Use our pull-down menus to find more stories
  


OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Click here to read or make comments on this topic »

Mozambique: Adventist Church Joins Government in Battle Against Illiteracy


 

Email This Page

Print This Page

Comment on this article

Visit The Publisher's Site

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

11 December 2007
Posted to the web 11 December 2007

Maputo

Under a new literacy education program, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mozambique has partnered with the government to address the country's abysmal illiteracy rates.

An agreement signed last month by the church's Education director, Miguel Simoque, and Maria da Conceicao Bila, secretary for Mozambique's Ministry of Education, is an attempt to boost the nation's estimated 47 percent literacy rate, Adventist Press Service reported

At the signing, Bila noted the Adventist Church's worldwide emphasis on education. With the partnership, "we are saying that we want to learn and grow with Adventists," Bila said.

"The church has grown rapidly among recent migrants to the city, often faster than church buildings can be erected," church leaders said in an outline for the Mozambique Literacy Program, which is set to begin in January 2008. The launch will include 20 literacy centers throughout the country.

The Adventist Church will be responsible for running and staffing the centers located at newly built Adventist churches. Church leaders plan to hire an initial staff of 700. Mozambique's Ministry of Education will train staff and stock the centers.

Church leaders in Mozambique report that the country's war for independence, beginning in 1962, and ensuing civil wars left the country's educational infrastructure in shambles, resulting in at least two generations without a functioning school system.

The conflicts and civil unrest also led to mass migrations to the outskirts of the country's urban areas, particularly its capital, Maputo. There, church officials said, many subsistence farming families -- no longer able to practice their former livelihood -- are crammed in ramshackle shanty towns made of mud brick, thatch and tin sheets.

Relevant Links

Today, less than half of the country's overall population, and less than one third of Mozambican women, can read and write. In rural areas, an estimated 81 percent of women are illiterate.



AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

 
Share this on:
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Muti


Copyright © 2007 Catholic Information Service for Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.

HOME
allAfrica.com


Relevant Links




Portuguese Premier Reaffirms Desire to Cooperate With Country
Nationwide Teachers' Strike Postpones Exam
Nkate Blames Students for MCE Closure
UCT Registrar Denies Support for Zuma
Legon in Turmoil As Former Students Demand Removal of VC





Today's Most Active Stories