The Timorese Government plans to build a total of 1,500 new classrooms by the end of 2021, reinforcing the training of teachers, within the scope of the priorities defined for the educational sector, the authorities said.
The national director of Policy, Planning and Inclusion of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEJD), Odília Ung Martins, explained to journalists that the goal is to build 800 classrooms later this year and as the rest in 2021.
“The Government’s priorities are focused on infrastructure. We address the issue of teaching quality. First of all, the infrastructures have to be chosen so that it can improve the learning process ”, he said, quoted by the Timorese news agency Tatoli.
“Many schools are in poor condition, covered with a cover and zinc. Other teaching rules are without chairs and tables, ”he said, on the sidelines of the Celebration of Education Month, under the theme“ Education First, Education For All ”.
Odília Ung explained that the survey of the education sector’s problems carried out by the ministry led to an increase in the number of classrooms in 2020 and 2021.
MEJD also wants to invest in teacher training so that they can teach their subjects effectively to students.
“We have to identify what future training is destroying teachers. According to data from INFORDEPE, although the majority of teachers have already participated in training, we intend to focus on the subjects that we consider to be priorities, especially those that are part of the national exams ”, he explained.
“So we have to identify it so that we can train our teachers through the training of INFORDEPE”, he added, referring to the National Institute for the Training of Teachers and Education Professionals of Timor-Leste.
In programs related to the educational sector, from pre-school to higher education and recurrent education, the government is expected to spend around US $ 140 million (€ 119.6 million) in 2021, adding the expenses foreseen by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Culture.
