Catalog

East Timor
Back to School

Determined teachers, committed parents, and enthusiastic children are helping schools flourish

By Pamposh Dhar ( pdhar@adb.org )
External Relations Officer

Back in School Thanks to the collaboration of many partners, 465 children are now attending the rebuilt Maumeta primary school

Xanana Gusmão, the first president of independent East Timor, says his Government is committed to improving life for the nation’s children.

“The Government’s goal must be that as the children grow up, they live better than their parents,” he said in an interview with ADB Review a few weeks before East Timorese independence.

One way to do that is to offer them educational opportunities. Since the conflict, East Timor, helped by many development agencies, has worked hard to reopen schools for its children.

A village school in the coastal district of Liquica sets an example. It is flourishing, thanks to the efforts of parents and teachers, the enthusiasm of children, and the coordinated support of the donor community.

The Maumeta primary school, which was destroyed during the violence of 1999, now has 465 boys and girls enrolled. “It took 2 years to rebuild it,” says school principal Rosinha dos Santos. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) helped by paying for the roof. The East Timorese Government pays teachers’ salaries and provides basic equipment. School fees are paid voluntarily. “Most parents are now unemployed and cannot afford to pay a fixed monthly fee,” explains Ms. dos Santos.

In some ways, the newly rebuilt school is an improvement on the old one. For one thing, it has clean running water, which comes from a reservoir built under the ADB-managed Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project. The project is financed by the multidonor Trust Fund for East Timor.

The European Union (EU) donated the taps and pipes that bring water to the school. Oxfam, an international nongovernment organization, is helping implement both the ADB and EU programs.

“Earlier, we used to ask the children to bring boiled water from home for drinking,” says the principal. “And we used to get water from the sea in buckets for the children to wash their hands and things.” That could not have been easy: although the school is not far from the sea, it is situated halfway up a hill. The children are taught good hygiene practices in the school. “Before the taps were installed, it was all theory because we didn’t have enough water to show them,” she says. “But now they can see the practical application.”

The water also allows the school to maintain a small vegetable garden. “We sell the vegetables and buy more blackboards and other school equipment in short supply,” explains the principal.

Now that water is available, the school is also building toilets. The EU will provide the material and the children’s parents will contribute the labor.

The determination of the principal and the teachers is backed by the commitment of the parents and the enthusiasm of the children themselves to resume their education. The donor community, too, is doing its bit to support the school. It is truly a partnership to create a better tomorrow for the children.

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