Thirty - nine percent of the Mozambican population still cannot read or write, let alone count. The situation worsened with the pandemic of COVID-19 and, to reverse the problem, the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) proposes that the Government bet on digital literacy.

The International Day of Literacy is celebrated on 8 September, a date that recalls that 39 out of 100 people cannot read or write, let alone count in any language. Since the context of COVID-19 imposes a new dynamic, the Government, represented by the Ministry of Education and Human Development, in partnership with UNESCO and other civil society organizations, studies ways to introduce the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into this teaching subsystem.

" We know that other systems still face difficulties in improving new technologies, but we cannot stand idly by," explained Gina Guibunda, spokesperson for the MINEDH, and then said that "we have finally realized that Information and Communication Technologies are the future and it is time for us as an education sector to reflect deeply on how we can embrace this challenge and turn it into an opportunity, so that all Mozambicans can have the domain of all the platforms to which we refer".

For the Education for All Movement (MET), one of the partners of the MINEDH, the reduction of illiteracy is still a challenge that goes through greater investment in this teaching subsystem and betting on digital platforms is an alternative, but it must be borne in mind that "we still have many people who do not have access to energy, television and radio to follow the lessons. More than that, it would be necessary to create a possibility of monitoring the participants," said Abel Sainda, representative of MET.

Even with these constraints, Abel Sainda says the creation of digital teaching platforms for literacy is urgent and this would help minimize the negative impacts caused by the pandemic. "Just to get an idea, in this period of COVID-19, many literacy centers remain closed because many work in churches and these are closed within the scope of prevention measures."

For Vice Minister of Education and Human Development, Manuel Bazo, the transition to digital literacy requires the preparation of all participants in this process. "We must now reflect on the strategy and methods for the exploitation of digital literacy in order to accelerate literacy in the current context."

Today, the country has 206 thousand literacy students and the government plans, by 2029, to literacy 500,000 young people annually, prioritizing the provinces with illiteracy rates that are above average, such as Cabo Delgado, Niassa, Nampula and Zambezia.