The writer Mia Couto believes that the introduction of teaching in local languages can solve many education problems in the country. However, he warns that this issue should be treated with its true complexity.

Mia Couto, who on Wednesday talked about literature, creative writing, and ways of telling stories at the Fernando Leite Couto Foundation in Maputo, said it is essential that the issue of national languages starts being solved at school, but in a way that contributes to the unity of the country.

"Let there be no conflicts between people who suddenly claim that their variant is the right one and should be imposed at school," he explained, defending that the unity of Mozambicans is one of the noblest values of the country and has the same importance as languages.

"This is not antagonistic, but if it is mistreated or treated lightly we will introduce conflicts that are not necessary in this country," said Mia Couto quoted by the newspaper Notícias.

The author of "Terra Sonâmbula" and "Vozes Anoitecidas" added that this is a very delicate matter as it involves large financial means, teacher training, and work in the languages themselves to select the variants.

Its complexity, he continued, also lies in the fact that the country is not only characterized by linguistic multiplicity, but by the exodus from the countryside to the city and vice versa.

"In a school in a Mozambican city, what languages are we going to teach there? Today in Maputo we have people from Nampula, Zambezia, Tete, and other parts of the country. All of this is possible if there is political will, obviously", he commented.