Advocacy
Montepuez District hosts Over 8,401 primary level displaced children in Cabo Delgado
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 Ibo Island, based on data from the District Education, Youth and Technology Services (SDEJT) of Montepuez.
According to Zacarias Quiumbe, the SDEJT representative of Montepuez, just this year that district received over 8,499 displaced children, of which 8,401 are primary school children and 99 secondary school children, aged between 6 to 19 years old. This universe also includes displaced children, orphans and unaccompanied children from the regions most affected by the conflicts in that province.
On the other hand, the Pedagogical Director of Escola Primária Completa (EPC) Mirige, Jaharane Impaite, revealed that of the approximately 5,532 pupils enrolled for the current year in the school he leads in Montepuez district, about 312 are displaced children, of which 159 are boys and 153 girls.
Jaharane mentioned the lack of psychosocial support as one of the factors that has significantly interfered in the poor pedagogical performance of the displaced children, "although there is no discrimination between displaced children and local children at our school, we have been noticing recurrent absenteeism on the part of displaced pupils, and this may be associated with the scarcity of post-traumatic psychosocial support" said Impaite.
Apart from the recurring absences in the school term, Jaharane Impaite also said that the displaced children have been exhibiting stressful behavior, and lack of self-control which has been translated into crying spasms and lack of concentration during the lessons.
The extremist conflict in Cabo Delgado has forced the displacement of over 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 under ADRA's global advocacy campaign "Every Child. Everywhere. In School."
