We are excited and wish to congratulate ADPP Mozambique as it celebrates 30 years of a commitment to training primary school teachers in Mozambique. A humble beginning of the first investment in EPF - Escolas de Professores do Futuro (Teacher Training College) Maputo in 1993 has grown to currently 11 Teacher Training Colleges operating across Mozambique. Over the years more than 24 000 graduated primary school teachers have gone to practice their teaching profession in mostly rural primary schools, impacting communities with quality education.
Below we share with you our full congratulatory message read at the occasion marking the key milestone held at ADPPP Mozambique’ EPF Nhamatanda, Sofala province of Mozambique:
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24 August 2023
To
ADPP Mozambique
To
All ADPP Teacher Training Colleges, Escolas de Professores do Futuro, including headmasters, teachers and lecturers and all the other staff
To
All past and present students at EPF in Mozambique
To
All the children who have been so lucky to have an EPF-trained teacher
This greeting comes to all of you from the Humana People to People Federation, from our International Headquarters in Zimbabwe with a big CONGRATULATIONS!
The common heart of the Humana People to People Movement beats for all of you.
It beats for education – education of our children in all the countries where Humana People to People works; education of passionate and able teachers who in their turn feel their own heartbeat resonate with the children they teach; education so that countries can flourish, because their people are trained for development.
Can you hear it? Can you hear, or feel the common heartbeat that binds us together?
We can.
ADPP Mozambique, we thank you for being in the forefront of our movement’s journey towards Quality Education for All.
You had the courage to start back in 1993 on the ambitious and hitherto not seen project of training teachers for the future, teachers for the rural areas where conditions are the toughest, teachers for children and youth to equip them for life; teachers for peace, not least.
You had the courage to promise the Government of Mozambique one teacher training college in each province, back in 1996.
And we thank you, Government of Mozambique, for having the courage to believe in ADPP!
Honestly, we were some who quietly thought to ourselves that this was a long shot. But you and the Government made it happen together, supported by the Humana People to People Movement and solid and long-term partners helping with funding.
Today ADPP has 11 beautiful colleges, all but one in their own buildings, surrounded by parks and gardens, with class rooms, dormitories, sports fields and all the facilities that go by such a training institution. Some, like the one you have the celebration in today, were taken over from previous activities and rehabilitated, while others were constructed from scratch. We appreciate and adore both.
You are now one among seven Humana People to People member associations, who engage in teacher training, in a combination of our common Humana People to People pedagogy and programmes, and those of the national Ministries of Education in each country. All together, we have trained more than 60,000 teachers since you started in 1993. Just look at what you started those 30 years ago!
All ADPP Teacher Training Colleges, Escolas de Professores do Futuro, including headmasters, teachers and lecturers and all the other staff – you are a unique bunch. Sorry for the expression, take it with all the respect and love it comes with. Each one of you, EPFs, have your own soul and heart, your own atmosphere, and the walls tell different stories of the years gone by. Stories of joy and tears, of sticking together to reach the goals, of teachers and students united, of teachers and students not so united, and then again of advancing together to make the best possible, best ever teachers out of the students. We know who you are, EPFs, each of you, and we congratulate you all.
All past and present students at the EPFs – it is all about you. You made a good choice to become teachers in the first place, for all teachers are important. You made a good choice of becoming students of EPF, of becoming a part of Humana People to People. And we know that many, the majority of you who graduated, made the good choice of actually working as teachers. The job is not always the most respected, not the best paid, but ask us, and we will say it is certainly among the most important. We also know that it is among the most rewarding –
Which brings us to
All the children who have been so lucky to have an EPF-trained teacher – it IS actually all about you. Your teachers are here for you. You are the reason for us to be here today. We say congratulations to you. Please take good care of your teachers, as they take good care of you. Together you make education a life-changing journey, as it must be for you to take the World in your hands, in the state that we leave it to you. We know you can do it.
Congratulations to all of you!
