GCE Member Activities – Mozambique
GCE is present in nearly 100 countries around the world through its membership, and national education coalitions design campaigns and activities that are unique to their own contexts. This week, we are sharing just some of the many exciting news stories from the Mozambique Movimento de Educação para Todos Coalition (MEPT) over the second half of 2017:
In the lead up to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Financing Conference in Dakar this past February, MEPT lobbied the national government and ministry of Education in Mozambique to increase spending on education through a number of media and advocacy campaigns. The Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) announced at the GPE conference that 23% of the state’s national budget – which is above international standards for education spending – will be earmarked for the education sector. Over the next three years, the Mozambican government has pledged to increase their spending on education to reach approximately USD $2 billion (143.1billion Mozambican Meticals).
MEPT has convened to discuss the way forward in terms of monitoring this pledge, ensuring that these earmarked funds reach those who need it most. MEPT has pledged to track and monitor the funds, ensuring that there is greater transparency and accountability of public revenues. MEPT has commented that they are glad that the Ministry of Education and Human Development’s priorities include increasing inclusion and equity in the education system in Mozambique. Other priorities include improving school infrastructure, continuing training and education for teachers and school administrators, health and school nutrition and improving literacy and numeracy rates.
Despite the increase in education financing, Mozambique does not have enough teachers. MEPT has therefore lobbied for more teachers and teacher training. During the Joint Extended Coordination Group Meeting held in October 2017, the Ministry of Education and Human Development announced its decision to reduce the number of newly recruited teachers from 8,000 to 2,000 in 2018. MEPT urged the government, through parliamentary meetings and other advocacy activities to hire more teachers as the current education system is very understaffed. As a result of MEPT’s participation, the government has pledged to hire over 5,000 new teachers, instead of just 2,000, during the 2018 year. MEPT has forced the ministry to acknowledge that 5,000 new teachers is still too few to meet the needs of education system, but through engagements with MEPT, the government has committed to seeking new mechanisms to meet the challenges of teacher recruitment and salaries. MEPT will participate in this process.
For the year 2018, the Mozambican government has committed to building an additional 60 schools, expanding funding for support for existing schools, allocate more teachers to districts with higher teacher to student ratios and expand bilingual education. MEPT is monitoring these commitments to ensure these promises are met.
Actions such as these are important contributions towards ensuring that SDG4 and the Education 2030 Agendas are met, and will have a powerful impact on the lives of school children in Mozambique.
You can find out more about MEPT on their website or at their Facebook page, which you can access here.
