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Ministério da Educação e CulturaMinistério da Agricultura

Education for Rural People in Mozambique - Present Situation, Progress and

Perspectives

Ministerial Meeting on Education for Rural People, Addis Ababa, 7 - 9 September 2005

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Content of the Presentation

General Introduction; Progress and general challenges of the

Country General Guidelines of the Government

Program; Progress, Challenges and Priorities for

Education, Health and Agricultural sectors; Experiences of Collaboration between the

education, health and agricultural sectors; Conclusions and Recommendations

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Tete

Manica

Sofala

Inhambane

Maputo

Gaza

Zambézia

Niassa

Nampula

Cabo Delgado

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Population:19.4 million; About 70% of the population is rural and

have agriculture as the main source for income;

Main economic activities: agriculture, fishing, mineral extraction, industry, commerce, etc;

The General Peace Accord in 1992 created bases for re-launching the country’s economy.

Introduction

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Introduction (cont)

Average rate of economic growth = 8%; inflation 10%;

GDP per capita: USD 280. Agriculture contributes with 25% of GDP; As a result public policies implemented, a

reduction of poverty levels was achieved from 69.4% in 1996 to approximately 54% in 2003: 62% to 51.5% in urban areas; 71.3% to55.3% in rural areas.

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Notable Progress within the last 5 years (in general)

From 2000, there was a recovery of the school network (in comparison with to the period before the war);

Replacement of the sanitary network (eg the number of the sanitary units increased within the last 6 years from 1053 to 1211);

% of children underweight at berth reduced from 26% to 24%;

Infant mortality (Children less than 5 years old) reduced from 217/1000 to 178/1000.

Access to clean water: at present corresponds to 40% in rural zones and 36% in urban zones.

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The Main Challenges of the Country

High Rate of the Mozambican Population still live below the poverty level;

High rate of malnutrition; High levels of illiteracy; Prevalence of endemic diseases such

as Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS; Underdeveloped infrastructures

(energy, water, roads, transports and communications).

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Government Program- Objectives and Priorities The Core Objective of the Government

action Plan is the reduction of the poverty levels through promotion of rapid and sustainable economic growth;

The economic and social development of the country with a main priority towards rural areas;

PRIORITIES: education, health, infrastructures, agriculture, rural development, good governance, macroeconomic policies.

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Agriculture – Progress and Challenges A predominant family sector: 3.3 million

producers (> 97% of the cultivated area); Main food crops: maize, millet, sorghum,

rice, cassava and beans; Cash crops: cotton, cashew, coconut,

tobacco, tea, sugar, etc; 80% of needs in cereals are satisfied by

the national production (against 20% before the General Peace Accord in 1992);

Cattle raising and fishing are important activities.

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Agriculture- Progress and Challenges (cont)

Challenges: Essentially rain-fed agriculture (only 5%

of irrigated area); The country has been affected by

cyclical natural disasters (droughts, floods and cyclones);

Weak rural infrastructure development affects the input-output market;

Difficult access to credit, technologies and to the market (inputs and outputs).

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Agriculture- The Government Program (ProAgri-II) Aims to increment the agricultural

production and productivity through support to (1) family sector producers, (2) commercial agriculture, (3) sustainable management of the natural resources;

The strategy consists in the designing of agricultural policies and provision of essential services for the growth of this sector;

The program has four main pillars:development and transfer of technologies, development of rural infrastructures, market and financing.

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Health- Challenges and Priorities

Health together with education contribute for the training, expansion and preservation of the human capital.

The priorities reflected in the Health Sector Program (ProSaúde) include the improvement of the coverage of the sanitary network, focusing on the major endemic diseases including diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and lepra, as well as the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

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Education- The Government Program (Education Sector Strategic Plan II)

Education is an area of merit that contributes to the training and expansion of the human capital, mainly to the socio-economic development of the country;

The education Sector Strategic Plan aims to achieve 3 major objectives:

Expansion of access and equity Improvement of the quality of

education Development of Institutional Capacity.

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Education: An Analysis of the Present Situation, Progress and Challenges

This sector has been severely affected by Civil War, but in 2000 the Government managed to recover and and surpass the school network that existed before the war started;

In 1993, Mozambique had a 53,6% of enrolment rate which increased to 112,7% in 2003;

From 1999 to 2003, the school population enrolment in the First Cycle of Primary Education (EP1) increased by 36%, which reflects a change in the enrolment ratio from 74% to 110%;

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Education: An Analysis of the Present Situation, Progress and Challenges (cont)

In the 2nd cycle of Primary Education (EP2) the enrolment increased by 89%, while in the Secondary Education reached more than double;

In 2003 the illiteracy rates reduced from more than 61% (1977) to 54% among the population with >14 years of age;

The enrolment rates (gross and net) doubled in rural areas; The efficiency of education faces a major challenge: the

repetition and dropout rates are still high (25% and 15%, respectively);

The net enrolment rate in the EP2 is seven times lower in rural areas than in urban areas;

Secondary Education in rural areas is scarce;

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Education: An Analysis of the present Situation, Progress and Challenges (cont)

Adult Education in rural areas- only 21% of the population at the age of 14 or higher completed the EP1 (2003)

Women in rural areas have 3 times more the probability of being illiterate than the men in the same areas and the women of urban areas:

Literacy rate for women in 2003: 4%

Literacy rate for men in 2003:14%.

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Education:An Analysis of the Present Situation, Progress and challenges (cont)

In 1997 the Curriculum Transformation of Basic Education was initiated;

A Functional Literacy was introduced aimed to achieve the aspirations of the rural population;

The Reform of Technical and Vocational Education was initiated in order:

To synchronize the training with the demand of the labour market;

To provide training based on Competence Standards;

To develop programs for the non-formal sector The National Policy of School Textbook was developed

with the involvement of the private sector

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Education: An Analysis of the Present Situation, Progress and Challenges (cont)

A new teacher training strategy was introduced (in-service training) - The“CRESCER” Program;

The School Councils were established as a way of involving the communities in planning and management;

School Production is being reactivated to educate the children and the youth to love work and the nature;

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Experiences of Collaboration between the sectors of Education and Agriculture

The socio-economic development of our country requires an integrated vision in the context of rural development. Government has given special focus on

decentralization affirmed in the Law of the Local State Bodies (LOLE) and the District Plans of Development (PDD’s) in about 40 of the 128 districts. In these PDDs, the training of rural communities constitutes a crucial aspect, integrating education, health and agriculture;

The District has been adopted as a Unit of Planning;

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Rural Extension Services

One of the key components of the Government Program for the agricultural sector is the transfer of technology for agricultural production;

There is a public network of rural extension in the country, comprising about 700 extension workers, in 68 districts, benefiting directly 150,000 producers and indirectly 600,000 producers;

The rural extension program comprises technical assistance to the producers, training and dissemination of information.

Recent

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Experiences of Collaboration between the sectors of Education and Agriculture

There is Memorandum of Understanding between Min Educ. and the Min. Agric;

School Garden Program: Production of vegetables, fruits and raising of

small stock, with involvement of students, with technical assistance from the extension services, in partnership with other stakeholders;

The foodstuff produced used for improvement in the students diet, particularly in orphans and vulnerable children;

Example: in Inhambane, Gaza and Tete provinces, 36 schools from 9 districts are involved (MINAG, MEC, FAO).

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Experiences of Collaboration between the sectors of Education and Agriculture (cont)

Program“Let’s Plant more Cashew Trees”: A Joint initiative of Min. Agric. and Min. Educ. This program envisages the promotion of cashew

in the provinces with major potential (Gaza, I’bane, Nampula, Zambézia and C.Delgado);

214 Schools involved, and 29, 255 cashew trees planted;

Students, teachers and neighbouring communities planted more than 17,568 cashew trees;

Provinces with better performance will be awarded a prize.

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Experiences of Collaboration between the sectors of Education and Health

An innovative approach is being pursued presently in the sector of Education for Rural People with support from MEC, MISAU, MINAG, FAO; Also some NGO’s ex. Save the Children in the Gaza Province are implementing multisectoral projects;

The purpose is to promote a broader knowledge (nutritional education) of primary and secondary school children as well as the behavioural change of these children;

The activities of the project are implemented in partnership with community activists, school councils and the local government both in the area of health and in the area of education.

The project supports the development of multisectoral Manuals to be pilloted in some provinces while also trying to improve the capacity of the community in their support to quality education.

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Experiences of Collaboration between the sectors of Education and Health (cont)

The project aims to improve the availability of health services, as well as the behaviours of students (in terms of health and hygiene). This requires the construction of basic sanitation and implementation of first aid kits, and the training of teachers who will verify the basic health conditions of the students;

The development of a new health and nutrition curriculum defines that 20% of the teaching content should be decided locally.

The project aims to improve the access, quality and utilization of the food by children and families, by working with groups of farmers and providing them with seeds and training to make school vegetable gardens.

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Junior Farmer Field and Life Skills Schools (JFFLS) Programs in Manica, during visit by DPA and do FAO Rep, June 2005

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JFFLS program in Manica

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Visita do DPA e do Rep FAO a Manica, 2005- Cultural activities by students during visit by DPA and FAO Rep to Manica (theater- messages on nutrition and prevention of HIV/SIDA)

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Hon. Raimundo Djomba, Governor of Manica Province visiting JFFLS program in Manica- orphans and vulnerable children involved (Manica, 2005)

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Hon.Raimundo Djomba, Governador of Manica Province, visiting a program for promotion of drought tolerant crops, in the framework of food security for orphan and vulnerable children.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Low cost school construction, as a response to regional disparities and reducing the distance between the school and residence, will contribute to increasing access and reduction of dropout;

The Program of Direct Support to Schools introduced by the Government with the World Bank support, is a key element for the improvement of the quality of education;

Participation of the communities in the schools planning and management, as well as in the curriculum design, contributes to the resolution of the problems faced in education, particularly in what concerns relevance of the teaching in the rural areas;

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Conclusions and Recommendations

The introduction of new training models in the TVE (based on competence standards) and of management contents in the education of rural populations, may make education more relevant and create space for self-employment;

Facilitating access of the adults to education, will have a positive impact in validating children’s education, increasing in this way their probability of success.

From our experience in Mozambique, we believe that the adoption of an integrated approach (education, health and agriculture) in the education of the rural population, promotes socio-economic development of the communities and plays a decisive role for the success of the programs of poverty alleviation and for the achievement of rural development.