DILI, 04 june 2021 (TATOLI) – The United Nation Residence Coordinator, Roy Trivedy said that the Eskola Ba Uma program of the Ministry of Education (MoE) which was proposed by the UNICEF and have been supporting it since the start of its implementation is a good initiative but it requires a lot of things to work together to fill the gap of education.
“The Eskola ba Uma is a very good initiative, if it works; it requires a lot of discipline. Not every family has a computer, or television at home and we know that internet facilities in Timor-Leste are not that great. So, it requires a lot of things to work together to fill the gap of education,” Roy Trivedy told Tatoli reporters during the interview at the UN Headquarter this recent Thursday.
He said there are part of difficulties facing by the government, partners, teachers, parents, and students, when implementing the response program, such as digital and online learning, saying it would happen more in the future.
“Of course, it needs to go much further, because not everybody has all of the things to be able to learn at home. Many of our homes are very crowded, many children can’t sit there all day or they don’t have all the facilities, etc. It’s very difficult, but Eskola Ba Uma is at least a part of the response and actually, globally we know that learning through digital technology is something that will have to happen more and more globally, regardless of what happens with covid-19,” Mr. Trivedy said.
Mr. Trivedy said that the Government had done quite well to promote the idea of Eskola Ba Uma. stressing that the same kind of impetus is required to be implemented in higher education with the universities, but that will only work when Timor-Leste has a much better internet facility.
” It is part of the solution but we all need to think about how to improve that further,” he said.
for such reason, he explained one of the biggest solutions to solve the internet situation in the country, to enhance the teaching and learning process during the difficult situation like Covid-19, was the submarine fiber-optic cable system that would be installed by the government of Timor-Leste, from Northern Territory, Australia.
“Potentially, when the submarine cable is connected, hopefully by the end of the year or next year, it will improve internet connectivity in Timor-Leste, but we will need to do much more than that because we also need to improve the quality of education, we also need to improve support for children, not just about the situation right now, it also looking into the future of Timor-Leste,” he said
Mr. Trivedy said despite covid-19 has had massive implications on education and learning, across the world, including Timor-Leste but The UN is committed to supporting the Government of Timor-Leste to ensure students can continue learning during the time of covid-19.
The UN is currently working to forge a partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is based in Jakarta to support Timor-Leste with its data internet connectivity, trying to improve the expansion of the internet facility, but also trying to make it cheaper so that every family can have access easily, whether it’s through phone or other ways to get regular connectivity.
“This is a longer-term project, it will impact once we have the submarine cable next year and the ANC’s work can support the data quality,” Mr. Trived added.
In the next six months, the government of Timor-Leste, together with its humanitarian partners would spend US$ 3.1 million of the appeal for 32.7 on the education sector to rebuild those schools that had been destroyed during the flash flood on April 4.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
