Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Minister of Education and Culture, Samaria Tovela, stated yesterday in parliament that the reduction in the budget allocated to her department from 14.2% in 2024 to 12.1% in 2025 does not necessarily mean an absolute reduction in the resources allocated to the sector.
“This is a reduction in its share within a general budget that, as a whole, has suffered a significant compression,” Minister Tovela stated.
Samaria Tovela was speaking in the Assembly of the Republic in response to questions from the PODEMOS party, the second largest political party, about the government’s decision to reduce the budget share of education, at a time when there are persistent complaints of non-payment of overtime to teachers.
The minister said that education continues to be a priority and that the government is committed to ensuring, even in a scenario of scarcity, that the available resources are used more efficiently, for the direct benefit of students and teachers.
“The budgetary squeeze is largely due to the impact of the post-election crisis, which caused a slowdown in economic activity and a drop in domestic revenue collection,” she said.
Samaria Tovela told parliament that this environment of uncertainty and fiscal constraints forced the state to make adjustments, with the aim of preserving macroeconomic stability and ensuring the continuity of essential services, especially for the education sector, such as the distribution of around 15 million school books; the acquisition of 6,000 school desks; the hiring of 10,260 literacy teachers; the training of candidates for vocational courses and the provision of 723,780 school snacks to primary and secondary school students.
The minister also said that, by 2029, the student-teacher ratio is expected to fall to 55 students per teacher with the gradual admission of more professionals over the five-year period, totalling 58,128 teachers, as provided for in the government’s Five-Year Plan.
With regard to improving the quality of teaching and developing skills, especially in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the education sector is focusing on training teachers and trainers.
The process covered 44,000 3rd and 4th grade teachers in subjects involving new approaches to teaching Mathematics and Natural Sciences; 228 secondary school teachers in the areas of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and 392 trainers from teacher training institutes.
Eighty-five technical-vocational education trainers were also trained; along with 325 teachers from Higher Education Institutions, and Robotics Clubs were created in secondary schools.
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