Summary

The featured study has as its theme: Educational Policies and the History of
Higher Education in Mozambique: from Colonial to Post-colonial, 1960-1990. With the
main focus of understanding the importance of educational policies in the colonial to
post-colonial period in Mozambique, characterizing the National Education System in
Mozambique from 1960 to 1990 ꓼ describing the evolution of higher education policies
in Mozambique; and to analyze the impact of educational policies in the post-colonial
period in Mozambique, through bibliographic and documentary research and analysis of
specialized literature. The study reflects on the educational policies and the education
system adopted by the colonial State in Mozambique, where in an ethnocentric and
oppressive way they inculcated in the minds of the black Mozambican population that
only those who had Portuguese customs and habits would become civilized through the
transmission of Catholic morals. At that time, education was structured in rudimentary
primary education for the indigenous layer, and primary education for the civilized, this
time, an official education for the children of whites and assimilated people and the
other indigenous for blacks. However, indigenous education was divided into two
branches: rudimentary and professional education. In the latter, aimed at learning
manual work, there was special attention to girls, who should, in addition to learning a
trade, receive training to become excellent housewives, or even maids. And one of the
main causes for the introduction of these policies in the territories of the black
Mozambican population was to prevent education from being seen as an instrument to
awaken the minds of the indigenous people and create revolts against the oppressor.
With the proclamation of Mozambique's national independence and, consequently, the
adoption of the Constitution of the Republic in 1975, education became a duty and right
of all Mozambicans, with the State in charge of creating the necessary conditions for
them to be able to enjoy that right.

Keywords: Mozambique. Colonial State. Education system. Educational

policies. Indigenous.