The construction of Mozambican colonial and postcolonial identity through schooling projects: from 1930 to 1990

Abstract Identity building through primary schooling projects in colonial (1930-1974) and postcolonial (1975-1990) Mozambique is at the center of debate of this text, which has as its problem the fact that admission, schooling and, completion and dropout in both periods have been below expectations, which poses the challenge of identifying the factors and mechanisms of this trend and reflections to understand this phenomenon. The goal is to understand schooling in the face of antagonistic educational projects: on the one hand, the colonial, through which the colonial political and administrative machine intended to civilize, dominate and exploit the natives; on the other, the post-independence Mozambican educational project through which it was intended to form the “new man”. In methodological terms, the literature review, the analysis of the legislation, statistics and content of Tempo Magazine were the basis of this text. The main findings highlight: first, that political and economic factors, both in the colonial as well as in the postcolonial period, undermined efforts to universalize education; second, that both projects intended to educate Mozambicans according to their objectives and principles, with the libertarian mindset prevailing over that of domination and alienation.