Strengthening the Implementation of a Bilingual Education Reform in Mozambique
In 2017, the government officially introduced bilingual education (BE) programs in primary education, where students gradually transition from a local language to Portuguese. Research shows that BE leads to higher literacy levels compared to Portuguese-only education, but its adoption remains weak due to disinterest from parents.
This project aims to increase the adoption of BE in Mozambique, recognizing its critical role in supporting human capital development and fostering inclusive economic growth. By addressing the barriers to BE implementation, the findings will provide actionable insights for policymakers, enabling them to design targeted interventions that enhance parental engagement and community support for BE. Strengthening the adoption of BE also contributes to broader policy goals, such as reducing inequalities in access to quality education, preserving linguistic and cultural diversity, and preparing a more skilled workforce to meet the demands of a growing economy.
The project will begin by investigating the low demand for BE, focusing on identifying barriers to its implementation. Working with the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH), the project will collect and analyze administrative data on school language offerings to map regional variations in BE adoption. A survey will then be conducted with parents and school directors from selected schools to assess their understanding of BE and their beliefs about its impact on job market outcomes. The survey will include discrete choice experiments to better understand preferences and perceptions about education choice. It will also explore the influence of community norms on educational decisions by examining how the choices of others might affect parents’ preferences. Finally, the team will organize a workshop with stakeholders to present survey findings and use them to create an information campaign aimed at boosting demand for BE. This intervention could lead to future evaluations, such as a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
