Advocacy
Montepuez district welcomes more than 8,401 children displaced from primary school in Cabo Delgado
This is your chance to take that life-changing adventure, find your purpose in service, create life-long friendships, and see faith in a new, transformative way. ADRA Connections is ADRA's short-term volunteer program that takes you into the field to put compassion into action and make an impact for communities in need. No experience necessary!
According to ADRA Mozambique, these are school-age children from the districts of Quissanga, Palma, Muidumbe, Ancuabe, Macomia, Mueda, Meluco, Nangade, Mocímboa da Praia and Ilha do Ibo, according to data obtained from the Montepuez District Service for Education, Youth and Technology (SDEJT).
According to Zacarias Quiumbe, the SDEJT representative for Montepuez, this year alone the district has received more than 8,499 displaced children, including 8,401 elementary school children and 99 secondary school children aged between 6 and 19. These include orphaned and unaccompanied displaced children from the regions most affected by the conflict in the province.
On the other hand, the Pedagogical Director of the Complete Primary School (EPC) in Mirige, Jaharane Impaite, revealed that of the 5,532 pupils enrolled for this year at the school he runs in Montepuez, around 312 are displaced children, 159 boys and 153 girls. Jaharane mentioned the lack of psychosocial support as one of the factors that has significantly interfered with the poor educational performance of the displaced children.
"Although there is no discrimination between displaced children
and local children at our school, we have noticed recurrent absences on the part of displaced students, and this may be linked to the lack of post-traumatic psychosocial support" said Impaite
In addition to recurring absences during the school term, Jaharane Impaite also said that the displaced children have shown stressful behavior, a lack of self-control that has translated into crying spells and a lack of concentration during lessons.
It should be noted that the extremist conflict in Cabo Delgado has already forced the displacement of more than 784,000 people, including 370,000 children, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and around 4,000 deaths according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
This article was produced as part of ADRA's global advocacy campaign "Every Child. Everywhere. At School."
This is your chance to take that life-changing adventure, find your purpose in service, create life-long friendships, and see faith in a new, transformative way. ADRA Connections is ADRA's short-term volunteer program that takes you into the field to put compassion into action and make an impact for communities in need. No experience necessary!
English 
Portuguese