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Officially, the 7-year compulsory school from the
children is 7 years. The primary school is 7 years old, and
approx. 54% of children start in primary school. Many of the
children quit along the way or have to repeat a grade. The
high school is 5 years old. The language of instruction is
Portuguese. There are three higher education institutions.
Eduardo Mondlane University of Maputo was created by the
Portuguese in 1962. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Mozambique.
About. 52% of the population over the age of 15 are
believed to be illiterate (36% of men, 68% of women) (2003).
The fight continues
At independence, the new government faced a number of
difficult tasks: the new state was to be built, the wounds
of war to be healed, political mobilization and
participation ensured, while the basic needs of the
population for food, health and education had to be
addressed. Furthermore, it was necessary to break the
economic dependence and initiate the transformation of the
existing production pattern in agriculture and industry.
Independence also saw a mass exodus of Europeans - in 1978
there were only 20,000 out of 260,000 left - while economic
sabotage was actively carried out.
During this difficult transition period, it was crucial
that the vast majority understood and participated in the
development process, and therefore, dynamics groups
( grupos dynamizadores ) were formed in villages,
neighborhoods and workplaces. These were not least important
in the southern part of the country, where FRELIMO stood
much weaker. The groups became important instruments for,
among other things, to explain FRELIMO's policy, to build
the organs of the people, to create collective use of the
colonial goods, to redistribute land where necessary, to
combat crime and prostitution, to improve health conditions,
to monitor and prevent sabotage, to organize the
distribution of food and other consumables when the
Portuguese-dominated trade went in solution.
Works and production councils were formed at the
factories. During 1977, public assemblies at all levels were
elected from local communities to the National Assembly.
Administrative and legal apparatus were set up in the
districts, and an important part of the study and self-help
business was organized through the Youth Organization (OJM)
and the Women's Organization (OMM). However, the main
responsibility for political schooling and revolutionary
transformation of society was placed with FRELIMO, which
during its third congress in 1977 was transformed into a
party with Marxism-Leninism as the basis.
International solidarity
Samora Machel kept her promise to support the liberation
struggles in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The racist Ian Smith
government in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) had previously
used the ports of Mozambique to trade with the outside
world, but FRELIMO was now shutting down that trade, even
though the country had previously benefited financially from
this transit trade. At the same time, partisans from
Zimbabwe were allowed to set up bases in Mozambique,
triggering frequent air strikes and actual invasions by the
white minority government in Zimbabwe. When the country
gained independence in 1980, it not only changed the
political panorama of the region, but also gave Mozambique
hope to regain its economy within the framework of economic
integration to be developed between the so-called Frontline
States: Mozambique, Zimbabwe,Malawi, Lesotho and Swaziland.
To regain the economy, in March 80, President Samora
Machel launched a political renewal campaign aimed primarily
at stopping corruption, inefficiency and bureaucracy in the
government's bodies and businesses. At the same time, an
economic development plan was initiated, which required
large investments in agriculture, transport and industry.
Finally, the country's political structures were made more
dynamic, FRELIMO was strengthened and a more rational
distribution of cadres between the government and the party
was made.
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