24 April 2006: The shortage of teachers in quantity and quality, and the poor working conditions of teachers, dominated the messages from the students, teachers and parents during the launching of the EFA week (24-30 April) in Mozambique in Changalane, Maputo province. The teachers of Mozambique were celebrated, under the headline “Toda Criança Precica de um Professor”.

Changalane Upper Primary School, which was hosting the event, has 15 teachers in charge of 555 students, sharing 4 classrooms, functioning in two shifts. That is approximately 40 students per teacher, and better than the average of Mozambique, which is 74 students per teacher. To reach the goal of giving all boys and girls primary education by 2015, the country needs 55 000 more teachers. Today one million children in Mozambique are out of school. “We are depending on the teachers. We need more teachers, more classrooms, more teaching material and we hope one day to get a computer room”, said Maria (11) from the Girls Club at Changalane primary school. Education quality
During his opening speech the Head of UNESCO Maputo, Mr. BenoitSossou focused on education quality and the work conditions of the teachers, based on the recent findings of the EFA Global Monitoring Report for 2005. “Long-term vision, strong government leadership and the availability of motivated and qualified teachers are essential for the success of the reforms needed to provide education of good quality for all by 2015” said Mr. Sossou . “Teachers education, literacy and education to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids are the three major priorities of UNESCO”, Mr. Sossou continued. UNESCO Maputo recently signed a project with the Ministry of Education and Culture in Mozambique to improve the responses to HIV and AIDS in teacher’s education.

“We need to educate more teachers, we need to improve the teachers’ salaries and we need to ensure the security of the teachers”, said the leader of the Education For All Movement in Mozambique. He also quoted the famous Mozambican leader Samora Machel, saying that “Education is everybody’s responsibility”.

Community support
The Director of Education and Culture in Maputo Province encouraged the whole community to support the teachers and make sure more teachers are educated. Especially the parents of the students need to participate in the life of the school, to support the teachers and thereby their own children. “If it wasn’t for my teachers, I would not be here today reading this speech”, the director said. She further focused on the need to send more girls to school and make sure they stay in school and succeed. She gave a special applause to the initiative of the Girls Club at Changalane Primary School.

The EFA week in Mozambique continues with activities at local, provincial and national level. There will be visits to the government and the Assembleia da Republica to present the dossier, “The Case for Teachers”, with interviews, testimonies and videos from teachers and their students. There will be cultural activities, expositions, visits to schools by politicians and public debates on the subject “quality of teachers versus quality of education”. And at the end of the week there will be a parade with students, teachers and civil society starting from teachers garden passing through the Ministry of Education and Culture and Development and Planning as well as the Royal Netherlands Embassy (Cooperating Partner, Coordinator and Education Sector Focal Point) ending at Josina Machel Secondary School.