The end of the armed conflict in Rhodesia, and the climate of peace that was expected for the region, allowed Mozambique to draw up a national development plan, aimed at eliminating poverty and reducing the imbalances inherited from the colonial past. This was the context for the design and introduction in 1983 of the National Education System (SNE). It was envisaged that the system would be closely linked to the approaches and perspectives on social and economic development laid down in the Prospective Indicative Plan (PPI). This set as its tar get "victory over under development" within a single decade.

The SNE advocated the gradual introduction of compulsory and universal education in the first seven grades for children of school age. The system also prioritised training in technical education so as to guarantee the supply of skilled labour needed by the various projects that formed part of the PPI. The programme allotted a fundamental role to literacy and adult education, as a pre-requisite for eradicating poverty, and improving living conditions for workers in both rural and urban areas, and in order to increase access to professional and technical training, thus laying the foundations of technical and scientific knowledge necessary for increased production and productivity.

The SNE attributed a fundamental role to upgrading teachers of basic education, and so established a training sub-system divided into two levels (basic and mid-level), and the higher education sub-system with the aim of training the staff necessary for leading and managing the various social and economic sectors, and for the promotion and development of scientific research (RPM, 1985).

However, due to external factors, and to factors within the education system itself, many of the innovations intended by the educational reform were not put into practice.