post colonial period of period after civil war and
from 2006 – 20019.
In other to bring confident and concise information about these periods, will be used differents
sources as a way to analyze the different conception related wit this theme also to analyze the
information.
This essay is organized into three main parts, which are introduction, development and
conclusion. But it also includes also cover, content cover, reference and suggestions.
We are expending that this rich essay will be useful and helpful to you dear reader and the next
students.

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 1. The System of Education in Mozambique in 1992-2000

After Independence, the education system was considered a central component of the
revolutionary project of a new society. Primary education and adult literacy were considered the

cornerstones of this new education.

The post-colonial regime inherited an economy, society and education system devastated by a
lack of investment by Portugal and by the war of liberation. Although education in colonial times
in Mozambique is under-researched, it is argued that more Mozambicans were included in
education and graduated during the first 10 years of independence than during the entire 500
years of Portuguese domination.
In 1994, after the end of the civil war and first free elections, Mozambique was an extremely
poor country with a decimated infrastructure, a weak economy, and fragile institutions. It has
since been successful at restoring growth and improving welfare.
1.1. The Education Challenge

After winning the first multi – party election in 1994, the Mozambique government faced an
enormous education deficit. High absolute poverty levels and difficulties in accessing areas
outside provincial capitals during the 20 years.
The civil war caused enrollment to plummet, with gross enrollment in primary school at only 50
percent and net enrollment below 40 percent.
Infrastructure was in very poor shape, and schools were completely absent in many rural areas.
Schools often lacked inputs (teachers, books, supplies, and the like). Many teachers were not
qualified to teach. The objectives of government policy since the end of the civil war have been
to provide quality education on for all with a focus on primary education.
1.2. Governmental strategies to achieve universal education access

Government strategy focused on achieving universal primary education (Ep1 and EP2), primarily
by expanding the infrastructure network and also by improving the efficiency of resource use.
Since 200, the government has allocated an average of 20 percent of revenue, about 5 percent of
GDP, to the education sector (World Bank 2005).
Between 2000 and 2003, the number of schools increased significantly, with the addition of
1,005 lower primary schools and 428 upper primary school (MEC 2010). This supply expansion
was education reform in Mozambique.

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The National Education System of 1992 states that education consists of 3 sub-systems: pre-
school education, school education and out-of-school education. School education comprises 1)
general education that consists of primary and secondary education 2) technical and vocational
education and 3) higher education (SNE).The public education system in Mozambique consists
of 7 years of primary education (Grades 1-7), 5 years of secondary education (Grades 8-12) and
3-6 years of higher education. Basic education encompasses the 7 years of primary education and
3 years of lower secondary education (Grades 8-10).
1.3. Pre-school education: nurseries and kindergartens

Pre-school education is divided into two levels: day-care level for children of 0-2 years and
kindergarten level for 2-5-years old children. The Ministry of Education and Ministry for
Women and Social Action (MMAS 8) jointly supervise pre-school education. Day-care centers
and kindergartens are run by MMAS, NGOs, communities and private sectors (PEE 2012-2016,
P.12).
1.4. Primary education: primary schools

The official enrollment age for primary education is 6 years old. This tuition-free system of
primary education is divided into lower-primary education (EP19) for Grades 1 to 5 and upper-
primary education (EP2) for Grades 6 and 7. Following the curriculum revision in 2004,
however, primary education was reconstructed into 3 cycles (the first cycle: Grades 1-2, the
second cycle: Grades 3-5 and the third cycle: Grades 6-7). Auto-promotion system is applied in
each sub-cycle. In order to improve the quality and efficiency of primary education, the
government since 2004 has advocated the EP integration system that combines lower- and upper-
primary schools; as a result, there are primarily two school types—the integrated EP (EPC) and
existing EP—in Mozambique (PEE 2012-2016 P12、JICA, 2013, P1).
1.5. Lower/Upper Secondary Education: secondary schools

Secondary education consists of lower-secondary education (ESG110) for Grades 8-10 and
Upper-secondary education (ESG2) for Grades 11-12. There is no entrance examination for
Lower-secondary schools and the tuition is not free11. After completing upper-secondary
education, students are qualified to enroll into higher education.

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 1.6. Technical/vocational education and higher education

Technical and vocational education is divided into 1) the basic level for those who have
completed primary education and 2) the medium level for those who have earned either lower-
secondary education or basic technical and vocational education. Both courses last for 3 years
and cover 3 major areas of study (commercial, industrial and agricultural education).
Private and national universities as well as higher education facilities offer higher education.
Students who have completed upper-secondary education or medium-level technical and
vocational education are eligible to apply and are required to take admission examinations. These
institutions offer various programs such as 3-year associates, 4-7 years of bachelors and 2-year
masters programs (PEE 2012-2016 P13-14、UNESCO, 2010/11).
1.7. The main reforms in national education system
 Reduction in direct costs for households and provision of free textbooks.
National tuition and other fees in primary education were abolished and textbooks were provided
free of charge to schools.
 Increased funding at the school level. Schools received additional funds channeled through
the “Direct Support to Schools” (ADE) program. ADE provides funds on a capitation basis
directly to primary schools for non-salary expenses.
 New curriculum. A new curriculum was introduced, organized into three main blocks
(grades 1–2, grades 3–5, and grades 6–7). Options of developing up to 20 percent of the
curriculum at the subnational level (district or province) and for teaching in the native tongue for
grades 1 and 2 were provided.
 Semiautomatic promotion. As part of the curriculum reform, pupils receive automatic
promotion within each grade block. Promotion between blocks is based on school exams. In
practice, there is no exam to enter grade 3.

2. The System of Education in Mozambique in 2006-2022

In 2006, the Mozambique Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) asked the World Bank to
conduct a deeper analysis of barriers to enrollment in primary and secondary education. In
particular MEC sought assistance in evaluating the success of the reforms in primary education
financing to date and in formulating new policies and initiatives to reduce the barriers the poorest

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households faced in accessing primary and secondary education. The Bank agreed to finance and
supervises both a qualitative and quantitative study.
2.1. Access

The population between ages 6 to 15, which is the school age of basic education, was
approximately 8.53 million in 2014. The average annual growth rate from 2007 to 2014 was
2.9% for the school age of primary education (6-12 years old) and 3.0% for the school age of
lower-secondary education (13-15 years old). Gross enrollment rates in primary education
shifted around 115%-120% between 2007 and 2014. Net enrollment rate in primary education
showed improvements from 68.6% in 2007 to 79.7% in 2014. Although gross enrollment rate in
secondary education increased from 35.5% in 2007 to 42.2% in 2014, net enrollment rate
remains at 17.4%.
2.2. Internal Efficiency

Average promotion rates were slightly lower than 80% in lower-primary and 60% in upper-
primary education. Transition rate to lower-secondary education is slightly more than 90%.
Dropout/repetition rates remain high in Grade 5, when cycle change occurs, and Grade 7, when
students complete primary education. In 2013, dropout rates in Grades 5 and 7 were 14.1% and
12.1%, and repetition rates in the same grades were 19.6% and 19.7%, respectively. These values
greatly exceeded the average rates at the education levels. Dropout/repetition rates in lower-
secondary education demonstrate an upward trend.
2.3. Equity

The national gender parity index at primary school entry (Grade 1) is 0.97, which indicates that
gender equality has been nearly achieved. Overall, northern and central provinces have higher
dropout and repetition rates than the national average, and there is a regional disparity. Female
dropout/repetition rates are slightly higher than the male’s.
2.4. Quality of Education

Completion rates in primary education have remained at the same level since 2008 and it was
45.3% in 2013. A national survey on academic performance for Grade 3 shows that only 6.3% of
students achieved the level which is desirable to attain by the time of finishing Grade 3, and that
many students have difficulties in reading and writing. The results of the regional research on the
pupils’ achievement conducted by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring

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Education Quality (SACMEQ) in 2007 showed that Mozambique was 12th of 15 countries in
reading and 10th in mathematics, and greatly moved down from the result in 2000.
2.5. Learning Environment

The average number of students per classroom in 2014 was 50.7 in lower-primary education and
45.8 in upper-primary education, which shows improvements when compared to 2009.Most
primary schools introduce double/triple shifts system. The teaching hours are between 3 hours
and 20 minutes and 4 hours and a half per day, but according to a survey conducted by Ministry
of Education, only one third of defined teaching hours are actually taught.
2.6. Procurement and Distribution of Teaching Material

Textbooks are distributed free of charge to primary schools and Ministry of Education distributes nearly
13 million textbooks every year. Each student is designated to more than one textbook. There is a
decentralized distribution system of teaching material and a state-owned company assumes procurement
and distribution of teaching material in most areas.
2.7. Curriculum

Curriculum was revised in 2004 but is going to be revised again in 2017. Major revision points are
integration of subjects, abolishment of national exam for Grade 5 and to place an importance on reading
and writing of Portuguese. Curriculum revision is been implemented on a trial basis. These sets of
revision include creation of the basic schools and implementation of a new curriculum by addition of 7
grades in Secondary school, reduction of numbers of the subjects on primary teaching and exclusion of
the 3th level in primary school.
2.8. Teachers

Lack of the number of teachers against the number of students is a problem and Ministry of
Education has focused on teacher training. Although the number of teachers has steadily
increased recently, the pupil teacher ratio in lower-primary education is 62, which remains high.
A new teacher training model with longer training period has been introduced on a trial basis
aiming to develop teacher’s competence development.

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Suggestion

Discussing about national system of education is describing human formation process; by this
way, is very important take part of all other relevant events before actual period.

According to the recently studies, education has one of the most important role to change and
develop a country, person, community or society. That is very important to consider the new
ways of education. Certainly, our national education system is improving but according to the
globalization there is missing something to make the actually system more efficient and updated
with the new demands. By all these aspects, I would like to suggestion following measures to be
increased if we want to train future generation updated and capable to respond the new demands.

 Educational sector must be truly priority, that is , the government must allocated high
percents of the revenues to education system;
 The education system must prioritize practical training to respond the lack of employment;
 Government must invest in education professional training; also provide the best life
conditions to them, as a way to work perfectly. Infrastructures building are another area that
requires the most investments.

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Conclusion

The national system of education has been suffering several reforms since the first free election.
It is happening through the globalization and new demands. Education is a key of development
of any nation, so that the government must invest seriously and should be always aware by the
generation difficulties and necessities.

According to the early presentation, this essay it was to disclose about two periods of national
education system (SNE) and the main focus was to discuss about the characteristics, the
principals events , organization also main reforms made in this two periods.

After several researches about this important theme, we are sure that this essay contains the
essential information needed to know the differential between these two periods of national
education system. It is supposed that after a war the main focuses of the new government in that
time was expansion of education, and to respond this new reality many measures was adopted.

In 2004, the national education system was revised, to correct and introduce new reforms, the
new curriculum was approved by addition of 3 level in primary school, implementation the new
strategies to provide the right of education to the citizens.

In 2027, the same system was revised again to more one reform, and in this period we can point
the reforms such as: reduction of the subjects in primary school also inclusion of only three
cycles and 2 levels; introduction of the basics school; extension of the free education level from
grade 1st to grade 9; introduction of the grade 7 in the secondary school, etc.

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Reference

Fox, L., S. L. V. Nguyen and A. Pierre, education Reform in Mozambique, edition 1,

Washington, 2012, (2-5PP).

MEC (Ministério da Educação e Cultura). 2010. “Os resultados do sector através dos principais
indicadores.” (Progress Report). Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of
Mozambique, Maputo, Mozambique.
Fox, L., R. M. Benfica, M. Ehrenpreis, M. S. Gaal, H. Nordang, and D. Owen. 2008.
Beating the Odds: Sustaining Inclusion in a Growing Economy: A Mozambique Poverty, Gender,
and Social Assessment. Washington, DC: World Bank.
JICA, Study on Basic Education Sector in Africa Mozambique, April 2015, (22-34pp).

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