The work analyzes the grounding of the concept of polytechnicalism in Mozambican education, according to the political project proposed by the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), which defended the establishment of a socialist nation in that country. Defined in the official documents as a translation of the pedagogical principle of the connection between theory and practice, between school and work, polytechnicalism should permeate the whole process of schooling, and aimed at giving students the basis to understand reality, assimilating scientific knowledge, and transforming nature and society. In terms of methodology, the work comprised a theoretical survey of the literature on the emergence of the concept of polytechnicalism, and the understanding of this concept in Marx and Lenin, as well as in the Russian workers movement. Official documents, articles, books, and the results of related research on the Mozambican "socialist" education were also investigated. In its empirical part, the study included interviews with intellectuals that were involved with Mozambican education during the period in question (1983-1992) in the city of Maputo; these interviews were conducted between January and March 2005. From the analysis of the data collected and interviews carried out, the study allowed the conclusion that, firstly, there is a difference between the grounding of the conception of polytechnic education as it appears in the Mozambican pedagogical proposal, and those of Marx or Lenin. Secondly, that the understanding of the concept of polytechnicalism in Mozambique was limited, and that the socialist discourse that attended Mozambican education was contradictory.
Mozambique; Frelimo; Modern nation-state; National Education System; Concept of Polytechnic education