Mozambique’s Bilingual Education: A Regressive Shift in Policy
Lecture by Sarita Monjane Henriksen,
Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence,
Rutgers University, Newark
March 04, 2026, 2-3:20pm, Frelinghuysen Hall B6
Talk abstract:
Mozambique is characterised by societal multilingualism and high levels of linguistic diversity, while bilingualism is primarily experienced at the individual level through the use of Mozambican Bantu languages alongside Portuguese. Despite this reality, official Portuguese monolingualism has historically been promoted, particularly in education. In the post-independence period, Portuguese was established as the sole medium of instruction, reflecting an assimilationist ideology aimed at fostering national unity, yet simultaneously marginalising and silencing linguistic diversity. The later introduction of mother tongue-based bilingual education represented a significant political and pedagogical achievement, acknowledging the role of Mozambican Bantu languages in learning, inclusion, and epistemic justice, despite persistent challenges related to implementation, resources, and teacher training. However, a recent ministerial Instruction (December 2025) concerning the organisation of bilingual education signals a regressive turn. Rather than consolidating earlier gains, the decision reframes bilingual education in ways that weaken its transformative potential and risk reinstating monolingual norms under the guise of reform. This talk critically examines the Ministerial Instruction as a policy retreat, situating it within broader debates on language, power, and educational equity in multilingual Mozambique.
Speaker bio:
Sarita Monjane Henriksen is a Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, for the academic year 2025–2026. She holds a Postdoctoral qualification in Linguistic Human Rights in Education from the University of Salamanca, Spain; a PhD in Language Education Planning and Policy from Roskilde University, Denmark; an MA in Linguistics in Education from the University of Surrey - St Mary’s University College, United Kingdom; and a BA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Universidade Pedagógica (UP-Maputo), Mozambique. She is currently an Associate Professor in Language Education. She teaches a wide range of subjects, including Sociolinguistics, Language and Cultural Diversity, Language, Culture and Power, Translation Studies, and Introduction to Consecutive Interpreting. Dr Henriksen serves as Director of Cooperation and International Relations at UP-Maputo. Her international academic experience includes appointments as a DAAD Visiting Professor at Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany (2022–2023); Guest Professor at ISCTE-IUL, Portugal (2021–2023); and at the Universidade Federal do Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil, and the University of Southern Denmark. She previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Language Sciences, Communication and Arts at UP-Maputo (2012–2017). Her recent publications include "Mozambican Languages in the Public Sphere: An Opportunity to Be Seized" (AVM Verlag, 2026); "English in Mozambique" in The WileyBlackwell Encyclopaedia of World Englishes (2025); and Language Education in Mozambique: Subsidies for a Language Policy Oriented Towards Global Citizenship" (Gala-Gala Editoress, 2023).
Co-hosted by the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Literatures and Languages; Center for African Studies; and Rutgers Global
Global Africa and the Humanities Lecture and Film Series, an initiative of the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures
Co-conveners: Ousseina Alidou and Thato Magano