"Our World University" construction begins in Mozambique

The construction draws much attention from the media and officials. Here are English translations of the 3 articles from the major Mozambican newspapers.

The Governor of Maputo Province Alfredo Namitete laid the corner stone for the University at the ceremony in Changalane.

Changalane

" Our World University " is planning the construction of an Institute.

SÖDERSTRÖM, a Swedish  NGO, is planning the construction of an institute of Modern Pedagogies, whose purpose is to educate Teachers for The Primary School Teachers for the rural areas.

In accordance with Montserrat Cuña, director of " Our World University " (OWU), an institution of SÖDERSTRÖM, the complex to be erect, whose conclusion is foreseen in 2004, is drawn in a space of seven thousand square meters, and consists of two study areas composed of two large classrooms and five small, two conference rooms, five pavilions with the capacity of boarding 120 students, and a residential complex for ten teachers.

According to Ms Cuña, the project is calculated to cost two million six hundred and ninety one US dollars, with founds that will come from some contributions.

The corner stone is ready to be laid for the first week of June, and OWU is now focused raising the necessary funds for the work. "Until now we have sponsorship from the building company CMC that it will help with the construction materials", Montserrat said in which the doors are open for the whole support from everyone for the achievement of the project.

The institute, to be raised in the city of Changalane " as a way of preparing the students lives with reality of life in the rural zones", according to Montserrat, the OWU follows the methodology of the Determination of Modern Methods (DMM), based on the motivating and attractive education because, according to her, "the educator in the rural zones has to be a leader in everything. For him, besides teaching, he will be the health consultant because surely over there, there is no doctor, and promoter of the construction of latrines, and, therefore a complete teacher".

"SAVANA". 31 May 2002

University in Changalane

Initiative of SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND in order to train Teachers for Primary Schools Teachers

SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND an Agency for Development from the People for the People - a non-governmental organization that has operated in this country for more than 20 years, will build, this year, in the city of Changalane, in the province of Maputo, a University that specializes in the education of Teachers for Primary Schools Teachers, and is working in conjunction with the Pedagogic University.

Evaluated at about 2 million and 700 thousand US dollars to be allocated by potential donors, including the Government of Mozambique, which has been cooperating with the institution for more than ten years. The referred University will be constructed in an area of about 7000 square meters and it will have several compartments, such as nine class rooms, four of them large and five small, a library, five pavilions for bedrooms with the capacity for 120 students, rooms for studies, a house for the teachers, administrative blocks, a refectory, spas and much more.

The course consist of a period of 22 months, about two years, and the students will graduate with a bachelor level degree.

According to Montserrat Cuña, director of local SÖDERSTRÖM projects, next 7th of June, in the city of Changalane, will take place the laying of the corner stone, that symbolizes the beginning of the works on the building, where the future the University will be, in a ceremony that it will count the presence of some important individuals such as the governor of the province of Maputo, Alfredo Namitete.

One of the great objectives that led SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND to build a University specializing in the education of Teachers for Primary Schools Teachers is to help to solve the problem of the great lack of Teachers for Primary Schools Teachers that exist in this country. Still, according to her explanations, the initiative seeks to guarantee that the future schools of SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND to be erected in the rural zones of Mozambique will be able to offer a larger amount of Teachers.

Montserrat Cuña stated that since the institution began to train Teachers, in 1998, it always had to do so in improvised facilities, the reason for which they decided to move forward for the construction of a wider and complete establishment for the better operation of the University.

Our great goal is to have the facilities operational as fast as possible for the start of the normal classes. We are still hoping to increase our education capacity, so we saw the obligation of having the appropriate facilities" -she started, advancing that " one of the commitments that SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND has is with the Mozambique Government, where annually the institution has to supply Primary School Teachers for their distribution among various schools in the country" - she said.

On the same occasion, Cuña announced that until 2010 SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND it should have supplied the Mozambique Government with Teachers for Primary School Teachers for they will be integrated in the Teacher Training Colleges that will be created in the country, with great importance for the rural zones, places where there is larger lack of trained teachers.

These institutions benefit of the students that finish the education in SÖDERSTRÖM- Our World University who are then integrated in the Institute of Primary Magisterio and Centres of Training of Primary School Teachers.

Since 1998 until now, the institution has formed 124 Teachers of teachers that are now spread all throughout the country.

"NOTICIAS", 3rd June 2002

Maputo Province

" Our World University " in construction

Last week, the governor of the Maputo province, Alfredo Namitete, presided over the " corner stone " ceremony in Changalane, "Our World University " is being built.

The enterprise estimated at over 2.700.000 USD, belongs to SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND - " No Caminho da Vitoria", the NGO that has operated in Mozambiquefor a long time, and that is well-known for the distribution of used clothes and for the construction of schools. It is a dream of SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND to build a Superior Teacher Training Institute that will train teachers for Teacher Training Colleges for both Mozambique and Angola.

At the ceremony, Birgit Holm, general director of SÖDERSTRÖM, said that this is a modern pedagogic institute, that will train instructors and perform educational research and development while offering support to existing teachers, mainly in the rural areas.

In accordance with Holm, SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND Mozambique began to teach instructors starting in 1998, where the first objective was training teachers for SÖDERSTRÖM’s own schools, followed by Training Teachers of the Future, where everything was done in coordination with the Ministry of Education.

Continuing, the director said: "the facts showed that there is a big need for education and of Colleges for Teachers training all over the country, so we discussed the approval of the course January 12, 2001 with the Ministery of Education".

After the Ministery of Education approved the course "we thought that it was important to create our own infrastructure for the big task of training instructors, not only for Mozambique, but also for Angola. We had to find a big place to build the facilities, and that was in Changalane ".

According to Holm, the total area of the construction is 7000 square meters and it will have several compartments, for nine class rooms (four large and five small), a library, five boarding houses with the capacity for 120 students, study rooms, two conference rooms, teachers' houses with the capacity for 10, administrative departments, dinning hall, kitchen, bathrooms, and other infrastructures.

In conclusion, the director said that the course takes 22 months, or about two years, and the students will go out at the bachelor level.

The students want to be in the forefront and they recognize that in all the country, only few youths continue beyond secondary education. Only a few get to enter in an institution of superior education, one of few universities in this country, but with the opening of this OWU, many others will have this opportunity in the next two years.

The governor of Maputo province, Alfredo Namitete, moments after placing the corner stone said that it symbolized the official beginning of the building and that he " was convinced that the future of learning was guaranteed, and it demonstrates that SÖDERSTRÖM STIPENDIEFOND is always determined in the development of teaching in the country".

He also said that some investors talk a lot, but in the end they present projects without any viability, and as if it was not enough, they throw the first stone and do not help make the improvements.

Estebão Manjate

"SAVANA" 14 June 2002

Tillbaka till Information

info@soderstromdirect.freeservers.com