BACK DOOR Newsletter on East Timor

A collection of items about rebuilding an education system following the massive violence and destruction of infrastructure committed by militia groups trained and supported by the Indonesian army.

NEW = Added to BACK DOOR Website since last Monday's Emailout

see also civic education & elections

August 2001 LHB: Provision of School Furniture: World Bank Project  Article added Sep 27
"There have been, however, a number of problems in the implementation of the emergency stage of the school rehabilitation effort, including the provision of school furniture. ... Perhaps the greatest problems relate to the insufficient level of commitment on the part of the World Bank and UNTAET/ETTA to having local employment generation and capacity building as important goals of the project. The Bank and UNTAET/ETTA argue that one should not confuse the goals of an emergency project—in this case, bringing destroyed schools to a basic operational level as quickly as possible—with other goals." La'o Hamutuk: East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis

Aug 3 ChHEd: ET Emerges From Indonesia's Grip With Scars and a New University  Article added Aug 17
"Today, the young people of this poor tropical land might still be waiting for a university to open. The United Nations, which is helping to rebuild, said other needs were more pressing. But the territory’s students and academics refused to wait. Last November, with the reluctant acceptance of the U.N., the National University of East Timor was opened by the former resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, ... The story of the university’s creation shows how hungry a young country can be for higher education. To say learning conditions are poor would be an understatement. The students don’t have textbooks and often lack desks, so they usually sit in class with their notebooks on their laps." Burton Bollag

Jun 15 ET NGO Forum: Economic and Social Development Issues  Comment added June 18
"Such a vision would need to include access to appropriate education for excluded groups, particularly many children and adults in rural and remote areas. With 64% of our women unable to read and write, non-formal education is very important for them. There must also be guaranteed access to schooling for girls so that education contributes to more gender equity in our society." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum

Jun 13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Education  Paper added June 15
"Education should be seen as the key to East Timor’s future. ... We believe that it is vital for ETTA and donors to listen to civil society views about the situation in education at the point of delivery, so that appropriate strategies can be devised. ... We believe that the potential for national and international NGOs to contribute human and financial resources to the education sector has yet to be fully realized. This is particularly true with the non-formal sector where civil society organizations have a special contribution to make." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum

Apr 9-11 APPEA: Galbraith: Timor Sea Petroleum  keynote conference address added May 5
"No industry is more important to East Timor than petroleum. Let me give the scale of its significance. ... Laminaria and Buffalo operating under Australian license, but in an area to which East Timor has a compelling claim to the continental shelf, could generate up to $1 million a day--$365 million a year for East Timor as current oil revenues. Imagine what this means to a country where every building was burned to the ground, where there are 70 students for every teacher, where teachers have no opportunity to develop further their skills." Ambassador Peter Galbraith, Cabinet Member for Political Affairs and Timor Sea, East Timor Transitional Government

Bahasa Indonesia:
Jan 25-31 KPB: Dokumen berikut adalah ringkasan hasil-hasil lokakarya  Article added Aug 3
"Di konferensi, pendidikan ditentukan sebagai strategi utama untuk mencapai pembangunan yang berkelanjutan. Masyarakat yang berpendidikan merupakan aset nasional, dan program-program penelitian yang berkait seharusnya menjadi prioritas tinggi untuk Pemerintah dan sumber-sumber LSM. ... Program pendidikan harus diadakan secara formal dan non-formal dengan menggunakan contoh-contoh praktis bilamana perlu seperti memperagakan teknik pertanian yang berbeda; cara-cara pembangunan, seperti membangun WC dengan cara yang baik, pemeliharaan dan perbaikian teknologi yang tepat, energi alternatif dan pilihan terhadap, daur ulang, pengurangan sampah dan pembuangannya dan penampungan air hujan. ... Bahan-bahan pendidikan tentang pembangunan berkelanjutan juga harus disediakan di perpustakaan." Konferensi Pembangunan Berkelanjutan di Timor Lorosa'e

Jan 25-31 2001 CSD: Program for Conference on Sustainable Development  Summary up-dated Aug 3
"Education was identified as a key strategy to achieve sustainable development. An educated community is a national asset and education and its associated research programs should be a high priority for Government and NGO resources. ... Education programs need to be both formal and informal with practical examples used where possible such as demonstrating different farming techniques; construction methods, such as good latrine construction, maintenance and repair of appropriate technology, alternative energy and cooking fuel options, recycling and waste reduction and disposal and rainwater harvesting. ... Educational materials should also be available in libraries." Conference on Sustainable Development in East Timor

Portuguese:
Out 2 2000 OTL: Educação, início do 1º ano escolar em Outubro de 2000  Report added June 27
"Sob a administração indonésia, apenas 6% dos 6672 professores primários (timorenses e indonésios) possuíam as habilitações curriculares necessárias ao ensino (Columbia University, 1999). O teste de selecção ao qual foram submetidos os professores parece essencialmente visar a redução do seu número e, assim, do seu peso sobre o orçamento da educação. O corte drástico, para menos de metade dos efectivos, contradiz a proclamação do acesso à escola primária para todas as crianças. A relação professor/alunos, 1/55, não é de molde a melhorar a qualidade. As exigências do Banco Mundial para a qualidade das construções e mobílias – e financiamentos implícitos oriundos do TFET- não parecem ter equivalente nos meios humanos que dependem do orçamento corrente." Observatório Timor Leste

Oct 2 2000 ETO: Education - 1st school year starts in October 2000  Report added June 27
"In Indonesia’s administration, only 6% of the 6,672 primary teachers (Timorese and Indonesian) held the necessary teaching qualifications (Columbia University, 1999). The purpose of the nationwide teacher selection examination appears to have been to cut back on their numbers and, thus, on education budget spending. Such a drastic reduction – down to less than half original numbers – flies in the face of the proclaimed access to primary school education for all children. At 1:55, the teacher/pupil ratio is not one that will enhance quality. The World Bank’s emphasis on quality when it comes to buildings and furniture – and the availability of funding from TFET – do not seem to be echoed in the area of human resources that depend on the current budget." East Timor Observatory