This gift in action
The 16-year-long civil war in Mozambique ended in 1992. However, its impact is still being felt, especially in poor regions like Zambézia province where the rebel strategy included targeting and destroying hospitals, roads and schools.
Despite the government making huge strides in trying to make basic education available across the country, the burden for operating many rural schools falls to local parents and teachers who take on the responsibility for rebuilding, repairing and the day-to-day running.
Each school, no matter how poor, has a council elected by members of the community dedicated to ensuring that children get a decent education.
In Namaripe Primary School, new classrooms are regularly built to ensure that no child is turned away. School council member Padania Henriques explains: “Each year we receive more students, so the council decides how many bricks each family should make. We ask people with building skills to lend us their expertise and others help us with the physical labour.”
Oxfam supports the school councils’ work, helping to provide basic teaching materials. However, the positive action of local communities in running their schools is helping to reinforce the status quo in terms of limiting government support. So, we are also helping to give communities the confidence to lobby the government and education authorities for the funding that is rightfully theirs and for ongoing support in the future.