DILI, 17 june 2022 (TATOLI) – National Coordinator of Timor – Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE), José Monteiro rated the quality of teaching and learning in public schools as below expectations, saying this was due to the lack of facilities in many schools.
“TLCE has identified, so far, the quality of teaching and learning in public schools is below expectations because the basic infrastructure, quality of teachers, and the budget invested in the public school education sector are inadequate,” said TLCE Director, Monteiro.
According to TLCE, many teachers cannot be role models to express lessons, change, and inspire students: “We identified many school teachers who are still unable to convey lessons to their students, while some teachers only understand basic Portuguese which is very difficult to transfer lessons to school children, but in some parts, we also found that many teachers do not have a teaching background but can transfer technical material for the students in high school, these aspects are what makes the quality of public schools very concerned,” he explained.
To respond to this situation, Monteiro said, the government must provide sufficient funds for the development of the quality of education in the country.
“Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports must begin to allocate an adequate budget to finance the construction of integrated schools and improve the quality of teachers through education and training to improve the quality of education in the future,” he said.
Every year the Government allocates about 7% of the budget for the education sector. In 2020 the budget allocation increased to 11% from 7% which was mostly used to pay the salaries of education staff including teachers, so it was not enough to cover education costs.
“We hope that the state will start thinking about placing an adequate budget to improve the quality of education in Timor-Leste because education is the key to the progress of the nation and state,” he concluded.
Journalist : Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Nelia Borges
