The SNE was introduced during a troubled social and political period, marked by a serious economic crisis, and by the destruction of social and economic infrastructures and disintegration caused by the war.

Furthermore, it is pertinent to acknowledge that the limited capacity to direct and control effectively the system, together with the feeble institutional organisation of the schools were important constraints on the success of many of the innovations that it was intended to achieve. Also, experience and knowledge of the socio-cultural reality into which the educational programmes were inserted was at a very early stage, as was the capacity to plan, direct and manage the educational system and the schools.

For instance, contrary to what was proposed, it was not possible to generalize second level primary education (EP2), which should have completed the cycle of the seven grades of basic education. The major factor behind this failure was the way in which the curriculum structure at this level of education was designed. The structure required several teachers per class: right from the start this made implanting and implementing EP2 a non-starter, particularly in rural areas.

Although it formed part of primary education, the curriculum for EP2 was designed more as the first level of secondary education than the last level of primary education. It should have combined both, but with a greater stress on the primary. In addition, the basic education curriculum did not take into consideration the cultural logic and practices of the various communities. It also stressed transplanting values and visions characteristic of urban areas.

Furthermore, insufficient involvement of teachers in curriculum reform led to them resisting the introduction of new educational methodologies, particularly for teaching Portuguese and mathematics. It was soon noted that introducing the methodology of teaching Portuguese as a second language did not solve the problem of learning Portuguese, particularly among the children of peasant families. Thus the problem of education as a factor in reproducing social inequality was not solved.

The results from adult literacy classes in rural areas were increasingly disappointing, showing that the choice of Portuguese as the medium of education was not the most appropriate. A still greater problem was that the educational programmes were not relevant to the specific needs of the various communities, and thus discouraged adults from remaining in the learning process.

Teacher training, declared as strategic and fundamental for implementing the educational reform was also out of line with the content, methodologies and learning strategies advocated by the basic education curriculum.

Taking these limitations into account, one can understand why, although it was one of the main reasons behind the 1983 educational reform, the inefficiency of the system, expressed in high failure and repetition rates, remained largely unaltered, despite the introduction of new programmes and methodologies into education and the fact that the pupils now had textbooks.

Assessing the limitations of the impact of the 1983 educational reform is to recognise the pertinence of the critical positions and arguments which at the time advised against introducing a new educational system. These positions were based on findings on the ground which showed that the appropriate organisational and institutional conditions to guarantee a successful education reform did not yet exist. Here, as in other areas, the political will overrode the technical rationale.