ber of public schools providing lower primary education (EP1) increased from 8 007 in 2003 to 9 303 in 2007, while the number of those providing upper primary education (EP2) rose from 950 to 1 116 during the same period. This saw the enrolment of pupils in EP1 and EP2 increase from 2 826 362 and 351 224 in 2003, to 3 866 906 and 616 091 in 2007 respectively. Modest increases were also recorded in secondary education, with enrolment in junior and senior secondary schools rising from 141 802 and 18 291 in 2003, to 311 903 and 47 388 in 2007, respectively. At the same time, efforts are under way to expand other levels of education, including tertiary education, vocational training and adult literacy. lxxxii. A key area of concern, though, is the imbalance between enrolment in primary and secondary schools. This is a consequence of Mozambique’s pyramidical education structure, which is very sharp at the top. The latter has not kept pace with expansion in the former, particularly at the E1 level, which has registered considerable increases in enrolment. As a result, large numbers of ill-trained primary school leavers unable to access secondary level education are regularly thrown into the job market without any skills. Moreover, high enrolments at primary school level are not matched proportionally with the recruitment of additional teachers in order to maintain acceptable student-teacher ratios. Another challenge repeatedly brought to the attention of the CRM was the acute shortage of qualified teachers, especially in remote rural areas. lxxxiii. These challenges have placed constraints on government efforts to provide universal education, especially efforts to fight illiteracy. Despite some marginal progress made in increasing the literacy rate from 43.3 per cent in 2000 to 46.4 per cent in 2003, illiteracy is still very high in Mozambique and is a very serious impediment to the country’s development. Victims of illiteracy are unable to take full advantage of information and knowhow conveyed through various media; to better their lot in life; and to participate actively in the development of the country. Consequently, there is a need to review current policies and strategies in order to ascertain their effectiveness. lxxxiv. In the health sector, health service delivery has shown some improvement, particularly with regard to the development and distribution of health centres across the country and the required human resources training. During the last few years, more public health centres have been built and equipped. As a result, there has been a marked improvement in geographical coverage and access to healthcare services. The number of rural hospitals increased from 31 in 2003 to 41 in 2007, while that of health centres rose from 683 to 859 during the same period. lxxxv. lxxxv. Despite this progress, the national health system remains structurally very weak. The key challenge faced by the sector arises from the uneven provision of health services across the country. Large disparities exist between 17