Mozambique plans €305.8 million investment to expand pre-school education coverage to 10% by 2035

The proposal is part of the National Pre-School Education Strategy, one of two main instruments reviewed on Monday during the first ordinary session of the National Council for Social Action (CNAS), held in Maputo and chaired by Mozambican Prime Minister Benvinda Levi. “It is an instrument that had not previously been developed, and we considered it appropriate, within the framework of the decentralisation of education and the transfer of this responsibility to the Ministry of Labour, Gender and Social Action, to prepare a strategy that we understand will remain in force until 2035,” Nguma Geraldo, National Social Action Director and spokesperson for the CNAS session, said. According to the official, the strategy requires an annual budget of approximately 2.2 billion meticais (€30.3 million) to expand access to pre-school education for children up to the age of five, increasing coverage from the current 3% to 10% by 2035.

“It has to be a State budget, therefore budgeted at around 22 billion meticais (€305.7 million),” he stressed. According to Geraldo, the second instrument reviewed was the action plan for children in difficult circumstances, focusing on “children of and on the streets”, which also received a favourable opinion to proceed to the implementation phase. A survey carried out in Maputo city and Pemba, in Cabo Delgado province, identified around 300 children living on the streets, a figure that will serve as the basis for an initial intervention targeting this group, he said.

“The idea is to provide holistic assistance,” Geraldo said, adding that the plan envisages coordination between the Ministry of Labour, municipalities and civil society organisations. Of the two instruments reviewed, the National Pre-School Education Strategy received a favourable opinion for submission to the Council of Ministers, while the action plan for children in difficult circumstances was authorised to proceed to the subsequent stages of implementation and dissemination, according to Nguma Geraldo. In addition to the two instruments, CNAS members reviewed the status of social protection programmes, the situation of children in conflict with the law and violence against children in schools, including cases related to early marriages, teenage pregnancies and bullying.

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At the opening of the session, the Mozambican prime minister highlighted the “significant moment” of the meeting, as it marked the first session of the body created ten years ago. The prime minister called for greater coordination between public institutions, civil society, religious organisations and the private sector to address the challenges faced by vulnerable groups. “The problems affecting these vulnerable groups cannot be solved through the intervention of only one of us; they can be solved if we all work together,” Benvinda Levi said.

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