Carmelita Namashulua

Carmelita Rita Namashulua (born 2 December 1962) is a Mozambican teacher, civil servant and politician of the ruling FRELIMO (from Portuguese: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, translated as Mozambique Liberation Front) party. During president Filipe Nyusi's second mandate (2020–2025), Namashulua was appointed the Minister of Education and Human Development for Mozambique (MINEDH). She was previously Minister of State Administration and the Public Service of Mozambique between (2015–2020) and Deputy Minister of the Public Administration of Mozambique.

Early life and career Namashulua was born on 2 December 1962 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She speaks Shimakonde, Kiswahili, Portuguese and English.

Namashulua moved from Tanzania to Mozambique as a child and was educated at the FRELIMO Secondary School in Ribaué until 1981. She studied for a degree in mathematics and physics from Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo and a degree in psycho-pedagogy from the Pedagogical University in Maputo. Namashulua was awarded the Socialist Emulation in 1985.

Namashulua served as Minister of State Administration and the Public Service of Mozambique between 2013 and 2020. and aimed to increase the number of female primary school teachers. She oversaw education closures and the reopening of primary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2020 and spoke at the Education Ministry's Coordinating Council about the estimated 1.5 billion meticais worth of damage to education buildings done by ISIS terrorists in the northern area of Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique.

In June 2022, Namashula ordered the immediate withdrawal of sixth grade social science text book Our Continent from schools, due to errors such as the incorrect geographical and historical location of Zimbabwe and an incorrect illustration of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. She also suspended the official responsible for producing the text books.

When teachers demonstrated due to a lack of overtime payments in 2022 and 2023, Namashula appealed for teachers to remain calm. She has also supported initiatives such as International Mother Language Day and World Book Day.

In 2023, Namashula announced 500 million maticais (7.8 million dollars) for the construction of unfinished schools.