1. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION CULTURE YOUTH AND SPORTS
Presentation to the workshop on Capacity Building on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in Bangkok

2. CURRENT SITUATION OF EDUCATION IN TIMOR LESTE
Background
EMERGENCY IN SEPTEMBER 1999
90% of schools destroyed
80% of secondary school teachers and 20 % of primary school teachers left Timor-Leste
School furniture, textbooks destroyed
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
More than 530 schools / 3,000 classrooms restored to basic operational level
More than 6,000 teachers recruited at all levels
Substantial furniture and textbooks purchased and distributed
National University opened with enrolment of more than 6,000 students

3. …Continued
Enrolment and number of schools
Around 240,000 enrolment at all levels
Net enrolment ratio is about 75 %
No. of schools operating
57 kindergartens
749 primary schools
115 junior high schools
36 senior high schools
10 technical vocational high schools
1 national university

4. C. Main Problems and Constraints
High illiteracy rate
More than 50% of adults are illiterate
Low basic education coverage
25% of school-age children are not in school
High drop-out rate (10% per year)
Many children in rural areas lack access to nearby school
Many schools in urban areas are overcrowded with teacher-student ratio above 1:60

5. …Continued
Low quality of education
Most teachers particularly in secondary schools are under qualified
Teaching skills are low
Curriculum and teaching materials are still undeveloped
Poor health/ nutrition condition of children hampers learning
Illiterate parents and lack of reading materials at home hampers learning
Large number of young people are barely literate, unskilled and unemployed
Due to lack of schooling/high drop-out rate
Poor curriculum and teaching
Lack of employable skills

6. D. Government’s response–National Development Plan–Education Sector
Vision: By 2020, the people of Timor Leste:
Well educated
Healthy
Productive
Democratic
Self-reliant
Nationalistic
Goals:
Improve educational status of the people
Contribute to the improvement of economic, social and cultural well-being of the people
Promote gender equality and empower women

7. … Continued
Guiding principles:
Respect for Human Rights
Respect for cultural/religious diversity
Non – discrimination
Quality and relevance
Sustainable management of human and natural resources
Equity and accessibility
Creativity and innovation

8. …Continued
Key Programs and Projects:
Expanding educational access and improving internal efficiency
Projects:
School drop-out prevention
School location planning
Multi-Grade teaching
School-based health/nutrition
Community-Based pre-school program

9. …Continued
Improving the quality of education
Projects:
Curriculum development
Textbooks and materials development
Development of language of instruction (Portuguese-Tetum)
Teacher and headmaster training
Improvement of national examination
Fundamental School Quality Project (TFET2)
100 schools project (UNICEF assisted)

10. …Continued
Building Internal Management Capacity of the Ministry of Education:
Capacity building for policy formulation, planning and project management
Training of educational managers
Warehouse and logistic management

11. Priority assistance requirements
CONCLUSION
Priority assistance requirements
1. Build more primary and secondary schools to achieve universal basic education
2. Improve quality of education through teacher development and curriculum/textbooks development
3. Strengthen the Ministry’s capacity to plan and manage education