Maputo — The Mozambican Education Ministry is planning to recruit about 11,500 new teachers for the next school year, which is only slightly more than half the number needed to solve the problem of overcrowded classrooms.

The current teacher-pupil ratio in Mozambique is 1:65. Ideally, the Education Ministry would like to bring the ratio down to 1:55, but to attain this figure the ministry would have to recruit 20,000 teachers for 2010.

Speaking in Maputo on Monday, after laying a wreath at Mozambican Heroes Square to mark the National Teachers Day, the director of the ministry's human resource department, Ivaldo Quincardete, explained that the announcement to hire new teachers will be launched before the end of this year so that by the opening of the 2010 school year all contracted teachers will be allocated.

Cited in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", Quincardete said that the new teachers will be distributed to all the country's provinces, according to their specific needs.

Also to mark National Teachers Day, the National Teachers Organization (ONP) held a meeting at the Josina Machel Secondary School in Maputo to look at the needs and challenges of the organization in the future.

On this occasion, the Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, Albertina Bila, urged the teachers to continue contributing to improvements in the teaching and learning process, which would result in an increase in national income.

Bila admitted that promotions and progression along the teaching career must be speeded up, in order to give teachers an incentive.

"The efforts of teachers and of all those involved in improving the quality of education must be acknowledged and valued", she said.