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Final article: Education throughout colonial Mozambique

In Mozambique, the colonial period under Portuguese influence ran from 1498 to 1975. When the first explorers arrived in Mozambique, they were en route to becoming the first Europeans to reach India by sea. Later they explored other parts of Asia, and over time built up trading posts along the Mozambican coast. As a smaller colonial power, Portuguese settlers ventured further inland to engage in activities such as the mining of gold and labour exportation to other colonial neighbours, such as the British in South Africa. With time their influence spread throughout the colony as Portuguese became the official language, and education institutions forced children to abandon their local languages. Using education to create a class of 'Assimilado', ensured Portuguese ideals were placed upon the next generation of Mozambicans. Education institutions were sparse and the quality of teaching was often poor. Completing the rigorous education system, mainly provided by religious institutions, students were encouraged by a future of better opportunities within colonial Mozambique.  

The colonial history of Mozambique

Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator and explorer

The Portuguese first discovered Mozambique when Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer , became the first European to travel to India by sea. His journey took him past the Cape of Good Hope and carried him along the Eastern coast of Africa, where his group of sailors arrived in Mozambique in 1497, to refuel supplies for their ocean voyage. When Gama eventually reach India, they returned to Mozambique to set up trading posts along with coastal towns. Although Mozambican people resisted these white settlers, the superior European methods of war put the Portuguese at an advantage.

Significant Arabic populations were settled along the Mozambican coastline at that time, but the Portuguese displaced these people, as they wanted to expand early trading posts into port cities. Coinciding coastal expansions with increased European explorations to Asia and the East, brought much economic success for the Portuguese empire, as ships traded and replenished supplies in these city ports before their long ocean journeys.

Whilst city ports grew so did the resurgence of Muslim populations. In the years to follow, this pattern would continue as Indians initially left the West coast of India from places such as Goa, Damão, and Diu, because of a worsening social and economic situation, following consecutive years of drought and famine. In addition, the British Raj reorganised land ownership in places such as Gujarat, to cater for the cotton demands of Great Britain. The effects of this hit populations hard and led to their migration to nearby countries. Whilst the first migrants arrived around 1890, the majority reached Mozambique between 1910 and 1920, reaching a population of 1000 in the North and 500 people in the South.

Until the late 19^th century most ports had not expanded much in size. Therefore, after spending nearly four hundred years within Mozambique’s territories, Portuguese charted companies were established such as The Mozambique Company to expand ventures further. These companies tied connections between the state and the monarchy and encouraged imperial expansion and control. Although these chartered companies were not colonialism, they had the same goals, so there is little difference between the two.

Further ventures included gold mining in Manica Province. The landlocked town of Manica is historically recognised for its gold trade. Pre-colonial times, African kings threatened their subjects with death if found mining gold. Documents show early Portuguese involvement in the gold trade, up to three hundred years before the European Scramble for Africa in the 1880s. For many years all ran smoothly between the Portuguese, foreign traders and local ruling elites as their relationships were considered “balanced and equal”. However, conflict arose in 1891 between the British and Portuguese, over control of Manica’s mineral wealth. Tensions in the area grew until the two colonial powers made an agreement, which set in place the borders between current-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

As The Mozambique Company continued excavations for gold in central Mozambique, slave ships provided the labour needed to mine the precious metal. Boats travelled through the Middle East and Northern Indian ocean, secretly in search of slaves to buy or kidnap. These slaves were brought back to Mozambique and then sent to different places to serve a variety of tasks. Some were sent across the world to operate in sugar plantations. The exportation of these slaves to neighbouring territories became the dominant resource of colonial Mozambique. By the end of the 19^th century, slavery had been abolished, but chartered companies instead established a labour policy to continue supplying cheap labour. Transported by the expanding railway black forced labour was used to mine for gold, with established networks by 1910 responsible for the delivery of more than 200,000 unskilled workers to the mines of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Other slaves worked on plantations to grow crops amongst peasant communities, under the supervision of Portuguese officials. Due to neighbouring states being given the priority of labour, shortages were experienced in mines and plantations across Mozambique. This caused a reduction in the production of sisal and sugar on plantations as well as unrest amongst locals.

Several methods were used to calm to growing unrest. Military pacification enforced the removal of arms from local Mozambican groups, to cease any resistance. Education was also withheld to prevent revolution since forced labour was unskilled labour, and the Portuguese wanted to keep it this way to ensure control over local populations. However, education was also used to separate what they considered ‘civilised’ from the masses, in what was known as the ‘assimilados’. The policy worked to assimilate Mozambicans, who would eventually best serve the settlers’ interests. This policy involved giving up their African past, under the expectation of adopting Portuguese culture and language. Mozambican schools in the 19^th century were attended by children of all racial backgrounds, as there were African children, the children of rich Portuguese families, and the children of Indian shopkeepers. All classes were taught in Portuguese, the language of white settlers, in pursuit of the ‘Portuguesation’ of the country, anyone who could not speak the language was left out of the education system. Classes were split by gender, which also left many girls out of education since teachers had to match the gender of the class and there was a lack of female teachers.

A school in the city of Beira for the 'assimilados' where children of Portuguese and Indian descent attended, whilst local Black natives would attend separate schools. Urban schools had mixed-gender classes.

Education was provided through missionaries, as the foundation of colonial schooling in Mozambique had to be Portuguese and Catholic. Although the majority of missionaries were Catholic, some were Christian Protestant, and the Swiss community were recognised for being kinder to African people than other European settlers. Their role in training Mozambicans gave local people the tools to join the Mozambique Liberation Front, also known as FRELIMO. Education was the way to independence, therefore the Portuguese discouraged it. Once Mozambique achieved independence in 1975, the consequences of Portuguese colonial education meant the country had high illiteracy rates.

Despite independence, the nationalistic middle class who took over were the assimilados the Portuguese had instructed. Since they were keen to continue postcolonial practises, this gave rise to the neocolonialism period, which allowed outside Portuguese influences to continue directing economic and political policies.

Colonial education

Assimilados and assimilation

The Portuguese viewed Africans as needing civilising and having no culture. This ideology and Portuguese values were instilled into groups of Africans through assimilation. The process of assimilation involved Africans giving up the culture and language of their people, which was “despised and completely ignored” by the Portuguese. An ‘assimilado’ was the term given to an African person who had reached a level of ‘civilisation’, and this was a legal process which qualified a person for the full rights as a Portuguese citizen. The Portuguese carried this out to serve their best interests as settlers, and educational institutions were used to assist the state in ‘civilising’ these native people.

Becoming an assimilado was not simple, as a minimum of Grade 4 education was needed, which was not easily accessible or achievable for many, especially in rural areas. Portuguese was the colonial language and was accepted as the only language to be used in Mozambique from the 1910s onwards, as assimilation spread across the country and other Portuguese colonies. The principal way to learn the language and culture was through schools, which lacked funding and were run but religious institutions in the form of missionaries since religion was also an important aspect of the Portuguese lifestyle. However, this process was seen as a way to be successful in their lives, and strategies were put in place to pressure people, such as an explicit discriminatory discourse against blackness and black culture. Incentives around education and employment were created, and as an assimilado, it was possible to marry a white and avoid discrimination in ‘white’ parts of a city.

Financing education

How education was financed

Despite a grand history including the raising of some of the most famed explorers, the Portuguese Empire had been in decline for three hundred of its five hundred years. Resultingly, the development of much infrastructure in colonial Mozambique relied on outside capital, mainly provided by the British, during the early 20th century. While some more prestigious education establishments mainly for the assimilados, received outside funding, religious institutions played a large role in providing education for the majority of the population, through the Catholic missions, which represented the state’s religion at the time. Many of these missions were located in rural Mozambique to ‘develop’ indigenous people in these ‘bush’ schools. Financing for this came from students who would work on local plantations during the harvest to raise enough money for uniforms and school materials. In addition, students would work on the small school farm known as ‘machamba’, which became a means to finance the missions, and often subsidised the teacher’s salary.

Religious Portuguese missionaries taught children in schools across many parts of Eastern Africa

Religious institutions

The Portuguese considered the Catholic missions as the only official education system and missions of any other religion, for example, Protestant, were considered foreign. Religion played a key role to attain the Portuguese goal of training local people to develop knowledge of their culture. Efforts to develop ‘indigenous’ populations and the vast countryside of rural Mozambique led to the establishment of ‘bush’ schools in the late 1930s. Although all missions operated differently, the Swiss Protestant missionaries stood out for being kinder and more humane to African people than other European settlers. Actively working in the region of Southern Mozambique since 1891, their work to ‘humanise’ Africans has been recognised as having a positive input on communities. However, the Swiss colonial bourgeoisie did participate in the conquest and exploitation of Africans.

Towards the 1940s, the variety of religious schools caused tensions through increased competitiveness and among Portuguese concerns these schools harvested ‘de-nationalising’ values. Relationships between the religious missions got heated, and Protestant schools were restricted from expanding, opening new schools, or establishing teacher training centres and could only teach up to the third grade. The Swiss Protestant missions played an important role in training Mozambicans, some of whom later joined the colonial liberation movement, FRELIMO.

Curriculum

This photograph presents how the 'bush schools' in rural areas would have resembled with the mud walls and thatched roof. These schools taught native children who would have all their classes taught in Portuguese.

As the Portuguese wanted to control knowledge selection and distribution, they established a curriculum in 1934, which could be followed through textbooks. Therefore, the quality of education within mission schools varied and depended on the teacher. Although teachers were supposed to meet in groups monthly at the head mission school, this could vary from once a week or month to once a year. When priests would visit for Sunday mass, religion was their main focus as they were more interested in the number of people attending church or whether individuals were practising religion or not. This lack of interest in the progress of education from the missions led teachers to divert from the set curriculum, in particular, if they did not agree with the subject matter.

Students were separated into different schools depending on if they had been assimilated or not. Assimilated children attended the ‘official’ elementary school for four years, whilst native African children had six years of schooling. African children had to attend school for longer because the Portuguese claimed it would take them longer to assimilate to the new language and culture. Until the 1950s a lack of what was considered ‘native’ Portuguese teachers meant bush schools could only teach the first four years of rudimentary school, meaning the brightest students had to transfer to the head mission school for their final years. With bush schools already in rural locations, reaching these transfer schools was a challenge. In addition, the curriculum design meant students could not move into the next grade without acquiring certain skills, for example, students could only enter the second grade once they spoke the language. For these reasons, many entered missionary schools, but curriculum difficulties meant few finished.

Student’s treatment in the mission schools

Disciple and punishment

Discipline was reportedly very strict and the use of corporal punishment was commonly carried out on students. It was particularly used to discourage the use of national languages or ‘dog languages’ as priests called them. If a student was found speaking the national language they would get the paddle, have to kneel all day or have their head banged against a wall. The harsh circumstances fostered an environment with disciplined children where only the best would succeed and finish their education.

Separated

Children were also separated and treated differently according to their gender, and as previously mentioned, if they were assimilated or from the Indigenous Black population. Those from assimilated families could afford school books because the parents had better positions in society and higher incomes. Children with books had a better chance of success at school, which opened opportunities for social improvement later on in life.

Gender

Education was seen as an opportunity to ‘improve’ Mozambican women and as an opening for them to access better lives, which did indeed enable them to fit into a colonial and postcolonial economy. Patriarchal Western ideas carried the girl’s curriculum, which was gender-focused on domestic science skills, as the colonial Portuguese still saw motherhood and matrimony as the primary role for women of all races. Portuguese motivations involved educating girls who would become mothers, so they could teach their children to become citizens of the Portuguese empire.  

The separation of genders in rural settings occurred by dividing the school day into shifts, also known as ‘turmas’. These shifts saw boys attending school in the morning whilst girls helped their mothers in the fields, then the girls would attend school in the afternoon whilst the boys were free. At a time when the teacher had to match the class gender, there was a lack of female teachers, meaning there was less teaching available for girls. Furthermore, classrooms were not always available as a student’s experience of a public meeting room being her classroom became disruptive as it had to be vacated when other official groups needed the space. The establishment of ‘bush’ schools in rural areas, gave children an opportunity for education. However, this changed agricultural practises and production, as Western ideas of domesticity led women to stay at home when agriculture had been one of their main responsibilities.

Language

Local languages

Mozambique has always been a rich multilingual country with a 2007 census offering the latest insight into the 21 languages still identified within the country. Before the Portuguese colonial era, education was oral, as children learnt about their languages and the values of their communities.

Languages of education and society

Portuguese colonial settlers used the term ‘language’ when discussing European languages, and ‘dialect’ when referring to African languages, which was dismissed as having any meaningful status. Portuguese, the language of the white settlers, became the official language, and African languages were banned from parts of society like schools, courts and administrative or business services. As local languages were only acceptable in rural family settings, assimilation was greatly promoted and created a generation of elitist Mozambicans. Access to education for Mozambicans was vital to be successful in the colonial society, and Portuguese was primarily learnt at school. Considering, that historically education for local people was transmitted verbally, learning a new language was a significant struggle. Yet, the education system was a long and difficult process, as students had to overcome the language barrier to progress past the first grade. This process was difficult for anybody struggling to speak the language, and many children gave up altogether. Other languages were taught alongside Portuguese, especially in Northern Mozambique, where Muslim enclaves spoke Arabic. However, poor teaching makes learning any language difficult, so children from the Northern town of Quissanga were sent to Zanzibar for “proper Koranic schooling”. For this generation of assimilados, Portuguese is their mother tongue language and they do not speak any African language, presenting the profound effect colonial language and education policies had on society.

Language post-independence

Following Mozambique’s independence in 1975, and the end of colonial rule, there was an illiteracy rate of 98%. The cause was that education was not accessible to all children, and even less completed school, due to harsh discipline and the Portuguese language barrier making learning progress slow so many drop-out rates were high. The liberation group who fought for independence were made up of the former elite ‘assimilados’. Since they shared the same ideals as the prior Portuguese colonisers, the continuation of post-colonial practises in the form of neo-colonialism as Portuguese influences carried on. After independence, the colonial language was sustained for 28 years as the official language, and African languages were not promoted as those in government saw it as returning to a past ‘uncivilised’ culture. Those who seized power maintained neo-colonialism because the country’s economic system and political policies were directed from Portugal, an outside country.

1000 Word Draft

Ø  Start of the colonial period

-       The colonial period came about through traders starting to settle on the coastline as trade to East Asia increased around the 1880s

-       Tensions grew from neighbours of the Gaza state and the Portuguese and African armies allied to march against the state.

-       Once the Gaza state was defeated in 1897, southern Mozambique passed into Portuguese control

-       Over the following decades Portuguese military presence grew alongside trade as demand for goods grew. African labour was used on sugar plantations, ports and mines after diamonds and gold were found. The ‘scramble for Africa’ was fuelled by a demand for mineral bearing lands and a labour force.

-       The Portuguese saw Islam as a barrier to the assimilation of Africans into the Portuguese culture and nation therefore, Muslims were moved off of their land (Cross, 1987).

-       The African people offered some resistance to the first European settlers who attempted to occupy their lands. But the sophisticated European methods of war gave them the upper hand. Page 183- The dark period of Mozambican history started with the arrival of the first European settlers who took the lands, developed the slavery trade and sent many Africans overseas to serve in sugar plantations in the Americas, Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean Islands. (Ngunga, 2011)

-       The Portuguese introduced an education system based on the view that the Africans had no culture and that the Europeans had the mission to civilize them in Portuguese. Many generations of Mozambicans elite were educated in this political and ideological environment where the African languages were just called dialects and never received any meaningful status in comparison with Portuguese.( Ngunga, 2011)

-       - the Portuguese chose assimilation, or creation of a class of ‘assimilados’ who would best serve the settlers’ interests. Through this policy, the Africans were forced by law to give up their culture and language in order to adopt Portuguese culture and language.( Ngunga, 2011)

Ø  Colonial education

-       The assimilados were seen as those who had given up their local traditions and customs to become assimilated to Portuguese values and culture. Mainly in the 1930s they were taught to read and write in Portuguese in the missionaries. This enabled people to access opportunities to enter the economy.

-       Marxist theory- reproduction of the means of production à -the success of a nation depends on the ability to reproduce (people-into work sector). This could not occur because of a large level of illiteracy following the Mozambican independence. (what are literacy rates like now, better or still low?)

-       Education was also used as a means to divide people as the Portuguese motivations for were to isolate the group from the general population

-       Education was also withheld from many to reduce risks of uprising and prevent the growth of an independence movement

Ø  Missionaries in colonial education (Cross, 1987)

-       Education was primarily provided by Christian missionaries.

-       The use of the ‘balanced sheet method’ portrayed the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ activities which were used to justify the support of missionary education in. This approach resulted in only viewing good and bad outcomes, and not contributions to development.

-       Not all missionaries operated in the same way, so outcomes were different.

-       In Mozambique the Catholic missionaries were almost totally "domesticated" and con- trolled by the colonial state.

-       It can be said that there is still some unknowing surrounding education during colonial Mozambique since most of the literature concentrates on the post-independence period.

-        

Ø  Language

-       Africans who gave up their local traditions and customs to assimilate to Portuguese values and culture were known as ‘assimilados’. Around the 1930s this minority group was educated in Christian missionaries where they learnt to read and write in Portuguese. This enabled such people to integrate into the ruling Portuguese society and could access more opportunities than their counterparts who did not speak the colonial language. Becoming assimilated affected many aspects of their lives with incentives such as better employment prospects and special identification cards to not experience discrimination in ‘white’ areas.

-       The education system became so deeply rooted in Mozambique

-       The only medium of formal instruction throughout the education system in colonial Mozambique was Portuguese, the language spoken by white settlers. Any Mozambicans who couldn’t speak Portuguese were left out of the education system, or had to struggle to overcome the language barrier in order to start progressing at school from the pre-primary to grade 1, which was a long and difficult process if the student didn’t give up first  (Ngunga, 2011)

-       Grade 4 education needed to be achieved to be considered as an asimiliadosà a psychological pressure was put on the Africans urging them to become ‘assimilados’, that is, to give up their culture and their languages if they wanted to be successful in their lives. This was done through different strategies such as explicit discriminatory discourse against blackness and black culture, incentives like education, employment, special identification card, not to be discriminated against when found in ‘white’ areas of the city, and the possibility of marrying a white. (Ngunga, 2011)

-       a considerable number of Africans gave up their languages and cultures to the extent that today there are black Mozambicans whose world references are Portugal and other western countries, their mother tongue is Portuguese, their second language is English or French. Proudly, these Mozambicans do not speak any African language. Thus, the effect of colonial language policy in Mozambique was so serious and profoundly rooted that it conditioned the education system and the way of thinking of some Mozambicans who were completely brainwashed. (Ngunga, 2011)

-       When it came to the liberation of Portugal contesting language was not even part of the agenda. The elite members chose their language and did everything to convince everybody that Portuguese was the language to be used in the liberation process. (Ngunga, 2011)

-        

Ø  Financing educationà how was it financed? By the state, is state education good? Or privatised?

-       because the Portuguese were a weak colonial power, they were granted charters (mainly by the British) to establish schools and other infrastructures. But the money was not spent on schools as most were run by missions à These companies were supposed to establish schools, though the actual availability of schools is difficult to ascertain and early reports indicated that the few schools in their territories were run by missions (Sheldon, 1998).

-        

Ø  Curriculum and power - universities

Ø  Education policy - Education policy is quality of teaching, school privatisation, teacher pay and methods, graduation requirements

-       Portuguese colonial officials and mission teachers believed that education was an opportunity to "improve" Mozambican women, and some Mozambican girls and women also saw schooling as a route to better lives.

-       Yet very few boys or girls were able to attend any school, so that at the end of colonialism Mozambique had an exceptionally high rate of illiteracy.

-       Girls curriculum was gendered and focused more on domestic science skills

-       This introduction of western ideas around domesticity changed practises of agriculture where women had previously had the main responsibility for agricultural production

-       However, this form of education did enable girls to fit into a colonial and postcolonial economy

-       Lack of teachers and decent classrooms (Sheldon, 1998) à At the time classes were split by gender and the teachers had to match the gender of the class. The lack of female teachers meant there was less teaching available for girls. " In Lourenco Marques in 1885, "The girls' school had 25 students but closed for six months for lack of a female teacher." The girls used a public meeting room that they had to vacate when other official groups needed that space. Only in 1893 was a financial base established so that Catholic sisters could build a girls' school. (Sheldon, 1998).

-       The role of education for girls was seen as women being able to have children and raise them, sons especially, to become suitable colonial citizens. Colonial and patriarchal emphasis on women’s role in society with motherhood and matrimony as the best choice for women of all races. (Sheldon, 1998).

-       at the time of independence, in 1975, Mozambique had an illiteracy rate of 98%,

-       the language was almost exclusively learnt at school, it is easily understandable that illiterate people could not speak the language. (Ngunga, 2011)

Bibliography:

> Sheldon, K. 1998. “"I Studied with the Nuns, Learning to Make Blouses": Gender Ideology and Colonial Education in Mozambique”. The International Journal of African Historical Studies. Vol 31 (3). Pp595-625.

> Cross, Michael- 1987. The Political Economy of Colonial Education: Mozambique, 1930-1975." Comparative Education Review 31(4). 550-569.

> Ngunga, A. 2011. Monolingual education in a multilingual setting: The case of Mozambique. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. Vol 6 (2). Pp177-196.

Reponse to peer assessment

-include an introduction

-do not include my personal views

-ensure I cover few topics but provide depth

-use a thoughtful tone of address

Annotated bibliography

READING 1 - Armindo Ngunga, (2011) Monolingual education in a multilingual setting: The case of Mozambique, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 6:2, 177-196, DOI: 10.1080/17447143.2011.577537

1.     What is the main claim?

-       Sharing the monolingual language policy in the context of a multilingual country such as Mozambique

2.     What evidence does the author to provide to substantiate this claim?

-       In the 2007 census 21 different languages were identified

-       Anything between 9 and 42 languages are spoken there

3.     What key concepts does the author employ?

-        the Portuguese created a class of ‘assimilados’ who would best serve the settlers’ interests. Through this policy, the Africans were forced by law to give up their culture and language in order to adopt Portuguese culture and language.

-        ‘Portuguesation’ of the country, through compulsory programmes teaching Portuguese in ‘literacy and adult education’ campaigns.

-       The use of African languages in schools, courts and other administrative and business services was forbidden.

-       The only medium of formal instruction throughout the education system in colonial Mozambique was Portuguese, the language spoken by white settlers.

-       The Portuguese introduced an education system based on the view that the Africans had no culture and that the Europeans had the mission to civilize them in Portuguese

-       Any Mozambicans who couldn’t speak Portuguese were left out of the education system, or had the overcome the language barrier which is a hard and difficult process with Grade 4 education needed to be achieved to be considered as an asimiliados

4.     What are the key weaknesses, limitations or gaps?

5.     What did you learn from reading this source?

-       at the time of independence, in 1975, Mozambique had an illiteracy rate of 98%, this was because the Portuguese language was almost exclusively learnt at school. With the teaching occurring in Portuguese not mainly children continued educated to a high enough level to learn to read.

-       They encouraged African people to join the assimilados by giving incentives around education, employment, and a special identification card, not to be discriminated against when found in ‘white’ areas of the city, and the possibility of marrying a white. Pressure was put on people to become assimilados if they wanted to be successful in their lives

READING 2 - K, Sheldon, (1998) The International Journal of African Historical Studies , 1998, Vol. 31, No. 3 , pp. 595-625

1.     What is the main claim?

-       Missionaries were the main form of education in colonial Mozambique

-       Schools were not funded by the state, but instead run by missions

-       There were changes around gender and education

-       Variety of religious institutions à Protestant missions, Koranic schools for the large Muslim population and the majority Catholic missions

2.     What evidence does the author to provide to substantiate this claim?

-       FINANCING - because Portugal was a weak colonial power, they were granted charters (mainly by the British) to establish schools and other infrastructures. But the money was not spent on schools as there was little availability and most were run by missions, which are not funded by the state, meaning the money was going elsewhere.

-       the Portuguese saw traditional African cultures as a problem, the idea of taking girls out of school around the age of puberty to complete initiation rites was an issue to them.

3.     What key concepts does the author employ?

-       High rates of illiteracy

-       Introduction of western ideas around gender

> saw education as an opportunity to "improve" Mozambican women.

> Girls curriculum was gendered and focused more on domestic science skills and new ideas around domesticity changed agricultural practises whereby women previously had the main responsibility

> emphasis on matrimony and motherhood as best choice for women

> colonial motivation for educating African girls… girls would become women who would raise their children, especially their sons … girls needed to be educated so that their sons would be suitable colonial citizens

> classes split by gender with teachers having to match the class gender. A lack of female teachers meant less teaching available for girls

4.     What are the key weaknesses, limitations or gaps?

-       The article recounts two sources which describe the same school, but on very different account. However the reader is never told which account is closer to the truth, so a gap in knowledge is missing.

5.     What did you learn from reading this source?

-       Colonial schooling in Mozambique was made up of being Portuguese and Catholic

-       Teachers gender had to match that of the class, leading to a unavailable of teaching for girls from a lack of female teachers

Introductory topic paragraph for education throughout colonial Mozambique

Firstly, the colonial period in Mozambique ran from 1498-1975. Early on the large expanse of Mozambiquan coastline was used as trading posts and forts, as the European sea route to the East expanded. In the 1530s small groups of Portuguese traders ventured further inland in search of gold. Much of the coastline was taken from Muslim populations between 1500 to 1700, which drastically drove down Muslim numbers, leaving one third of the country as Christians around the time of independence in 1975.

The growth of Christianity brought with it Missionaries which provided education and alternative medical facilities for the African population. However, not everybody was included, and at the time the Portuguese saw Islam as a barrier to the assimilation of Africans into the Portuguese culture and nation. Therefore, the Portuguese saw Africans through two groups: Assimilados and Indigenas. Assimilados were seen as Africans who have divested themselves of all tribal customs and to have assimilated Portuguese values and culture. These were a small group favoured by the Portuguese around the 1930s and often taught to become fluent in written and spoken Portuguese in such Missionaries. However, the motivations to educate this group were in fact to isolate them from the rest of the population.

19th century trade of European goods such as ivory, gold, slaves, rubber, oilseeds. Then, interests shifted towards the mid 19th century, developments of the sugar plantations and diamond mines grew and an African labour force was required in the so- called ‘scramble’ in southern Africa. Britain spread throughout the region and the small Portuguese military was no match against the British. Debts had arisen so chartered companies were formed, and leased large tracts of land. These chartered companies were granted the privilege of exploiting the lands and peoples of specific areas in exchange for an obligation to develop agriculture, communications, social services, and trade. The Mozambique Company, the Niassa Company, and the Zambezia Company were all established in this manner in the 1890s. During this time terrible colonial actions took place including: forced labour, forced crop cultivation, high taxes, low wages, confiscation of the most promising lands. There was an unwillingness to educate the population, so they’d have no choice but to work for them. Education could lead to higher risks in uprisings or defiance. Although slavery had been abolished in Mozambique by the end of the 19th century, it prevailed through forced labour policies from Chartered companies for labour needs on mines and plantations.

At this time children from well off or royal families were sent to Portugal or India (Goa) for their education. As the industrial revolution Portugal had wanted never kick started, the country lacked the funds to invest in infrastructure and developments in its colonies. This left Mozambique struggling to develop after gaining independence. To achieve development and kickstart the economy migration occurred (within the past 20/30 years). Migrant labour from the south occurred as seasonal labour in plantations and peasant cash crop production in the north of the country. Because of a lack in social infrastructure, literacy rates are low and as a result, Indian workers are brought in to fill the gap of illiterate workers.