With national independence, a process of rapid and profound socio-economic, political and cultural changes began. One of the first effects of these transformations was the expansion of educational supply.

The sector under went a significant expansion of the school network, particularly in primary education, covering broad segments of the population who had previously been excluded. The nationalisation of schools, decreed immediately after independence, was intended to eliminate the various factors of social discrimination, and ensure the democratisation of access to school, with the purpose of consolidating national identity and unity.

Between 1975 and 1981 there was a significant increase in the number of pupils in primary education, which grew at an average annual rate of 15.6%, advancing from 600,000 pupils in 1975 to over 1.4 million in 1979. One notes that expansion of access went together with an increase in the percentage of girls in the system.

The number of girls in the system rose from 33% of the total in 1975, to almost 44% in 1981, as shown in graph 3.2. The expansion in access was also the product of a substantial increase in the number of schools.

At the same time, literacy campaigns for the adult population took place in residential areas and workplaces. They contributed to a fall in the illiteracy rate from 93% in 1975 to 72% in 1980, mainly in the urban areas, and in organized sectors of the rural areas.

However, it is pertinent to mention that the way in which nationalization took place led to a withdrawal from participation of some of the social actors who had been involved in education, notably religious bodies and private agents, leaving the state with the exclusive responsibility for educating Mozambicans.