Maputo, Aug. 28, 2025 (Lusa) - The spokesman for the Mozambican Ministry of Education and Culture said on Thursday that he hoped the institution's 2026 budget would be "robust" to "mitigate" delays in overtime payments, which have led to strikes.
"It would be desirable for our budget to be robust for 2026 so that we can mitigate the overtime problem. For some time now, we have been settling the debt we have with the teachers, the figures of which I won't be able to share here," said Silvestre Dava at a press conference after the opening of the First National Planning Meeting for 2026, which is taking place between today and Friday in Maputo.
The representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture also said that the institution's budgetary capacity to hire new teachers was "tiny", with a view to relieving the overload of professionals.
"Our capacity to absorb new teachers is tiny. It's small in budgetary terms (...), but it will also be part of the discussion to see to what extent we will be able to hire more teachers so that this problem [of overload] can be minimised," said Silvestre Dava, adding that it was not the government's aim "to leave any child in the system without the possibility of learning".
According to the spokesman, all the activities planned for 2026 cannot be carried out as long as the education budget remains "totally and completely" dependent on the partners and not the state.
"We do hope that the partners will continue to support us, but we won't be in a state of doom when that budget from the partners doesn't come into our coffers, which we have never considered, because we haven't yet been notified that we won't have the partners' contribution," he said.
The Ministry's permanent secretary, for her part, considered 2026 to be a challenging year that will require members to "refocus, rigour and a long-term vision", as well as strengthening coordination and mutual institutional cooperation, given that the education and culture sector "is vast and complex".
"That's why it's essential to strengthen the coordination mechanisms between the central body, the provinces and the districts. Only in this way will we be able to ensure coherence in the implementation of policies, efficiency in the use of resources and a positive impact on the lives of our students, teachers, artists and communities," said Ndiça Massinga, who also hoped for planning that is aligned with the objectives of the government's Five Year Plan 2025-2029 and that has "concrete, visible and above all sustainable actions".
She said that she was aware of the "huge and broad" challenges facing the education and culture sectors, including expanding the school network, improving the quality of teaching, valuing teachers, including girls and vulnerable groups and strengthening technical and vocational education.
Ndiça also added that promoting research in higher education and boosting the cultural and creative industries were challenges for the sectors, pointing to "focus and discipline" as the solution to the shortcomings.
Mozambican teachers have been demanding, through strikes and stoppages, the payment of overtime for 18 days in 2022, as well as for the entire years 2023 and 2024, and a "better framework" in the Single Salary Table (TSU).
For the education sector, the government announced in March that the debt had been paid in full by 2022. The 2023 debt, valued at 3.2 billion meticais (€46.4 million), will be paid in three instalments, with the last instalment to be incorporated into the 2025 State Budget.
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