Regression or progress in the democratization of primary education in Mozambique? A reflection based on the 2015 School Council Support Manual in force

Abstract

Mozambican educational legislation in force from 1992 to the present recommends that the Mozambican educational system is guided by basic democratic principles, as a way of allowing, in school management and administration, the participation of parents and/or guardians and members of the community in general. Based on this assumption, through qualitative bibliographical research and the use of documentary analysis as a data collection technique, we proposed to reflect on the democratization of basic schools in Mozambique based on the guidelines given in the School Council Support Manual 2015 in force. The results of the study indicate that, unlike the previous School Council Support Manual in force from 2005 to 2014, the manual in force since 2015, despite recommending that the school council is the highest body of the school, does not have deliberative power., but rather consultative. Given this observation, the following reflection arises: 1: Will there be advances or setbacks in the democratization of schools in a context in which the school council appears to be a consultative rather than a deliberative body? 2: If even when the school council manual was in force, which attributed deliberative power to the school council, the participation of school council members in decision-making processes was already limited, what will it be like when the 2015 manual comes into force? Therefore, the hypothesis raised in this study is that the current school council manual may set back the advances in the democratization of basic schools achieved so far in the light of the previous manual since the daily management of the school reflects the policies and guidelines issued at central level.

Keywords: Basic School; School democratization; School Council.