|
Angola Conditions after Independence
The conflict between the Portuguese and the various
nationalist
movements and the civil war that ensued after independence
left the
education system in chaos. Most Portuguese instructors had
left
(including virtually all secondary school staff), many
buildings
had been damaged, and the availability of instructional
materials
was limited.
A report of the First Party Congress published in
December 1977
gave education high priority. The report emphasized
MarxismLeninism as a base for the education system and its
importance in
shaping the "new generation," but the objectives of
developing
national consciousness and respect for traditional values
were also
mentioned. The training at all levels of persons who would
be able
to contribute to economic development was heavily
stressed.
The government estimated the level of illiteracy
following
independence at between 85 percent and 90 percent and set
the
elimination of illiteracy as an immediate task. Initiated
in
November 1976, the literacy drive gave priority to rural
peasants
who had been completely ignored by the Portuguese
education system.
The priorities for education were, in order of importance,
literacy, primary education, secondary education, and
intermediate
and university education. The government established the
National
Literacy Commission (under the leadership of the minister
of
education) to administer the literacy campaign.
The government reported that in the first year of the
literacy
campaign (November 1976 to November 1977) 102,000 adults
learned to
read and write; by 1980 the figure had risen to 1 million.
By 1985
the average rate of adult literacy was officially
estimated at 59
percent; United States government sources, however,
estimated
literacy at only 20 percent. In late 1987, Angola's
official press
agency, Angop, reported that the provinces with the most
newly
literate people included Huíla, Huambo, and Benguela and
that 8,152
literacy teachers had participated in the campaign since
its
inception.
At independence there were 25,000 primary school
teachers, but
less than 2,000 were even minimally qualified to teach
primary
school children. The shortage of qualified instructors was
even
more pronounced at the secondary school level, where there
were
only 600 teachers. Furthermore, secondary schools existed
only in
towns. The First Party Congress responded to this problem
by
resolving to institute an eight-year compulsory system of
free,
basic education for children between ages seven and
fifteen. Four
years of primary education, provided free of charge, began
at age
seven. Secondary education, beginning at age eleven,
lasted a
further six years.
School enrollment, which rose very slowly considering
Angola's
youthful population, reflected the dire effects of the
insurgency.
In 1977 the government reported that more than 1 million
primary
school students were enrolled, as were about 105,000
secondary
school students, roughly double the numbers enrolled in
1973. What
proportions of the relevant age groups these students
constituted
was not known, but in the case of the primary school
students it
may have been almost two-thirds, and in that of secondary
school
students, perhaps a tenth to an eighth. Official
government
statistics released in 1984 showed that primary school
enrollment
had declined to 870,410, while secondary school enrollment
(including vocational school and teacher training
students) had
increased to 151,759. This made for combined primary and
secondary
school enrollment consisting of 49 percent of the
school-age
population. By 1986 the primary school enrollment had
increased to
1,304,145. Luanda's Agostinho Neto University, the
country's only
university, had an enrollment of 4,493 students in 1984,
which had
declined to 3,195 by 1986. A total of 72,330 people were
enrolled
in primary adult education programs in 1986.
The government began implementation of its education
plan in
close cooperation with its allies, particularly Cuba.
Between 1978
and 1981, Cuba sent 443 teachers to Angola. According to
an Angolan
source, in 1987 an estimated 4,000 Angolan students,
representing
one-fourth of all foreign students from Africa, Asia,
Latin
America, and the Caribbean studying in Cuba, were
attending Cuban
elementary, middle, and college preparatory schools, as
well as
polytechnical institutes and the Superior Pedagogical
Polytechnic
Institute. Also in Cuba, assisting in the education of
their
compatriots, was a group of twenty-seven Angolan teachers.
In
addition, the Soviet Union participated in Angolan
education
programs. More than 1,000 Angolan students had graduated
from
intermediate and specialized higher education programs in
the
Soviet Union by the end of 1987, at which time 100 Soviet
lecturers
were teaching at Agostinho Neto University, the Luanda
Naval
School, and the Institute of Geology and Cartography in
the Angolan
capital. By mid-1988 United States sources reported that
1,800
Angolan students were studying in the Soviet Union.
A number of Angolan organizations become active during
the
1980s in the quest for better educational facilities.In
1987 the
JMPLA launched a special campaign to recruit 1,000 young
people to
teach in primary schools in Luanda Province. The groups
targeted by
the campaign included secondary school and higher
education
graduates, as well as some workers. The OMA not only
sponsored
programs to teach women to read and write but was also
involved in
programs to reduce infant mortality and promote family
planning.
Even the military formed a special group in 1980, the
eighth
contingent of the Comrade Dangereux Brigade, whose basic
function
was to teach primary school; 6,630 brigade members were
reported to
have taught 309,419 students by 1987.
Despite the government's efforts, the UNITA insurgency
prevented the construction of a new education system on
the remains
of that inherited from the Portuguese. The demands of the
war had
drained funds that could otherwise have been applied to
building
schools, printing books, and purchasing equipment. In
1988,
according to the United States Center for Defense
Information, the
Angolan government spent more per capita on the military
(US$892)
than on education (US$310). The war in the southern and
central
regions of the country also prevented the spread of the
school
system; the consequences of the fighting, including UNITA
attacks
on schools and teachers and the massive displacement of
rural
populations in those areas, disrupted the education of
hundreds of
thousands of school-age children. Further damaging to
Angola's
future was the fact that many of those studying abroad had
either
failed to complete their courses of study or had not
returned to
Angola.
Data as of February 1989
|
