Maputo — Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Saturday re-inaugurated the Nhamatanda General Secondary school, in the central province of Sofala, which is now the largest secondary school in the country.
"This is not an isolated act', he said. "It is another firm step in building the Mozambique we want, an educated, resilient and economically independent Mozambique',
This school began life in 1995, when it had just four classrooms. It has expanded over the years and now it has 36 classrooms,
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"Today we are inaugurating a modern complex with classrooms, a laboratory, a library, a computer room, an administrative block and a football field', said Chapo. "But what we are inaugurating here is not just cement and brick. We are inaugurating capacity, knowledge, the rise of a people, hope, and resilience. We are inaugurating the future of the Mozambican people'.
"Between the four classrooms of 1995 and the 36 rooms of today are more than just numbers', he stressed. "There are generations that passed through here, there are sacrifices, there is resilience. The spirit of our people is greater than any adversity, greater than any flood, any cyclone, any drought'.
"Mozambique has learnt that each disaster is also a moment of reconstruction', Chapo declared.
The Nhamatanda school, he said, "is a seed planted for the coming decades and the coming generations. This school is a bridge between the past of struggle and the future of prosperity. If we look back, we see four classrooms. But if we look ahead, we see a more skilled district, a stronger province and a more competitive country'.
"Education', declared Chapo, "is the first great investment of a nation that wants to build its destiny with intelligence, responsibility and skill. There is no sustainable and inclusive development without strong human capital. There is no economic transformation without solid knowledge'.
"That is why we argue that investment in education is not a cost. On the contrary, it is a strategy and an option of the State for investment in the future'.
"Our generation has the historic mission of winning economic independence', said Chapo. "And this conquest begins here, in the school, in education. There will be no robust industrialisation without strong secondary education. There will be no digital economy without science in the classrooms. There will be no full sovereignty unless we build this future. There will be no full sovereignty, if we continue to import knowledge that we ought to produce'.
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