DILI, 20 june 2022 (TATOLI) – The National Coordinator of Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE), José Monteiro called on the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) to conduct initial teacher training for the fresh graduate teachers before working as professional teachers at public schools.
Monteiro said the initial teacher training program is essential to improve the teaching skills of fresh graduate teachers.
“Based on our survey, many teachers are unable to teach professionally due to a lack of skills and knowledge in making a lesson plan. Meanwhile, many don’t understand the subject matter deeply to help the students,” Monteiro told Tatoli, at his office, in Caicoli, Dili.
He said to improve the quality of the public schools, the Government through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports should carry out a good strategic policy, one of which is recruiting new teachers based on educational background and must be trained before teaching as professional teachers at any public schools: “Initial Teacher Training program is important to help fresh graduate teachers have good knowledge on the curriculum, etc.”
“Timor-Leste still lacks quality teachers. Many teachers went directly to teach without having any teaching skills. Therefore, TLCE called on MoEYS to have a significant transformation by replacing these teachers with those fresh graduate teachers who have a bachelor’s degree in teaching. These new fresh graduate teachers must be trained through a one-year teaching program before being assigned to be teaching at schools,” he said.
TLCE also called on MoEYS to replace old teachers who are over 60 with the new ones: “The fresh graduate teachers know how to use the modern technology such as the internet which is important to improve the quality of education.
Jorunalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Nelia Borges
