This article aims to reflect on the otherness in Portuguese language teacher training, developing a critical reading about stigma and preconception resulting from the attitudes of Portuguese language learners and speakers of different Bantu mother tongues in Mozambican schools context and analyses the consequences of stigma and preconceptions about the language of the “Other” in Portuguese language teaching. The literature review and document analysis are the methods used for the presentation of this reflection and, as for the results, it is expected to promote a Portuguese language teacher training for the purpose of respect to otherness, ethical and moral values and minimize discrimination and stigmatization in all school environments for the native language marginalization reversal and contribute to the maintenance of Mozambican minority languages and value the national linguistic varieties and identities. Consequently, to reconfigure a linguistic and educational policy oriented to peace and humanization.

ALTERIDADE E A FORMAÇÃO DE PROFESSORES EM NOVOS PARADIGMAS DE ENSINO DE LÍNGUAS

Este artigo objetiva refletir sobre a alteridade na formação de professores de português, desenvolvendo uma leitura crítica sobre estigmas e preconceitos decorrentes de atitudes de falantes de diferentes línguas maternas bantu, aprendentes de português, em contato no contexto escolar moçambicano. Nesse mesmo contexto de aprendizagem, propõe-se analisar as consequências de estigmas e de preconceitos sobre a língua do “Outro”. A revisão bibliográfica e documental são os métodos privilegiados para a apresentação desta reflexão e, quanto aos resultados, espera-se promover uma formação de professores de português com visão de respeito da alteridade, dos valores éticos e morais e minimizar a estigmatização em todos os ambientes escolares para a reversão da marginalização das línguas nativas e contribuir para a manutenção das línguas minorizadas moçambicanas, bem como valorizar as variedades e as identidades linguísticas nacionais. Consequentemente, intenta-se reconfigurar uma política linguístico-educativa orientada para a paz e para a humanização.

Palavras-chave: Alteridade. Preconceito. Diversidade. Humanização. Línguas.

L’ALTÉRITÉ ET LA FORMATION DES ENSEIGNANTS DANS LES NOUVEAUX PARADIGMES D'ENSEIGNEMENT DES LANGUES

Cet article a pour objectif une réfléxion sur l'altérité dans la formation des enseignants de portugais en proposant une lecture critique sur les stigmates et les préjugés suscités par les attitudes des locuteurs-apprenants de portugais envers les différentes langues bantoues que apprendre portugais en contact dans le contexte scolaire mozambicain, et d'analyser les conséquences de ces stigmates et de ces préjugés sur la langue de l’Autre dans l’enseignement du portugais, dans le respect des valeurs de citoyenneté contenues dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme. La révue de littérature et l’analyse documentaire sont les méthodes privilégiées dans cette réflexion. En termes de résultats, on espeère que cette étude puisse promouvoir une formation des enseignants de portugais respectueux de l’altérité, des valeurs éthiques et morales, combattre la discrimination et la stigmatisation dans tous les contextes scolaires, inverser la tendance de marginalisation des langues autochtones et contribuer au maintien des langues minoritaires du Mozambique en valorisant les identités et les variétés linguistiques nationales. Par conséquent, œuvrer en faveur d’une politique linguistico-éducative orientée vers la paix et l'humanisation.

The panorama of Mozambican schools is distinguished by two remarkable historical periods: the colonial and the post-colonial. The repertoire of prejudiced and stigmatized attitudes is distinguished in these two periods, especially in the colonial period, in which distinctiveness was neither respected nor considered in the language teacher training processes. Today, we can still see the continuity of these negative elements but ostensibly better disguised in the statements of some members of Mozambican society involved in the language teachers training.

In this article, we aim to analyze the otherness and the barriers of the different types of stigmas and prejudices of speakers especially of the Portuguese language in the training of Portuguese teachers and to reflect on the consequences of stigmas and biases about the “Other” in the context of linguistic plurality and the right to language education.

there is no a very peaceful coexistence among Mozambican languages of Bantu origin, Portuguese, [...] [language for instruction] and foreign languages, such as English and French. In addition, there are also Asian and Islamic languages.

We also point out that “Portuguese has primacy over the twenty-five national languages of Bantu origin, which are the mother tongues of most children and young people at school, even in urban areas” (LEMOS, 2018, p. 25).

In terms of the panorama of sociolinguistic diversity, there is a need to explain the word “bantu”.

The word Bantu means people or populates. Initially, it was used to refer to the languages of Sub-Saharan Africa that exhibit a common prefix agreement system. Currently, the term Bantu is used to refer to about 600 different languages spoken by roughly 220 million people in a vast region of contemporary Africa, which extends from south of Cameroon mountains strip, along the Atlantic coast, to the mouth of the Tana River in Kenya, covering the following countries: South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya, Democratic Republic from Congo, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (PATEL, MAJUISSE; TEMBE, 2018, p. 27).

In Mozambique, in relation to Bantu languages, it is important to understand that “there are about twenty-four Mozambican languages in the country, also known as local languages or Bantu languages. Nineteen of these languages have standardized spelling and are currently being used in bilingual education” (PATEL, MAJUISSE; TEMBE, 2018, p. 27).

Regarding the distribution of Bantu languages in Mozambique, they extend in the following way: Kimwani and Shimakonde languages are located in Cabo Delgado Province; Ciyaawo is spoken in Niassa and Cabo Delgado provinces; Emakhuwa (with the largest number of speakers) is in Nampula, Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Zambézia provinces; Ekoti is spoken in Nampula province; Elomwe is spoken in Zambézia province; Echuwabu is found in Zambézia and Sofala provinces; Cinyanja is found in Niassa, Zambézia and Tete provinces; Cinyungwe is spoken in Tete province; Cisena is spoken in Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambézia provinces; Cibalke, Cimanyika and Ciwute are spoken in Manica province; Cindau is found in Sofala, Manica and Inhambane provinces; Gitonga in Inhambane province; Citshwa is spoken in Inhambane, Gaza, Manica and Sofala provinces; Cicopi is found in Inhambane and Gaza provinces; Xichangana is spoken in Maputo, Gaza, Manica and Sofala provinces; and Xirhonga is spoken in Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane provinces. It is also important to mention that these Mozambican languages are the ones that present standardized spelling and are used in bilingual education (PATEL, MAJUISSE; TEMBE, 2018).

In terms of methodology used, we opted for bibliographic and documentary review. Thus, we highlight the use of the following corpus of analysis: study by Raposo (2018) which aims to reflect on the effectiveness of the curricular policies developed in the teaching-learning process focused on the impact on the quality of teacher education. We also had the study by Agibo and Chicote (2018) which presents an analysis of teacher training models in Mozambique. We will also analyze Quimuenhe's research (2018), which presents a provisional summary of the history of Education in Mozambique.

As for the basic corpus documents, we scrutinized the Law 18/2018 on the new National Education System in force which results from the revision of the Law 6/1992 that substantially changed the first education law of the People's Republic of Mozambique (Law 4 / 1983). We also resort to the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (2018), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (UNESCO, 1996). Thus, in addition to these legislative documents, the study uses the Bilingual Education Expansion Strategies 2020-2029 of the Ministry of Education and Human Development of Mozambique as analytical support.
Actually, the Law no. 18/2018 of the National Education System (SNE) in force in Mozambique provides, in its article 3, regarding the General Principles, point e):

Organization and promotion of education, as an integral part of educational action, under the terms defined in the Constitution of the Republic, aiming at sustainable development, fully preparing Man to actively intervene in political, economic and social life, in accordance with accepted moral and ethical standards in society, respecting human rights, democratic principles, cultivating the spirit of tolerance, solidarity and respect for others and differences (MOÇAMBIQUE, 2018a, p.3748- (19)).

The previous law (Law 4/1983), which states that Law 6/1992 did not predict, in relation to its principles, the valorization of human preparation and respect for human rights, nor did it refer to the spirit of tolerance, solidarity and respect for others and their differences.

In this standpoin, there is an innovation in the Mozambican education the law in the implicit appreciation of the alterity. The other innovation to be highlighted in the Law 18/2018 is related to article 4, Pedagogical Principles, point e: “the individual's knowledge endowment that allows him to learn to be, to learn to live together and with others”. (MOÇAMBIQUE, 2018a), p.3748- (20)).

The study on the alterity (otherness) helps “to reflect on the importance of otherness and leads us, through education and ethics, to a more human life in the contemporary world” (COSTA; CAETANO, 2014, p. 195). These authors take as a reference the philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas who explains the value of the alterity. For him, “alterity, in contemporary times, makes a contributing factor to the search for a more humane way of living in society, where each one must have responsibility for others” (Ibidem).

More than seeking to understand Alterity, Lévinas takes a different path, in which he addresses new proposals on how to live ethics in coexistence with others and thus reach Alterity, which allows him to envision in his thinking ways to think about education and a more human formation. This new contemporary thought comes to challenge everyone regarding the flaws in the relationship with others and leads to the search for a harmonious integration with the other that reveals itself in everyday life (COSTA; CAETANO, 2014, p.196-197).

Therefore, we find the basics for the present reflection. In fact, it is our concern, based on our reality, to reflect on the relationship with the Other in the training of Portuguese-speaking teachers in Mozambique. And, in order to find positive meanings in school life, we will take into account the challenge for teachers: “trying to awaken in man the sensitivity for his fellow men, which is expressed in the Face of each person”. It is from the “Face that we learn to be more human, where we find true Alterity, in welcoming the Other” (Ibidem).

Firstly, it is important to grasp that the teacher training process in Mozambique, in general, is based on Law 18/2018 of the National Education System (SNE). Thus, in relation to the structure of the SNE, Article 9 presents six (6) subsystems, of which one is the Education and Training of Teachers, and Article 16 indicates its characteristics and objectives. It is important to mention that it is this subsystem that regulates the teacher training for all subsystems in Mozambique. However, Article 28 of the Law 6/1992, the previous one, framed the teachers` training in the set of special modalities of school education, which included special education, vocational education, adult education and distance learning.

In this new decolonized context, blacks become the “subject of History” ¹and their education. With regard to issues associated with attitudes of stigmatization and discrimination, they are hardly discussed at the level of school interrelationships and teacher training. This scenario seems to provide evidence that everything is going well. We have noticed that, from the causes of the annual results on school failure, weak competences and weaknesses in reading and writing skills, attendance, precariousness and reduced contact with the school are pointed out as weaknesses. In addition to these, the teachers 'poor preparation is also pointed out, without asking about stigmas, prejudices and discrimination as something that contributes to students' demotivation, frustration, discomfort and failure towards others.

Thus, the word “stigma” can be used to “designate an attribute that differentiates and casts deep discredit, hindering the relationships between the stigmatized individual and normal individuals” (MARÔPO, 2014, p. 109).

For Remotti (1996, apud Malizia, 2014, p. 240), the “ego identifies itself through alter”, that is, ‘I exist and I identify with the Other’. In an attempt to better explain these interpersonal relationships, Malizia (2014) states that “in many cultures, there is almost an automatism between self-affirmation - depreciation of the Other”.

Concerning the biases, Malizia (2014, p. 253) distinguishes them in racial, social, ethnic, cultural and racial-cultural. Thus, for the first case, she describes that “it is based on the 'undemonstrable' demonstration of a biological reality of 'race' which, due to its intrinsic characteristics, very 'simply' divides the world into two races (the 'superior race' and the 'lower races')”.

The social bias, the second, "attributes to hegemonic socio-economic-cultural strata the possibility / capacity to evaluate and manage the rest of society as 'unskilled’”.

With ethnic bias, it is affirmed that the cultural "object" is certainly not recent, which unfortunately comes back to justify massacres and wars again, thanks also to its strong "sodalice" with political localisms. This type of bias takes "community" as opposed to "society", based on a concept, in the same ethnicity.

Cultural bias considers a culture to be “true, the son of ethnocentrism, according to which culture itself is the 'best' (if not the 'only' one)” and hence it is lawful to call “The Other” as “barbaric”, “wild" etc.

And racial-cultural bias, on the other hand, “feeds, on the contrary, through extreme cultural relativism”. In this list, we can add ethnic-linguistic bias, which associates ethnic aspects and their languages and is guided by over estimating these aspects of the I / We and devaluing the ethnic and linguistic elements of the Other at all costs, making it inferior. This type of bias, because it involves the ethnic-racial aspect, almost always generates feelings of hate and conflict. It has not been difficult to perceive biased attitudes disguised in sentences accompanied by a joke tone (enjoyment), as in Mozambique, to marginalize a second language learner.

In this sense, Portuguese teachers in training need to understand that stigmas allow the emergence of inequalities and social exclusion. For this reason, our teacher training needs to better debate this subject so that the values of otherness are respected by future teachers, especially those in the Portuguese language.

Reflecting on the otherness and human rights in Portuguese language, teacher training demands us to understand ethical and moral aspects beyond contextualized public policies.

Today, almost all teachers remain silent in the face of attitudes of stigmatization, bias and discrimination practiced in the school environment and, mainly, in multicultural and multilingual classrooms. So, how has the teaching and training of Portuguese-speaking teachers been?

In the colonial era, education politics was explicitly for stratified training. There was a teaching aimed at: the white elites (Portuguese whites), the assimilated ones (coloured ones and acculturated blacks) and the indigenous people (deprived blacks). The question of social classes was decisive in relations with the other, highly committed to the super-elevation of the white and rich man and downgrading of the non-white and poor. We emphasize that, in this colonial system, it was never of interest to reach high levels of quality of education for the poor and blacks, especially, which resulted in an evident violation of human rights.

It is also important to remember that the new Mozambican government, after independence, took as its main reason the exclusion of the people to alter the National Education System, as the Portuguese colonial regime was less embracing and did not give great opportunities for access / entry to education for native (black) and other non-valued communities (AGIBO; CHICOTE, 2018).

As for teacher training during colonization, the colonial regime was guided by preparing teachers for better exploitation of cheap labor, in which the valorization of the other counted little and cultivated the alienation of the natives, through the assimilation process considered “civilizing”. In other words, “in reality, it was not intended to create literate elites among African peoples, but to make them“ instruments ”at the service of Portugal” (QUIMUENHE, 2018, p. 5-6).

It should be noted that colonial education was oppressive and selective towards natives and other non-white ethnicities. The issue of humanization in the training of indigenous teachers was quite absent and without expression, showing that alterity was never valued. As an illustration of this fact, the colonial system had two educational subsystems: the official system, intended for the children of the colonists and assimilated people, and the indigenous system for the natives. This aimed to take the native of the wildlife for the civilized life of the people considered as cultured and civilized. In 1930, the Catholic Church began to manage this subsystem through Legislative Diploma No. 238 of May 17. Against this background, the first subsystem aimed to provide fundamental instruments of all knowledge and the foundations of a general culture and to prepare children for social life (QUIMUENHE, 2018).

Niquice (2006, p. 25), citing the Ministry of Overseas (1930), clarifies that the first teacher training school appears in 1930 - The School of Qualification of Indigenous Teachers of Alvor. However, despite being under the management of the Catholic Church, this school served the political interests of the colonial regime, through the project of assimilating and civilizing the indigenous people. In 1962, the Primary Teaching Schools were created in Lourenço Marquês (former name of the current capital of Mozambique. In 1966, the Portuguese established the first teachers` training center in Beira aimed at teaching their children. In 1965, schools for the Post Office Teachers were created under the responsibility of Catholic missions, which trained indigenous teachers with colonial standards (NIQUICE, 2006, p. 25).

After the country's independence, Mozambique went through several models of teacher training. In 1975, it inherited an educational system with a number of schools limited to urban centers, restricted to the vicinity of the Catholic Church, throughout the territory. It also bequeathed a school system with insufficient number of teachers to respond to the demand of the new social, political and economic context in the socialist model.

Thus, between 1975 and 1981, the new government of the People's Republic of Mozambique carried out many actions and efforts to mobilize the people for the construction of new schools and massification of Mozambicans' literacy and schooling. During this period, teaching materials with a colonial content were removed and those associated with socialist ideology were introduced, mainly altering the contents of History and Geography (INTANQUÊ; SUBUHANA, 2018).

It should be noted that the country was independent of colonialism and deprived of qualified Portuguese technical staff. In addition, most of the assimilated trained and with considerable experience in several areas left the country. Thus, it is relevant to remember that the Mozambican appeal for voluntarism was the strategy used to literate most citizens without access to education in the colonial regime. Hence those who had a minimum level of education taught those who could not read or write.

In 1981, in the education area, the first initiatives taken for planning at the national level occurred; this was due to the approval of the general principles and objectives of the national education system. The norms of education policy focused on the democratization of education and its articulation with national development policies [...] where some objectives were established.

Of these general objectives, we can highlight that of “training professionally aware teachers and educators, people through socialist concepts” (INTANQUÊ; SUBUHANA, 2018, p. 5). In this first NES (National Education System), teachers` training course took one of the very first important steps in the country for the formal implementation of education policy with respect to universal human rights. However, it is still a long way from respect for otherness, since the issue of native languages continued to not receive the necessary attention or official recognition of the role of Mozambican languages. Teacher training was only done in Portuguese. It should be noted that “the NES (National Education System) prohibited discrimination and demanded the guarantee of access to trainings regardless of skin color, sex, religion or race, it also demanded the existence of equal opportunity for the entire population of Mozambique” (INTANQUÊ; SUBUHANA , 2018, p. 6).

Mugime, Mapezuane Mahalambe, Cossa and Leite (2019, p. 4) refer that the “sustainable development objectives (Agenda 2030) on quality, inclusive and equitable education, greatly influenced the teacher training policy in Mozambique”.

Also according to the source above, the period between 1977-1991, it was the consolidation phase of the teachers` training for the Primary and Secondary Education of the National Education System. For the training of Secondary Education teachers, the following institutions were opened: the Faculty of Education, at Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo city (current capital of Mozambique), in 1977; the Education Staff Training Center to prepare instructors for Primary Teacher Training Centers (CFPP) and education technicians; the Teacher Education and Training Schools (EFEPs); the Medium Pedagogical Institutes (IMPs) to train Primary school teachers (EP2) to replace EFEPs; the Institute for Pedagogical Improvement (IAP) whose objective was to train in-service primary school teachers whose Career level was N5, in order to obtain N4 and the Higher Pedagogical Institute (ISP), founded in 1985.

The Higher Pedagogical Institute was created as “an institution dedicated to the training of teachers for all levels of the National Education System (NES) and of education staff”² started to be designated as Pedagogical University in 1995.

In historical terms, it is essential to present some data that help to understand the Mozambican political reality. Thus, it is relevant to remember that, in 1990, the new multiparty political scenario was introduced and the new Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique based on multiparty system was introduced as well. In 1992, the Law No. 6/1992 of the NES (National Education System) was ratified. In 1994, the Ministry of Education presented a master plan for technical and general education, in which some priorities are established, including the insertion of local languages or mother tongues in school materials. This aspect deserves its positive highlight, since the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (1996) advocates, in Article 3, as inalienable rights to be exercised, in all situations, “the right to be recognized as a member of a community linguistics; the right to use the language in private and in public ”(UNESCO, 1996).

The aforementioned Declaration also considers that the collective rights of linguistic groups may include, "according to the specifications of point 2 of article 2: the right to teach their own language and culture" (Ibidem).

The issue of teachers` training is mentioned both in policies, in general, and in educational policies, in particular. The Constitution of the Republic in 1990 and that of 2004, in Article 88, enshrine the right to education, underlining that education is a right and a duty for every citizen. The conception that education is a right for all comes, (...), reflected in other public policies such as the Government's five-year Program (2005-2009), PARPA (Program for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty), the Law no. 6/92 of the National Education System in its general principles (NES) and the 1995 National Policy on Education (PNE) (MUGIME, MAPEZUANE MAHALAMBE, COSSA e LEITE, 2019, p. 6).

According to Mugime, Mapezuane Mahalambe, Cossa e Leite (2019), Mozambique's public policies for education point to the need for teacher training so that its objectives are fully achieved. This is to say that the objectives pursued in education, expansion, access, quality and inclusion depend on teachers` training, in order to integrate all levels, from initial to continuing training.

Based on documents related to the Law 6/92 of the National Education System, the Strategic Plan for Education and Culture 2006-2011, the Strategic Plan for Education 2012-2016, the Strategy for the Teachers’ straining 2004-2011, the Curricular Training Plan of Teachers 2011, to the Curricular Plan of the Primary Teacher Training Centers 7th grade version + 2 + 1 years (2012), to the Curricular Plan of the Primary Teaching Institute (1998), the authors Mugime, Mapezuane Mahalambe, Cossa and Leite state that:

The concepts of teacher training focus between training based on the development of skills, training that confers the professional development of teachers, training centered on the individual, integrated, reflective and critical training and oriented towards teaching professionalism, and transversality on teacher training (MUGIME, MAPEZUANE MAHALAMBE, COSSA; LEITE, 2019, p. 6-7).

Observing these conceptions, we can easily see that the question of otherness up to this point has not yet received the due treatment by educational policies in Mozambique.

Returning to the issue of bias and stigma, we can say that, currently, there is a strong denial of prejudiced attitudes on the part of society and the State through the current Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique. Today, it is also interesting to raise the following question: who are the main targets of bias and stigmatization? It is true that it is the blacks, the poor, the “indigenous”, the disabled (physical and mental), the “albinos”, the addicts, the (ex-) prisoners, the homosexuals, the illiterate, the minorized native language speakers, the unemployed and others.

As far as we see, the list is so long that it makes us think that we live in communion with each other, but, in fact, many of us still live in a society of appearances where moral and ethical values fall short. In this case, it is necessary to unlearn the current school experiences and their practices. In fact, stigmatization through social class, race, languages, cultures, disabilities, ethnic origin, professions, political belonging, religions, schooling, illiteracy, sexuality and precariousness are sources to stigmatize the other in society and in teacher training.

The colonial education system imposed barriers to limit school enrollment to non-white people and poor whites. Over many years, contemporary societies have struggled around education closer to citizens without restricting access to any social class. Thus, demarcating the departure from the traditional educational paradigm, much criticized in recent decades, for its authoritarian and selective character. Such a change is not free from criticism if we observe some attitudes and behaviors of educators, teachers, and specialists in the pedagogical action itself. Thinking and acting in favor of the humanization of the school environment and its practices in relation to Portuguese language teaching is a requirement for the appreciation of the other through new training paradigms and the adoption of curricular plans in compliance with to human contexts and needs.

In Contemporaneity, schooling tries to break the decontextualized political barriers to humanize education and teacher training:

New themes and interests come to constitute contemporary schooling policies. (...) With regard to ways of life and procedures in a democratic society, one of the exemplary themes of these references for sociocultural change (...) is the issue of human rights (SILVA; SILVA, 2013, p.487).

The paradigm shift has been a conflicting dichotomous relationship between the new / old, form / content, techniques / methods, theory / practice, known / unknown, subject / object, me / Other, normal / abnormal, right / wrong, acceptable / unacceptable, colloquial / standard, etc. However, the resistance is often accompanied by stigmas and biases in this dichotomy. The recognition of the new has not been received passively. However, Portuguese teachers in training must be made aware that paradigmatic principles and foundations are reinvented and not immutable.

Nowadays, our Portuguese language teachers` training requires a focus on otherness and, mainly, for the humanization of teacher training in a perspective of respect towards otherness and the language of others.

In the training of Portuguese teachers, the study of the standard norm of the official language promotes, in a multilingual context, the stigmatization of the other who has a mother tongue different from the target language of teaching. Hence, bilingualism situations are less focused in urban areas (plurilingual) and more in remote rural areas (monolingual). In the first case, people interact in family and with friends in their native Bantu language and, in many cases and situations, in a second language (Portuguese) used in broader contexts of interaction (community, school, institutions, etc.). In the second case, that is, rural, the language used by families in these locations is of Bantu origin and is also the language used in the community. Many of these rural families do not yet have a school network nearby (they are isolated communities) presenting a total lack of knowledge of Portuguese as the official language. Due to these different realities, it is common to observe, in the school and teacher training context, the use of biased expressions, such as the table illustrates:

In the first expression, the term “whites” is sometimes used to stigmatize students who are truly white, but who have acculturated qualities and attitudes, for example, if they come from the urban environment of families with high status. In the second case, the bias unveils inferiorization of Emakhuwa language, although being an ethnicity of the majority of the North and of the country. In the third, the expression “whites of the burgh” unveils a racial connotation, associated with a less important being compared to a saloio³, who was born and lives in the suburban environment. In the fourth, denial marks a person's discriminatory and contemptuous value, associated with the Emakhuwa culture and ethnicity. In the fifth, “it's the food of Makonde”, the gastronomy of the Makonde linguistic community is devalued, where snails are eaten in particular. In the sixth, the term “dialect” has a pejorative value, since native languages are not recognized as legitimate. The seventh is related to the bias described in 2 and 4, while the eighth, with “not ours”, refers to a strong pejorative connotation associated with a very contested and discredited opposition party.

The above examples illustrate the relationship between prejudice and otherness. Often, they arise to discriminate or humiliate each other. However, depending on the tone used by the interlocutors, the severity of the expression may or may not offend the recipient.

There is no doubt that the Mozambican nation consolidates itself in maintaining the existential and functional hegemony of the Portuguese language as the only one with a matrix capable of achieving linguistic unification, promoting all the education and training of its citizens in the face of a rich linguistic diversity. However, linguistic citizenship is not only seen from the perspective of the Portuguese language, in fact, the internal existence of several communities of speakers of national Bantu languages. In fact, it is already an explicit recognition by the Mozambican State of its multilingual character. Hence, the Constitution, in article 9 (National Languages), establishes: “The State values national languages as a cultural and educational heritage and promotes their development and increasing use as vehicle of our identity” (MOÇAMBIQUE, 2018b), p. 788 (9)). In article 10, the official language is pointed out in the following terms: “In the Republic of Mozambique, Portuguese is the official language” (Ibidem).

So, internationally, the State's linguistic policy assumes the privileged role of the Portuguese language. This fact leaves no doubt and unveils that there is a monolingual policy abroad given the limited scope and representativeness of the native languages spoken within the country and unknown outside the national territory.

Everyone has the capacity to enjoy the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, whether of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth, or any other condition⁴.

With regard to stigma, Monteiro and Villela (2013) affirm that it is a negative or derogatory attribute, which makes the subject different, diminished or has a disadvantage. It is in this negativity that we need to focus our reflective reading in the face of the absence of otherness in a whole complex of values necessary for the training of Portuguese language teachers. So, we ask: what makes a language student feel diminished in relation to the “Other” in the same classroom context? Does this other or these others realize and are aware that their attitudes negatively affect the motivational state of our neighbor? In fact, the classroom is a complex of predictable psychosocial relationships, but often unpredictable as a result or consequence of the interaction between teacher-student, student-students, student-teachers, trainee-trainers that can trigger conflicts, empathies, sympathies and frustrations.

Stigmatization can result in resignation, frustration, demotivation, anguish, learners` fear to Portuguese learning. These tense relationships between students and teachers can fuel feelings of fragility in those who suffer marginalization, since the “humiliation of contempt and prejudice, for not learning at school, is introjected as the ideal of the self” (PADILHA, 2016, p. 451).

Our current school context is marked by a small number of white children and teachers in public schools. This aspect makes the issues of racial discrimination not explicitly present in the normal order in relation to the stigmatization of whites by blacks. However, there are still certain doses disguised as ethnic discrimination among blacks.

With the existence of a private education system, white and Asian minorities live in this elite education in which the black race is less prominent and sometimes stigmatized if they do not belong to a family with power (political or economic).

Some blatant school daily routines of prejudiced and discriminatory attitudes towards non-blacks cannot be generalized, because, although they exist, and this fact is undeniable, they are not recurrent enough to constitute a rule.

First of all, “the term minorized denotes an imposed and not intrinsic condition; and it does not even make inaccurate demographic projections about certain realities”⁵ (MELLO, 2011).

Nevertheless, there is a need for Mozambican entities to consciously and responsibly assume the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article I, which outlines human rights considered as basic: “All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are gifted with reason and conscience and must act towards each other with a spirit of brotherhood” (UN, 2009, p. 4).

The existence of languages in the same territorial space is a reality, since relations between languages / speakers, customs / habits etc. develop. This condition promotes, in a way, the development of bilingualism in Mozambican language communities. In fact, “the differences between the communities of speaking in contact represent the social, political and geographical divisions between people” (MELLO, 2011, p.9).

The most powerful weapon for the survival of any society is its mother tongue. To silence a language is to de-materialize people. Mozambican languages need a new perspective of recognition in terms of language policy that promotes bilingual education without underestimating or stigmatizing the minorized languages. At that moment, these are unprotected and, if there is no contrary interest, the new generations will feel the loss of the right to their linguistic heritage.

The languages spoken by natives of various regions and ethnicities do not benefit from the same formal opportunities within the set of education policies. This availability calls into question “Language as an essential component of intercultural training to promote understanding between different groups of populations and ensure respect for fundamental rights” (UNESCO, 2003).

The major obstacle to be recognized about indigenous languages is that many of them have not developed a writing system and survive thanks to everyday colloquial practices. To empower them, the challenge is to create research centers, to produce teaching materials, to introduce literacy in minorized languages. Nevertheless, educated natives need to be aware of this need and not wait for miracles from other fellow citizens of other languages.

In fact, public policies are negligent in relation to the promotion and maintenance of many of the minorized indigenous languages. Everything happens in such a normal way that subalternized minorities appear falsely represented by the most representative communities in the range of varieties. The coexistence of majority and minorized languages, within the geographical limits of Mozambique, occurs without respect for the valuing weight of the languages and respect for the other.

The Mozambican state must guarantee the instruction of speakers of minorized languages through bilingual education. In the context of bilingualism, speakers of these languages who do not speak the majority are at risk of feeling stigmatized.

In Mozambique, minority communities, monolingual of Bantu origin, due to their isolation, suffer from limitations of knowledge about the world; even though they are very rich in endogenous knowledge, but they remain unsystematic, surviving through oral passage from generation to generation. This distancing occurs due to conditions of the geographical disposition and not for socio-political reasons, since contact with other majoritarian languages occurs sporadically.

In order to respond to the concerns raised above about the valorization of national languages, today, the Mozambican Government is implementing a special Program for the Expansion of Bilingual Education 2020-2030. As for teachers` training, this program has an objective that will meet the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights and the appreciation of the other: “Ensure that by 2029 all primary school teachers are qualified to teach bilingual classes”. (MINED, s/d, p. 14).

Today`s world, which is evidenced by high production and technological use, it nurtures with the feeling that man is in decay of his values and needs to have a decolonized mind to reconfigure his moral and ethical conscience, which is increasingly doubtful in relation to living with the other. For peaceful coexistence between human beings, cultural and linguistic differences must be made an instrument for deconstructing stigmatization.

The education system has the task of promoting the training of Teachers of Portuguese by equipping them with a view to respecting otherness and promoting ethical and moral values, ensuring that the core issues of human rights are increasingly respected. In addition, prejudiced and marginalized attitudes must be eliminated in the training of teachers for the teaching of Portuguese. However, there is an urgent need to introduce ethics and morals in the training curricula of these teachers so that the otherness and universal values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are safeguarded.

In this approach, Mozambique needs to promote a better linguistic policy that encourages the valorization of otherness, with the use of terms and expressions of the native language of Bantu origin in teachers` training. Finally, the country needs to reconfigure the linguistic and educational policy for humanization and peace where alterity is always present.

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TANIA FERREIRA REZENDE é doutora em Estudos Linguísticos pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, professora da Faculdade de Letras e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras e Linguística da Universidade Federal de Goiás.

JOSÉ DOS SANTOS BAPTISTA é doutorando em Ciências da Linguagem Aplicada ao Ensino de Línguas na Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo, professor do Departamento de Letras, área de Linguística Aplicada ao Ensino de Línguas da Universidade Rovuma.

1 Expression used by Vieira (2017).

2 UP portal. Available at: <https://www.up.ac.mz/universidade/breve-historial-da-up>. Accessed on: 20 apr. 2020

3 Figurative sense: Rude, individual; bearish;villager. In: Decio: Online Portuguese Dictionary. Available at: https://www.dicio.com.br/saloio/.

4 Available at: https://www.tecnolegis.com/estudo-dirigido/escrivao-sp/declaracao-universal-direitos.html. Accessed on: 28 mar. 2020

5 The emphasis is on the author.

Movimento-Revista de Educação, Niterói, ano 7, n.12, p. 735-758, jan./abr. 2020.

Expressões marcadas de preconceito		Tipo de preconceito
1.	I have two “white” students.	Racial
2.	I will never say anything in my life.	Ethnic-linguistic
3.	You look like white people in the burgh	Racial
4.	Playing like macua guy? Never and never!	Ethnic-cultural
5.	This is Makonde food, I don't even want to see it..	Éthnic-cultural
6.	You are speaking dialect. Only Portuguese is spoken here!	Linguístic
7.	No one should speak here in any way	Éthnic-linguístic
8.	This is not ours and should not be called	Polítical