Abstract
In this paper a brief description and analysis is given of mathematics education in different phases of the history of Mozambique, in the feudal and colonial times, during the National Liberation Struggle and after the Independence in 1975. The successes and Problems that still have to be resolved of the post-independence period constitute the second part of the article, where particular attention has been given to teacher training and the first National Seminar on the Teaching of Mathematics.
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Notes and references
This paper is a modified version of ‘Mathematics Education in the People's Republic of Mozambique’, elaborated in accordance with the questionnaire ‘Comparative study of the development of Mathematics Education as a professional discipline in different countries’ of Dr G. Schubring for the Fourth International Congress on Mathematical Education, Berkeley, 1980.
HowsonA. G.: 1978, ‘Change in mathematics education since the late 1950s-Great Britain’, Educational Studies in Mathematics 9, 183–223,
NeanderJ.: 1974, Mathematik und Ideologie. Zur politischen Ökonomie des Mathematiksunterrichts, Werner Raith Verlag, Starnberg, p. 7.
For more details see: Gerdes, P.: 1980 ‘Mathematik in Mozambique’, Materialien zur Analyse der Berufspraxis des Mathematikers, vol. 25, where we also discuss the training of mathematicians at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.
Cf. Griffiths, H. B. and Howson, A. G.: 1974, Mathematics: Society and Curricula, Cambridge University Press, and Freudenthal H.: 1978. ‘Change in mathematics education since the late 1950s-Ideas and realisation: An ICMI report’, Educational Studies in Mathematics, 9, 143–145.
Cf. 1976, ‘Educational policy in the People's Republic of Mozambique’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 14, 331–339.
See, e.g., JunodH. A.: 1934, Usos e costumes dos Bantos, Imprensa Nacional de Moçambique, Lourenço Marques.
The history of mathematics in Mozambique is still awaiting investigations. Cf. ZaslavskyC.: 1973, Africa Counts. Number and Pattern in African Culture, Prindle, Webber & Schmidt, Massachusetts.
For a thorough analysis of the relationship between education and submission, see MondlaneE.: 1969, The Struggle for Mozambique, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. Dr. Mondlane was elected first President of FRELIMO.
Education policy ...,o. c., p. 332.
Suggestions on how to make a comparative (in time, space and culture) analysis of errors are welcome.
See MachelS.: 1970, ‘Educate man to win the war, create a new society and develop our country’, in Machel, S., Mozambique: Sowing the Seeds of Revolution, Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola & Guiné, London, 1974, pp. 37–46.
Education policy ..., o.c., p. 333. Cf. 1978, Central Committee Report to the Third Congress of FRELIMO, Mozambique, Angola and Guiné Information Centre, London, pp. 8, 14, 50.
These problems in themselves are not new. They occur in many Third World countries (cf., e.g., Eshiwani, G. S.: 1979, ‘The goals of mathematics teaching in Africa: a need for re-examination’, in Prospects 9, 346–353) or after a destructive war (cf., e.g., Ehrenfeucht, A., 1978: ‘The reform of mathematics education in Poland’, Educational Studies in Mathematics 9, 283–295). What seems to be new is the measure in which they occur in Mozambique, reflecting the explosion in student population and the backward character of Portuguese colonialism.
Very instructive examples of the necessity for mathematical knowledge were given by the Vice-Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, during the seminar. E.g., he commented that “one of the reasons for continuing queues in Mozambique is that some factory directors, who often have only nine years of schooling, are unable to calculate raw material needs far enough in advance to do the ordering and keep the factory running at full capacity”. (Cited in: Not Just a Question of Number, in A.I.M. Information Bulletin, No 47, 1980, p. 8.)
The importance of the seminar was also reinforced by frontpage newspaper articles during the meeting. Internationally it got attention: Hanlon, J.: 1980: ‘You must be numerate as well as literate’, Gemini New Service, GG6656, and : Hanlon, J.; 1980: ‘Mozambique ponders maths problems’, Times Educational Supplement, July 1980.
See, E.G., Aleksandrov A. D., 1956: ‘A general view of mathematics’, Mathematics, its Content, Methods, and Meaning, M.I.T., Massachusetts, 1977, vol. 1, pp. 1–65, and: Booss, B., 1979: Trends in Mathematics, Universität Bielefeld.
Cf. the classification of general objectives of mathematics education in' Methodik Mathematikunterricht, Volkseigener Verlag, Berlin, 1977.
Does not this constitute an integral part of a process of mathematics education becoming socialist? Cf. HowsonA. G.: 1980, ‘Socialist mathematics education: does it exist?’, Educational Studies in Mathematics 11, 285–299.
Cf. the already classic study of GayJ. and ColeM.: 1967, The New Mathematics and an Old Culture. A Study of Learning Among the Kpelle of Liberia, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
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Gerdes, P. Changing mathematics education in Mozambique. Educ Stud Math 12, 455–477 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308143
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308143