Angola

World Education Encyclopedia | 2001 | Silva, Mich | Copyright

Angola
Basic Data Official Country Name: Region: Population: Language(s): Literacy Rate: Academic Year: Compulsory Schooling: Educational Enrollment: Republic of Angola Africa 10,145,267 Portuguese, Bantu, Kikongo, Kimbundo, Umbundo, Chokwe, Mbunda, Oxikuanyama 56% January-November 8 years Primary: 989,443 Secondary: 218,987 Higher: 6,331 Teachers: Higher: 787

History & Background

Angola is located in southwestern Africa, bordered by the South Atlantic Coast to the west, Namibia to the south, Zambia to the east, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north and northeast. The Cabinda Province is separated from the rest of Angola by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Angola boasts 1,600 km of coastline with four major ports and rich natural resources. It is potentially one of Africa's richest countries with impressive oil reserves and gem-quality diamond deposits. Recorded history of the people of Angola dates back to 6000 B.C., with indications that the Khoi and San peoples populated the area as far back as 25,000 B.C. The Bantu arrived from the north from 800 A.D., but their main influx occurred during the fourteenth century, preceding the arrival of the first Portuguese in 1483. The Bantu established kingdoms and absorbed much of the Khoisan-speaking population, and by the fifteenth century, native Africans numbered close to four million in Angola. The major kingdoms were the Kongo, Loango, Mbundo, with smaller kingdoms such as the Lunda and Ovimbundu. The leader of the most important Kongo kingdom, mani-kongo or King Nzinga Nkuwu, converted to Christianity during early Portuguese contact, and his successor, King Afonso, was also a Christian. Early relationships were mutually

beneficial for the Kongo king and the Portuguese, who were also ruled by a monarchy and had a similar social structure from nobility to slaves.

Colonial Rule: The Portuguese colonial period in Angola lasted almost five hundred years, but the Portuguese population itself was quite small for most of the period. In 1845 there were only two thousand Portuguese living in Angola, increasing to forty thousand by 1940. The last twenty years of colonial rule, from 1955-1975, saw the major influx of Portuguese who totaled 340,000 at independence in November 1975. Despite their relatively small numbers, the Portuguese had a tremendous effect on native Angolans and their education. For four hundred years, the Portuguese were heavily involved in the slave trade, and perhaps eight million Angolans were lost to slavery. Economically, the Portuguese developed Angola within separate colonial sectors far removed from most of Angolan society. Initially through slave trade and later through production and exportation of rubber, diamonds, coffee and then oil, the Portuguese developed an economy that used natural resources of the country but did little to include Angolans other than through forced labor even after slavery was abolished in 1878. Socially the Portuguese also had a great impact on the native population. They reorganized villages and established transportation routes that facilitated exportation while at the same time dividing native groups. Colonial rule allowed and at times encouraged interracial marriage, but there was a distinct separation of population groups according to racial background. Mestios of mixed European and African ancestry were allowed access to more education and other opportunities than indgenas Africans, but in the last fifty years of colonial rule, official policies were strictly racially divided and even mestios were denied access to or greatly restricted from holding jobs in the public and private sectors. Despite official statements to the contrary, education of the native Africans from the beginning of colonization was discouraged. Officially Portuguese colonization valued education within its civilizing mission, but little was accomplished, especially outside of urban centers. Natives who were educated were considered assimilados or assimilated into the Portuguese culture and values, and during the later years of colonial rule, the brightest were often sent to Portugal for secondary and/or higher education. Many of these, however, were exposed to "progressive" ideas in Europe and were prevented from returning to Africa for fear of political unrest. The most accurate census figures from 1950 estimated that there were fewer than thirty-one thousand assimilados in the entire Angolan population of four million. Although Portuguese was the language of instruction from the first primary school established by the Jesuits in 1605, in 1921 the Portuguese forbade by decree the use of African languages in the schools. In 1940, the Portuguese ruler Salazar signed the Missionary Accord with the Vatican that made the Roman Catholic missions and their schools the official representatives of the state in Africa. Most students in the early mission schools came from traditional African ruling families, thus creating a small but important educated elite in the country. But until the 1960s, the Catholic missions had limited financial backing, and education declined in Angola. In addition, the Portuguese

created the Department of Native Affairs, and they officially separated state-run education of the assimilados and the Portuguese from that of rural native Africans, run by Catholic missionaries and called ensino de adaptao (adaptation school). A great majority of Africans remained uneducated even after the 1960s when a new emphasis was placed on education by the colonial rulers. During the 1960s many new schools were established, but by some estimates, just slightly more than 2 percent of the Angolan school-age children were admitted. Other figures state that enrollment in primary school rose from 6.3 percent in 1960 to 32 percent in 1970, and secondaryschool enrollment rose from 0.6 percent in 1960 to 4.3 percent in 1970, but these figures include both state- and missionary-run schools. Those students who were in schools followed an educational system similar to that in Portugal with a preprimary year stressing language, and then four years of primary school of two two-year cycles. Secondary school consisted of a two-year cycle and a final three-year cycle. Most students who began schooling, however, did not complete even the primary school cycles. Adaptation schools run by the missionaries had especially high dropout rates, with 1967-1970 figures showing 95.6 percent of the students not continuing. One of the significant reasons for this was that the majority of teachers at all primary schools had very few qualifications. Secondary schools had many Portuguese teachers, but they, too, had limited success in part because they needed to spend the first years teaching material from the primary level. As part of the Portuguese university system, the University of General Studies was established in Angola in 1962. English and medical studies took place in Luanda, educational studies were given in S da Bandeira, and agronomy and veterinary medicine were at Nova Lisboa. Within ten years, close to three thousand students attended the university, but only a very small percentage of these students were African.

Independence: The first national movement against colonial power took place in 1961; Portugal sent in thousands of army troops and tens of thousands of native Angolans were killed. Many nationalists fled to surrounding countries and in time organized into three main guerilla groups: the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Although each group fought Portuguese colonial rule, they also fought each other and were already close to civil war by November 1975 when Portugal granted independence to the colony. The MPLA, backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union, gained control of Angola after independence. Civil war ensued and eventually the FNLA, supported by China and the United States, dissolved, leaving UNITA with support from South Africa as the primary opposition to the ruling MPLA. Cuba sent in troops in 1975 in response to South African troops crossing the border at Namibia, and over the next fifteen years hundreds of thousands of Angolans lost their lives to civil war. In 1986 the United States backed UNITA against the Marxist MPLA governing party, but in 1991 it was influential in negotiating an eventual peace agreement between UNITA and the MPLA, and Cuba withdrew its troops. This brief period of peace was shattered in September 1992 when UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi refused to accept MPLA leader Jos Eduardo dos Santos as president of

Angola following elections. Armed conflict resumed, and in May 1993 the United States officially recognized the dos Santos government, removing all support of UNITA. A new peace agreement was signed between dos Santos and Savimbi on November 20, 1994, but sporadic fighting continued until a new national unity government was installed in April 1997. However, in late 1998, UNITA refused to give up territory and resumed fighting against the government. Civil war continued into the new millennium. By March 2001, dos Santos' government had control over most of the country, but fighting continued and civilian lives continued to be lost, notably from the estimated seven million landmines scattered across the countryside.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Angola's 1975 Constitution, revised in 1976 and 1980, guarantees access to education for all. It prohibits discrimination based on color, race, ethnic identity, sex, place of birth, religion, level of education, and economic and social status. It also outlines social goals of combating illiteracy, developing education and a national culture, and respecting all religions while maintaining a clear separation of church and state. National defense requires mandatory military service of men and women over the age of eighteen, which has significant effects on enrollment in higher education. By all accounts, literacy in Angola was only 10-15 percent at the time of independence. The government initiated a literacy drive in November 1976, giving priority to rural Africans who had been virtually ignored under colonial rule. The National Literacy Commission under the Minister of Education was created to administer the literacy campaign. The civil war that ensued after independence destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, including the educational system. Most Portuguese instructors left the country, many buildings were destroyed or badly damaged, and instructional materials were scarce. The shortage of qualified teachers was especially pronounced: of the twenty-five thousand primary school teachers in Angola, only two thousand were considered even minimally qualified. At the secondary level, there were only six hundred teachers. To improve these conditions, the First Party Congress in 1977 resolved to institute an eight-year compulsory system of free, basic education for children between the ages of seven and fifteen. Other important educational goals in the early years of independence included, in order of importance, primary education, secondary education, and intermediate and university education.

Educational SystemOverview
Marxism-Leninism was declared the basis of Angola's new educational system by the ruling MPLA, but a respect for traditional African values was also retained. Four years of compulsory, free primary education began at age seven, and secondary education began at age eleven, lasting eight years. Missionary schools were nationalized and private or religious organizations were not allowed to conduct schools.

Considerable efforts were made by the government in the first five years of independence to improve the accessibility of education, especially for primary-school aged children. There were fewer than 500,000 students in Angola in 1974, but by 1980 at least 1.6 million children were studying. Enrollment of the relevant age group was up to 80 percent in 1980, but by 1984, it had fallen to 49 percent due to austerity measures and population increases. Government statistics from 1990 show 1,180,008 students enrolled at the primary level, but only 148,137 at the middle and secondary level, with no indication as to the percentage of relevant age group. President dos Santos stated that by January 2000 school equipment had been acquired to meet 42 percent of the country's needs, demonstrating that 1,040,000 children between the ages of six and fourteen were without a school. However, the Ministry of Justice estimates that only about 5 percent of children have had their births registered. Unregistered children do not legally exist and therefore cannot enroll in schools. Since 1980, education funding has been low, and all areas of education are in dire need of facilities, materials, and teachers. In 1994, for example, 4.4 percent of public expenditure was allocated for education. Civil war has consumed most of the country's financial gains. Of the US$2 billion the government earned in oil and diamond revenues in 1996, US$1.5 billion was spent on arms and military equipment. During the early 1990s, Angola began gradually moving to a free-market economy, pursuing a policy of liberalization and privatization in industrial economic sectors. The effects could be seen within the educational system as well. Sixteen years after independence, major changes were made in Angola's educational system with Law N.18 that institutionalized private teaching in 1991. In 2001, the Ministry of Education announced that it would require a "symbolic payment" for public education,changing the free education policy that had been in effect since independence. Basic adult literacy continues to be extremely low, but there are conflicting figures from government and other sources. No reliable census has been taken since 1970 which makes it difficult to assess not only literacy but also other educational needs. Statistics available in 2001 from UNICEF estimate the total population of Angola to be 12.5 million and adult literacy to be 56 percent for males and 29 percent for women. It is unlikely that these figures include population in UNITA-claimed territory. During the mid-1980s, Savimbi established a state-within-a-state with its own educational system that closely resembled that of Portugal. UNITA territory was much smaller but still in existence in 2001.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Of the estimated 2.5 million Angolan children of preschool age, fewer than twenty thousand attend preschools or day care centers. Preschools were established in 1977 and the government considers them important to compensate for home environments not conducive to early learning. Primary education is made up of three levels; the first is theoretically compulsory and lasts four years. The second and third levels last two years each. There continues to be a severe shortage of schools for Angolan youth, and the government estimates that 60 percent of the school facilities have been destroyed or are in disrepair. Most primary school students can only receive three hours of instruction a

day because the schools operate two or three shifts daily. Lack of qualified teachers continues to be an acute problem, as well as high dropout rates, low attendance rates, and promotion rates below 50 percent. Instructional materials, equipment, and even desks and chairs are limited in many areas. Most schooling is only available in provincial capitals because rural areas have been especially hard hit by intense fighting. But even in the nation's capital, Luanda, schools cannot keep up with demand. On February 7, 2001, the start of the new school year in Angola, 45,000 students were to enroll in Luandan schools. The city could only accept 5,000 of them. As many as 100,000 students (primary and secondary) study at private schools in Luanda, but the cost is crippling for most residents.

Secondary Education
For those students who complete the third level of primary education (eighth grade), two alternatives of secondary education are available. Students may follow a three-year course required to enter universities, or they may follow a four-year technical education course. Technical education includes either teacher training for primary teachers or specialized education in areas including business, health, agriculture, fisheries, and mechanics. Secondary education enrollment increased from 105,000 students in 1977 to 151,759 in 1984, but accurate figures for later years have not been available. In 1990, 3.3 percent of boys and 1.7 percent of girls in Luanda were enrolled in secondary education. The percentages in rural areas of the country were estimated to be 0.4 percent for boys and 0.2 percent for girls.

Higher Education
Universidade de Agostinho Neto was established in 1976 in Luanda with affiliated institutions in Huambo (formerly Nova Lisboa) and Lubango (formerly S da Bandeira). University enrollment has varied from three thousand to over seven thousand. There are departments of law, education, medicine, economics, science, and civil engineering in Luanda; economics, educational science and law in Lubango; and agronomy, medicine, economics and law in Huambo. Schools have been destroyed in Lubango and Huambo, and those in Luanda have been prone to closure for political reasons and teacher shortages. There is also a severe shortage of laboratory equipment in medical and science schools, affecting teaching and research. In 1992, the Council of Ministers declared Decree 38-A, extending rights to the Catholic Church to administer a non-profit university. Angola was "open to fruitful cooperation initiatives that safeguard the full autonomy and identity of the State and the peoples" and therefore authorized The Episcopal Conference of Angola and So Tom

to create Universidade Catlica de Angola. It further acknowledged the university as a corporate public service entity with statutory, scientific, pedagogic, patrimonial, administrative, financial, and disciplinary autonomy. The Catholic University of Angola opened on February 22, 1999 in Luanda with initial funding from Citizens Energy in the United States, Energy Africa, SAGA Petroleum, and Mobil. Initial enrollment was 320 students. The university offers five-year courses in law, economics, management, and computer science. A state-of-the-art computer and Internet center offers computer training for faculty and students with plans for distance learning. Finally, there are plans underway for the Universidade Nova de Angola with funding from the Eduardo dos Santos Foundation. This new university will emphasize high-tech training and education and will complement coursework at the Universidade de Agostinho Neto. Correspondence courses and distance learning will make courses available to more students in the country. At its foundation is a network of Brazilian universities that will assist in planning, developing curriculum, and continuing student exchanges already in progress.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

The Ministry of Education has control over primary and secondary education. It shares responsibility for vocational education with numerous other ministries. The Adult Education Department of the Ministry of Education administers national literacy programs. Accurate financial budgets concerning education expenses are not available; however, from 1980-1994, education was allotted less than 5 percent of public expenditure of the annual budget. Many educational improvement projects, particularly those targeting primary school needs, have been financed through international humanitarian aid. UNICEF's US$18,848,700 appeal for Angola for 2001 included US$2,464,000 allocated for education. The bulk of the appeal, over $US10 million, was for health and nutrition.

Nonformal Education
Nonformal education is greatly needed in Angola, and it is one area where substantial innovation is occurring. As in all other areas of education, nonformal education lacks financial backing and sufficient teachers, materials, and facilities, but it has continued because of humanitarian aid such as that given by UNICEF and national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Among important efforts in rural areas have been education projects such as landmine awareness and vocational training for war-injured and landmine victims in tailoring, metalwork, carpentry, and business administration. Urban and rural education projects include literacy education as well as vocational training for targeted populations such as child soldiers (5,000 soldiers in 1997, half of which were demobilized in 1996), street children in Luanda (estimated at 5,000 in 1996), amputees (70,000 in 1996), and internally displaced persons (3.8 million estimated in 2001) who have fled their home areas due to fighting.

The Ministry of Education employs distance learning in two remote education projects to reach students in seven of Angola's eighteen provinces. The initial project in banking served 221 students. Plans have begun to launch a television education network that eventually could be used nationwide. The Adult Education Department initiated a new literacy program in 1999 that hopes to eradicate illiteracy in the country by 2007. Greater effort will be directed to the countryside and particularly to women who have had limited access to education. The literacy program also teaches adults in local vernaculars. Angola has six national languages: Kikongo, Kimbundo, Umbundo, Chokwe, Mbunda and Oxikuanyama. Although Portuguese is the official language and that of instruction, only 27 percent of adult men and 10 percent of women speak the language, greatly limiting their educational and occupational opportunities.

Teaching Profession
A shortage of qualified teachers has always limited the educational system in Angola, even during colonial days. When the Portuguese left in 1975, other teachers arrived, notably from the Soviet Union and Cuba, but language differences hampered their success. Most native Angolan teachers (75 percent) are only minimally qualified to teach at the primary level having completed only four to six years of school themselves. Much has been attempted to improve teacher training since independence; however, the teaching profession is in such shambles that it is difficult to retain even poor teachers. Teaching conditions are very difficult, and especially outside of Luanda, it is not uncommon to see many students crammed into a small classroom without books, desks, or even chairs. The government reports an average of thirty-six students per teacher, but tremendous variation exists among provinces, and there are reports of as few as thirty to as many as one hundred primary school students per teacher and classroom in some areas. One of the most challenging aspects of the teaching profession is that teachers are often not paid for up to six months at a time. Not surprisingly, teacher absenteeism is high. Some teachers charge fees directly to families, but few can pay. A few promising teacher-training programs have been developed by international humanitarian organizations with plans to expand across the country. Future Teachers in central Angola requires one and one-half years of training, a one-year internship, and a commitment to teach in a rural school. The teacher college has 30 networked computers with CD instructional material, especially important because printed material is difficult to obtain.

Summary
The government of Angola has outlined excellent priorities in its efforts to improve the country's extremely poor educational system. But unless armed combat comes to a complete halt, little can be done to improve conditions nationwide. At the very

minimum, financial resources must be committed to rehabilitation and construction of schools, acquiring instructional materials and equipment, and in greatly increasing teacher training and pay. Without tremendously improving literacy, Angola can never develop much beyond the limits of a separate, educated, elite class. However, even more pressing concerns than education compete for government funding. In a nation where half of the population is under 15 years of age and where only one in four children makes it to his or her fifth birthday, basic health and safety of the nation's youth must be improved before education can be given the priority it deserves.

Bibliography
The Embassy of the Republic of Angola, Washington, D.C. O Pensador. Angolan Mission to the United Nations, March 2001. Available from http://www.angola.org/. The International Rescue Committee. Recovering From Thirty Years of War: Refugee Women and Children in Angola. Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, December 1996. Available from http://www.intrescom.org. Tvedten, Inge. Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997. United Nations. Relief Web. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 201. Available from http://reliefweb.int/. United States Committee for Refugees. Country Report: Angola. Worldwide Refugee Information, 2000. Available from http://www.refugees.org/. United States Library of Congress. Angola: A Country Study. Federal Research Division, February 1989. Available from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.