Africa-Press – Mozambique. A heavy vehicle transporting 100,550 Mozambican school books overturned in Nampula province and caught fire, causing the total destruction of the load, which was being distributed for the 2026 school year.
According to a source from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the incident occurred on Tuesday when the heavy vehicle was travelling the Monapo–Mogincual route from the northern regional warehouse in Nacala, northern Mozambique, transporting those school books.
“It was involved in an accident involving overturning and rollover which ended with the vehicle catching fire. The load, which included around 52,650 books for the Mogincual district and 47,900 for the Liupo district, intended for 1st and 2nd grades for the 2026 school year, was lost,” added the ministry.
It also states that the company transporting the load “has insurance and the sector is working to ensure the books are replaced as urgently as possible,” with measures being taken to distribute “security stock” school books to the affected districts, attempting to “ensure that classes start with these materials in the schools.”
The Mozambican government assured last August that nearly 20 million school books for the national primary education system, from 1st to 6th grades, should arrive in the country by the end of the year to be distributed, a process that is usually troubled.
At the time, the government spokesperson, Inocêncio Impissa, pointed out that at least 11 million books should arrive by October, and another nine million manuals, for 4th and 5th grades, were then in the process of finalising contracts for production “by December of the current year.”
This process of acquiring school books, as explained by the minister of State Administration and Public Service, is part of efforts to adjust the school book distribution calendar.
In previous years, this distribution started in January, shortly before the start of the school year, and extended over several months, jeopardising adherence to the academic calendar.
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