Press Release

Education sector in Angola receives boost with US$9 million loan from OPEC Fund

14/2006 March 21, Vienna, Austria
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The OPEC Fund for International Development today signed a US$9 million loan agreement with the Republic of Angola to construct secondary schools in two impoverished provinces. This scheme supports government’s strategy to boost the education sector as a means for reducing poverty and stimulating economic development.

Government has been striving to boost Angola’s ailing education sector after experiencing years of civil unrest. Infrastructure is dilapidated, resulting in overcrowded classrooms, and teaching time is often too short as many schools have resorted to triple-shifting to accommodate rising enrolments. Two of the most seriously affected provinces are Uige in the northeast and Kwanza Sul in the south, where more than one-half of the two million-strong population is under the age of 15 years. A scarcity, or in some cases, a total absence of secondary schools has left many students without the opportunity to continue their education, giving them little chance of obtaining good jobs.

The project will construct five fully-equipped and furnished 1,640 m² lower secondary schools. Each will contain 12 classrooms, laboratories, a library and offices, and be supplied with textbooks and other pedagogic materials. Learning will be enhanced as a direct result of capacity-building activities, which will include in-service training for teachers as well as administrative and maintenance staff. In addition, technical assistance will be provided for preparing HIV/AIDS training activities and awareness campaigns. At least 4,800 students are expected to benefit from the scheme.

Previously, the Fund has approved six loans to Angola for projects in the agriculture, education, health and transportation sectors. In addition, grants have supported polio eradication efforts, teacher training and social infrastructure development.

Today’s agreement was signed in Vienna by HE Mr. Fidelino Loy de Jesus Figueiredo, Ambassador of the Republic of Angola to Austria, and by HE Mr. Jamal Nasser Lootah, Chairman of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund.