DILI, october 12, 2021 (TATOLI) –Parents of children at a private school in Timor-Leste shows concern about the full payment of the private school fees for the third term of the 2021 school year since the Government enforced lock-downs to address the spread of COVID-19.
Mario Tilman, a parent of a student from a private school asks The Ministry of Education to coordinate with private schools to reduce school fees, saying schools demanded the full payment of school fees after the Government lifted the sanitary fence.
“We received complaints about the implementation of fees in private schools during the sanitary fence and mandatory confinement, even with all classes suspended. When the government lifted the lockdown and school activities resumed, schools demanded payment of fees between May and August,” Mario Tilman told Tatoli, in Bidau Lecidere, Dili.
Tilman said parents have to pay for full fees from May to August which is equal to $41 for their children to participate in the second trimestral exam.
Tilman at the same time declares that there is a lack of impreciseness in the service offered by school namely for virtual class or digital class’.
“Our children don’t have cell phones, but they can access online learning using our cell phones. However, the groups created for these online classes did not provide great benefits for students and did not include teaching materials for each subject. So this means that the school creates online classes or online groups to be able to demand payment,” he said.
Tilman gave an example, several private schools have not been paid during the pandemic, for example, the Tibar Private school.
“Does the Ministry of Education control these schools? We have this doubt”,
A representative of the educator, Ludovina Fontes Leite, also asked the Ministry of Education to coordinate with private schools to reduce the payment of fees.
“I have to pay US$29/month for school fees, I also pay for school maintenance. Even though my child is taking online learning classes, the fee payment is the same as a regular class, there is no difference at all. We have to renew the payment of fees in advance so that our children can take the exam,” She said.
According to Leite, without full payment, students will not be able to participate in school and attend classes.
“We experienced a lot of difficulties during the pandemic, we lost our business, which directly affected our economy,” She said.
For its part, The National Parliament asked the Ministry of Education to coordinate with schools to reduce the cost of the fees.
“We ask MoEYS to find a solution and reach an agreement with private schools to reduce the value of fees”, António Verdial vice-President of KHUNTO recently suggested.
Two private schools, São José Operario and Paulo VI, allow their students to pay tuition for only ten months, as there is no assistance or services offered by the schools during the pandemic.
It is recalled that, since the outbreak began, The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MoYS) announced the suspension of face-to-face learning classes in all public and private schools across the country to mitigate the risk of local transmission of Covid -19, within educational entities.
Last month the MoYS re-announced that face-to-face learning in all public and private schools across Dili could resume on September 20, with the provision that all the teachers required the COVID-19 vaccination record card.
Journalist: Isaura Lemos de Deus
Editor: Maria Auxiliadora
Translator: Camilo de Sousa
Editor: Nelia Borges
