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Angola

World Education Encyclopedia | 2001 | Silva, Mich |Copyright

AngolaBasic Data

Official CountryName:

Republic of Angola

Region: Africa

Population: 10,145,267

Language(s):Portuguese, Bantu, Kikongo, Kimbundo, Umbundo, Chokwe,Mbunda, Oxikuanyama

Literacy Rate: 56%Academic Year: January-November

CompulsorySchooling:

8 years

EducationalEnrollment:

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 thewest,Namibiato the south,Zambiato the east, and the Democratic Republic of Congoto the north and northeast. The Cabinda Province is separated from the rest of Angolaby the Democratic Republic of Congo. Angola boasts 1,600 km of coastline with fourmajor 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 thatthe Khoi and San peoples populated the area as far back as 25,000 B.C. The Bantuarrived from the north from 800 A.D., but their main influx occurred during thefourteenth century, preceding the arrival of the first Portuguese in 1483. The Bantuestablished kingdoms and absorbed much of the Khoisan-speaking population, and bythe fifteenth century, native Africans numbered close to four million in Angola. Themajor kingdoms were the Kongo, Loango, Mbundo, with smaller kingdoms such as theLunda and Ovimbundu. The leader of the most important Kongo kingdom, mani-kongoor King Nzinga Nkuwu, converted toChristianityduring early Portuguese contact, and

his successor, King Afonso, was also a Christian. Early relationships were mutually

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

Colonial Rule: The Portuguese colonial period in Angola lasted almost five hundredyears, but the Portuguese population itself was quite small for most of the period. In1845 there were only two thousand Portuguese living in Angola, increasing to fortythousand by 1940. The last twenty years of colonial rule, from 1955-1975, saw themajor influx of Portuguese who totaled 340,000 at independence in November 1975.Despite their relatively small numbers, the Portuguese had a tremendous effect onnative Angolans and their education. For four hundred years, the Portuguese wereheavily involved in the slave trade, and perhaps eight million Angolans were lost toslavery. Economically, the Portuguese developed Angola within separate colonialsectors far removed from most of Angolan society. Initially through slave trade andlater through production and exportation of rubber, diamonds, coffee and then oil, the

Portuguese developed an economy that used natural resources of the country but didlittle to include Angolans other than through forced labor even after slavery wasabolished in 1878.

Socially the Portuguese also had a great impact on the native population. Theyreorganized villages and established transportation routes that facilitated exportationwhile at the same time dividing native groups. Colonial rule allowed and at timesencouraged 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 publicand private sectors. Despite official statements to the contrary, education of the nativeAfricans from the beginning of colonization was discouraged.

Officially Portuguese colonization valued education within its civilizing mission, butlittle was accomplished, especially outside of urban centers. Natives who were educatedwere considered assimilados or assimilated into the Portuguese culture and values, andduring the later years of colonial rule, the brightest were often sent toPortugalforsecondary and/or higher education. Many of these, however, were exposed to

"progressive" ideas inEuropeand were prevented from returning to Africa for fear ofpolitical unrest. The most accurate census figures from 1950 estimated that there werefewer than thirty-one thousand assimilados in the entire Angolan population of fourmillion.

Although Portuguese was the language of instruction from the first primary schoolestablished by the Jesuits in 1605, in 1921 the Portuguese forbade by decree the use ofAfrican languages in the schools. In 1940, the Portuguese ruler Salazar signed theMissionary Accord with the Vatican that made the Roman Catholic missions and theirschools the official representatives of the state in Africa. Most students in the earlymission 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 hadlimited financial backing, and education declined in Angola. In addition, the Portuguese

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created the Department of Native Affairs, and they officially separated state-runeducation of the assimilados and the Portuguese from that of rural native Africans, run

by Catholic missionaries and called ensino de adaptao (adaptation school). A greatmajority of Africans remained uneducated even after the 1960s when a new emphasiswas 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 theAngolan school-age children were admitted. Other figures state that enrollment inprimary school rose from 6.3 percent in 1960 to 32 percent in 1970, and secondary-school enrollment rose from 0.6 percent in 1960 to 4.3 percent in 1970, but these figuresinclude both state- and missionary-run schools.

Those students who were in schools followed an educational system similar to that inPortugal with a preprimary year stressing language, and then four years of primaryschool of two two-year cycles. Secondary school consisted of a two-year cycle and afinal three-year cycle. Most students who began schooling, however, did not completeeven the primary school cycles. Adaptation schools run by the missionaries hadespecially high dropout rates, with 1967-1970 figures showing 95.6 percent of thestudents not continuing. One of the significant reasons for this was that the majority ofteachers at all primary schools had very few qualifications. Secondary schools hadmany Portuguese teachers, but they, too, had limited success in part because theyneeded to spend the first years teaching material from the primary level.

As part of the Portuguese university system, the University of General Studies wasestablished in Angola in 1962. English and medical studies took place inLuanda,

educational studies were given in S da Bandeira, and agronomy and veterinarymedicine 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 Angolanswere killed. Many nationalists fled to surrounding countries and in time organized intothree main guerilla groups: the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), thePopular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Union forthe Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Although each group fought Portuguesecolonial 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, backedbyCubaand theSoviet Union, gained control of Angola after independence. Civil warensued and eventually the FNLA, supported byChinaand theUnited States, dissolved,leaving UNITA with support fromSouth Africaas the primary opposition to the rulingMPLA. Cuba sent in troops in 1975 in response to South African troops crossing theborder at Namibia, and over the next fifteen years hundreds of thousands of Angolanslost their lives to civil war. In 1986 the United States backed UNITA against theMarxist MPLA governing party, but in 1991 it was influential in negotiating an eventualpeace 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

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Angola following elections. Armed conflict resumed, and in May 1993 the UnitedStates officially recognized the dos Santos government, removing all support ofUNITA. A new peace agreement was signed between dos Santos and Savimbi onNovember 20, 1994, but sporadic fighting continued until a new national unitygovernment 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 thenew millennium. By March 2001, dos Santos' government had control over most of thecountry, but fighting continued and civilian lives continued to be lost, notably from theestimated seven million landmines scattered across the countryside.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Angola's 1975 Constitution, revised in 1976 and 1980, guarantees access to educationfor all. It prohibits discrimination based on color, race, ethnic identity, sex, place ofbirth, religion, level of education, and economic and social status. It also outlines social

goals of combating illiteracy, developing education and a national culture, andrespecting all religions while maintaining a clear separation of church and state.National defense requires mandatory military service of men and women over the age ofeighteen, 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 ruralAfricans who had been virtually ignored under colonial rule. The National LiteracyCommission under the Minister of Education was created to administer the literacycampaign.

The civil war that ensued after independence destroyed much of the country'sinfrastructure, including the educational system. Most Portuguese instructors left thecountry, many buildings were destroyed or badly damaged, and instructional materialswere scarce. The shortage of qualified teachers was especially pronounced: of thetwenty-five thousand primary school teachers in Angola, only two thousand wereconsidered even minimally qualified. At the secondary level, there were only sixhundred teachers. To improve these conditions, the First Party Congress in 1977resolved to institute an eight-year compulsory system of free, basic education forchildren between the ages of seven and fifteen. Other important educational goals in theearly years of independence included, in order of importance, primary education,secondary education, and intermediate and university education.

Educational System Overview

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

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Considerable efforts were made by the government in the first five years ofindependence to improve the accessibility of education, especially for primary-schoolaged children. There were fewer than 500,000 students in Angola in 1974, but by 1980at least 1.6 million children were studying. Enrollment of the relevant age group was upto 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 studentsenrolled at the primary level, but only 148,137 at the middle and secondary level, withno indication as to the percentage of relevant age group. President dos Santos stated thatby January 2000 school equipment had been acquired to meet 42 percent of thecountry's needs, demonstrating that 1,040,000 children between the ages of six andfourteen were without a school. However, the Ministry of Justice estimates that onlyabout 5 percent of children have had their births registered. Unregistered children do notlegally exist and therefore cannot enroll in schools.

Since 1980, education funding has been low, and all areas of education are in dire needof 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'sfinancial gains. Of the US$2 billion the government earned in oil and diamond revenuesin 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. Theeffects could be seen within the educational system as well. Sixteen years afterindependence, major changes were made in Angola's educational system with Law N.18that institutionalized private teaching in 1991. In 2001, the Ministry of Educationannounced that it would require a "symbolic payment" for public education,changingthe free education policy that had been in effect since independence.

Basic adult literacy continues to be extremely low, but there are conflicting figures fromgovernment and other sources. No reliable census has been taken since 1970 whichmakes it difficult to assess not only literacy but also other educational needs. Statisticsavailable in 2001 from UNICEF estimate the total population of Angola to be 12.5million and adult literacy to be 56 percent for males and 29 percent for women. It isunlikely that these figures include population in UNITA-claimed territory. During themid-1980s, Savimbi established a state-within-a-state with its own educational systemthat closely resembled that of Portugal. UNITA territory was much smaller but still inexistence in 2001.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Of the estimated 2.5 million Angolan children of preschool age, fewer than twentythousand attend preschools or day care centers. Preschools were established in 1977 andthe government considers them important to compensate for home environments notconducive to early learning. Primary education is made up of three levels; the first istheoretically compulsory and lasts four years. The second and third levels last two yearseach. There continues to be a severe shortage of schools for Angolan youth, and thegovernment estimates that 60 percent of the school facilities have been destroyed or arein disrepair. Most primary school students can only receive three hours of instruction a

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day because the schools operate two or three shifts daily. Lack of qualified teacherscontinues to be an acute problem, as well as high dropout rates, low attendance rates,and promotion rates below 50 percent. Instructional materials, equipment, and evendesks and chairs are limited in many areas. Most schooling is only available inprovincial 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. OnFebruary 7, 2001, the start of the new school year in Angola, 45,000 students were toenroll in Luandan schools. The city could only accept 5,000 of them. As many as100,000 students (primary and secondary) study at private schools in Luanda, but thecost 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-yearcourse required to enter universities, or they may follow a four-year technical educationcourse. Technical education includes either teacher training for primary teachers orspecialized education in areas including business, health, agriculture, fisheries, andmechanics. Secondary education enrollment increased from 105,000 students in 1977 to151,759 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 secondaryeducation. 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 seventhousand. There are departments of law, education, medicine, economics, science, andcivil engineering in Luanda; economics, educational science and law in Lubango; andagronomy, medicine, economics and law in Huambo. Schools have been destroyed inLubango and Huambo, and those in Luanda have been prone to closure for politicalreasons and teacher shortages. There is also a severe shortage of laboratory equipmentin medical and science schools, affecting teaching and research.

In 1992, the Council of Ministers declared Decree 38-A, extending rights to theCatholic Churchto administer a non-profit university. Angola was "open to fruitful co-operation 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

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to create Universidade Catlica de Angola. It further acknowledged the university as acorporate public service entity with statutory, scientific, pedagogic, patrimonial,administrative, financial, and disciplinary autonomy. The Catholic University of Angolaopened on February 22, 1999 in Luanda with initial funding from Citizens Energy in theUnited States, Energy Africa, SAGA Petroleum, and Mobil. Initial enrollment was 320

students. The university offers five-year courses in law, economics, management, andcomputer science. A state-of-the-art computer andInternetcenter offers computertraining for faculty and students with plans for distance learning.

Finally, there are plans underway for the Universidade Nova de Angola with fundingfrom theEduardo dos Santos Foundation. This new university will emphasize high-techtraining and education and will complement coursework at the Universidade de

Agostinho Neto. Correspondence courses and distance learning will make coursesavailable to more students in the country. At its foundation is a network of Brazilianuniversities that will assist in planning, developing curriculum, and continuing studentexchanges already in progress.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

The Ministry of Education has control over primary and secondary education. It sharesresponsibility for vocational education with numerous other ministries. The AdultEducation 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 publicexpenditure of the annual budget. Many educational improvement projects, particularlythose targeting primary school needs, have been financed through internationalhumanitarian aid.

UNICEF's US$18,848,700 appeal for Angola for 2001 included US$2,464,000 allocatedfor 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 substantialinnovation is occurring. As in all other areas of education, nonformal education lacksfinancial backing and sufficient teachers, materials, and facilities, but it has continuedbecause of humanitarian aid such as that given by UNICEF and national andinternational nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Among important efforts in ruralareas have been education projects such as landmine awareness and vocational trainingfor war-injured and landmine victims in tailoring, metalwork, carpentry, and businessadministration. Urban and rural education projects include literacy education as well asvocational training for targeted populations such as child soldiers (5,000 soldiers in1997, 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 millionestimated in 2001) who have fled their home areas due to fighting.

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The Ministry of Education employs distance learning in two remote education projectsto reach students in seven of Angola's eighteen provinces. The initial project in bankingserved 221 students. Plans have begun to launch a television education network thateventually could be used nationwide. The Adult Education Department initiated a newliteracy 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 havehad limited access to education. The literacy program also teaches adults in localvernaculars. Angola has six national languages: Kikongo, Kimbundo, Umbundo,Chokwe, Mbunda and Oxikuanyama. Although Portuguese is the official language andthat of instruction, only 27 percent of adult men and 10 percent of women speak thelanguage, 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 theirsuccess. Most native Angolan teachers (75 percent) are only minimally qualified toteach 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, theteaching 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 notuncommon 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, buttremendous variation exists among provinces, and there are reports of as few as thirty toas many as one hundred primary school students per teacher and classroom in someareas. One of the most challenging aspects of the teaching profession is that teachers areoften not paid for up to six months at a time. Not surprisingly, teacher absenteeism ishigh. Some teachers charge fees directly to families, but few can pay.

A few promising teacher-training programs have been developed by internationalhumanitarian organizations with plans to expand across the country. Future Teachers incentral Angola requires one and one-half years of training, a one-year internship, and acommitment to teach in a rural school. The teacher college has 30 networked computers

with CD instructional material, especially important because printed material is difficultto 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 acomplete halt, little can be done to improve conditions nationwide. At the very

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minimum, financial resources must be committed to rehabilitation and construction ofschools, acquiring instructional materials and equipment, and in greatly increasingteacher training and pay. Without tremendously improving literacy, Angola can neverdevelop much beyond the limits of a separate, educated, elite class. However, evenmore 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 fourchildren makes it to his or her fifth birthday, basic health and safety of the nation'syouth 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. AngolanMission to the United Nations, March 2001. Available fromhttp://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 andChildren, December 1996. Available fromhttp://www.intrescom.org.

Tvedten, Inge. Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction. Boulder, CO: WestviewPress, 1997.

United Nations. Relief Web. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 201.Available fromhttp://reliefweb.int/.

United States Committee for Refugees. Country Report: Angola. Worldwide RefugeeInformation, 2000. Available fromhttp://www.refugees.org/.

United States Library of Congress. Angola: A Country Study. Federal ResearchDivision, February 1989. Available fromhttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.

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