With nearly half  of the population of Timor-Leste under the age of 15, there are immense challenges to education.  Beside the large number of children requiring the services of the education systems, Timor-Leste is also dealing with the issues of rebuilding the infrastructure, writing the curriculum and regulating the tertiary sector.  There is a dearth of trained teachers and there is not a tradition of training Timorese people for this important role.  Compounding the situation further is the language problem, where the use of the colonisers’ languages, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia, is governed by philosophies, which although understandable, present the real threat of keeping large sections of the population illiterate.

As the members of Mary MacKillop East Timor (formerly Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies) have been working in the education sector of Timor-Leste since 1994, we are keen to present the following considerations as important to any discussion of the future of Education in this new nation.  Our opinions arise from our backgrounds as teachers for many years in Australia, from the study which led to our qualifications and from the years of experience we have had with the schools and Universities in Timor.  Our opinions also arise from our position as Catholic educators who have imbibed and practised those educational precepts espoused by the Catholic Church, whose educational establishments have flourished throughout the world for centuries.

Priority Suggestions

1. The Leadership of Education in Timor-Leste is the most significant priority.  The Education Department should be led by people with sound educational training, recognised qualifications, experience as teachers and understanding of the principles of successful education, including as a priority in the Timorese situation, a practical understanding of multi-lingual education, expecially the concept that children’s first literacy must be in the vernacular or in a language they can already speak. 

Leaders nedd to be people who can inspire Education Department personnel  to work hard and intelligently for the children of Timor-Leste.

2. Teacher training, both pre-service and inservice, must take first place in the programme of the Education Department.  Within these courses, teachers will need to learn about child development and psychology, discipline procedures which respect the child, and methodologies designed to assist real learning, not just rote learning and copying.  Given the recent past of the Timorese people, both children and teachers need assistance in learning to deal with trauma.  Teachers must also be given in-depth training in the curricula.

3. In order to meet these first two priorities, the Government must invest significant finance, recognising the absolute importance of education to the future of Timor-Leste.

Other Suggestions

Safe and adequate schools need to be provided for all children.

Children and families would benefit if primary schooling was free to all children in both systems.

Teachers in all primary schools need be paid a fair and living wage. The Timorese Government could consider the payment of all teachers. Teachers should not have to depend on a secoond job to provide for their own families.

Adequate resources should be in each school – proper seating first of all, then the resources necessary for academic work to be completed – pens, pencils and books.  Books in the local languages should be written and provided for use in literacy, or at least initially in Tetun for all primary classes, and personnel and finance should be devoted to making such books available in all subjects.  The aim should be to have books in all curriculum areas in the local languages.

A meal at the beginning of the school day could be provided to the children. Hungry children cannot learn.

If uniforms are required by the school, they should be provided.

Sound education puts the rights and the needs of the child first.  The school exists for the child.

Involvement of the parents in a child’s schooling is essential.  Programmes of parental involvement would assist the limited schooling many adults have experienced. 

The education of women throughout Timor-Leste must be a high priority, not only for their own sake, important as that is, but also for the next generation.

Both Government and Catholic schools should work cooperatively, sharing resources and refusing to compete.

Education throughout Timor-Leste should not be tied to political parties. 

Emphasis on public examinations should be lessened, and in the case of the primary school, should be abolished altogether. Educational research shows that testing is a narrow measurement of limited skills, cannot include higher order skills, encourages rote learning at the expense of thinking, encourages cheating, favours some children over others and emphasises failure and competition.

Scholarships for teachers or students must be granted on the basis of ability, not on family ties.  Employment opportunities must also be given on the basis of experience and ability, not on personal connections.

Educated expatriate Timorese could be encouraged to spend time in Timor sharing the fruits of their education abroad.

Resources could be devoted to developing “School of the Air” programmes, which could be received in villages if they were provided with solar-powered radios.

Sport and cultural education need to formpart of the general curriculum, with activities being organised on weekends as well as in school time.

Language

The Government of Timor-Leste is to be congratulated on the decision to expand the number of years where Tetun will be used in the classroom.

Tetun, and/or as far as possible other indigenous languages, must be used as the Language(s) of Instruction throughout the primary years, not just as an ancillary language to assist the child in learning other languages.  Those languages given a place in the Constitution, i.e. Portuguese, English and Bahasa Indonesia, should be introduced gradually. These should be taught as foreign languages using the specific methodology of second-language learning. 

Teachers and research world-wide witness to the fact that children learn best when they are taught in a language that is already familiar to them.

Long-term planning for the development of the indigenous languages including Tetun must be a Government priority, and finance and expertise must be invested in this task.

A standard orthography for Tetun will develop gradually.  In the interim, some flexibility should be allowed and the imposition of the favoured spelling by this or that person or group should be resisted.  Usage will determine the orthography acceptable to the people over time.

The Tetun Literacy program, Mai Hatene Tetun, comprising books and resources for children and teachers from Kindergarten to Grade Six will be completed and distributed.

Kindergarten books

Short stories relevant to the experience of children in East Timor will continue to be written.

Years Five and Six Books

Stories suitable for Classes 5 & 6 covering a broad range of topics and cultures are being written, and artists are providing black and white sketches. There will be three volumes each with approximately fifteen stories.

Revision of Tetun/English Dictionary of Everyday Words

The first edition of the MMET publication “Tetun-Inglés Disionáriu no Liafuan Loro-loron“ (“English-Tetun Dictionary of Everyday Words”) is being expanded.

Teaching Resources

MMET continues to make durable resources for use in the early stages of literacy and numeracy, and basic educational equipment such as easels and blackboards. Library Books MMET is producing literature at all school levels for use in community and school libraries.

Bishop Belo with MMET books in 1998

Irene and Rosita making books

Ethical. All peoples have an inalienable human right to use and maintain the language, heritage and culture into which they were born. The use of the Tetun language in the Mai Hatene Tetun literacy program develops and maintains the East Timorese children’s self esteem and fosters a legitimate pride in their culture.

Sociological. Language is a primary symbol in cultural transmission. In order that a people successfully maintain their identity and transmit their culture to their children, the use of the fundamental symbol of the home language must be given its rightful place.

Educational. Learning first in the vernacular allows for the principle ‘from the known to the unknown’ to work. Most school learning is achieved through verbal means – either spoken or written – and unless children understand what they hear and read, they will learn relatively little. One of the fundamental principles in the teaching of reading is that children should learn to read in the language of the home.

During the Indonesian Occupation From 1975 children in East Timor were taught all subjects in Bahasa Indonesia from the beginning of their schooling. Schools in Indonesia are allowed a short time per week to present local languages and it was Bishop Belo who secured for Timorese schools a similar right. His request to the Sisters of St Joseph to assist in devising a program of instruction followed the application of this permission to the Timorese people. In 1997 workshops were first conducted by our Institute to help teachers to understand the program and its methods.

An initial workshop was held in Dili attended by forty teachers. Since then, many workshops have been organised and conducted by the teacher-linguist who devised the program, Sister Tess Ward OLSH, usually with the assistance of some other Institute staff. Meetings for clarification and direction were always held with language, Church and education authorities during our visits to East Timor. During the United Nations Transition The events of 1999 affected the Institute and its work greatly. Nevertheless, visits were made and workshops were run despite some plans having to be shelved because of the extreme situation.

In 2000 decisions had to be made about the future of our work in Timor and after discussions with Bishop Belo and the authorities it was decided to reprint. As Tetun is not as yet completely standardised, various linguistic concerns emerged, e.g. the spelling of some words and the use of hyphens and some diacritical marks. Some changes were made to the standard and expression at that time, and in subsequent writings we have adhered to that standard. Before reprinting we agreed that the whole program would be fully edited and Father Leão da Costa, now the Director of Catholic Education, agreed to be responsible for this task. He has worked long and hard with the staff of the Institute to complete the editing of the program.

In May 2000 we were able to report that all books in grades 1, 2 and 3 had been re-edited and formatted ready for printing, that the books and resources for Term 1, grades 1, 2 and 3 were being printed, that teachers’ manuals and guides had also been updated and prepared for re-printing and that reproduction of books for terms 2 and 3 was in process.

In August/September of that year a Mary MacKillop literacy team travelled to East Timor to distribute books and other resources to the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Dili, and to meet teachers where possible for orientation and further training sessions. Since Independence The production and distribution of the Tetun Literacy Program has continued and expanded. In October 2002, Sister Tess Ward began living and working in East Timor more permanently and has consolidated the presence and the work of the Mary MacKillop Institute.

In late 2004 the Head of Curriculum in the Ministry of Education invited Tess Ward to become a member of the Language Curriculum Committee which was responsible for documents relating to the Tetun Language Curriculum for Classes 1-6. Subsequently the Ministry of Education requested permission for UNICEF to reproduce many of the Mary MacKillop resources which had been prepared for the Mai Hatene Tetun program. After being printed by UNICEF these books and resources will be distributed by the Ministry of Education for use by all the children in the primary schools of Timor-Leste.

i. The literacy program Mai Hatene Tetun is now to Grade Four level. Five readers for Grade Four, comprising 20 stories in each book, have been published. (Contact MMET for a full list of publications).

ii. Three dictionaries have been published: a full colour illustrated picture dictionary for beginners a junior dictionary completely in Tetun with illustrations an English-Tetun, Tetun-English dictionary of words in common usage, which is being revised in 2007.

iii. Production of Oin Sá Sei Ko’alia no Hakerek Tetun, a course in basic Tetun in book form with tapes is on sale.