Buzzoca

Professors Domingas, Filipe and Odete are part of the group of thousands of Timorese teachers who received pedagogical and Portuguese language training within the scope of “Pró – Português” and who argue that the cooperation project should continue.

“This course has to continue. It only takes place twice a week and it’s not enough for us to learn. It must continue for more years, so that we don’t forget the subjects we learned” he told Lusa Domingas Mendonça, a first cycle teacher.

The “Pró — Português” cooperation project, started in 2019 and co-financed between Portugal and Timor-Leste, ended its second phase in July, having reached more than four thousand teachers throughout the Timorese territory, from pre-school to to secondary.

Domingas Mendonça, Filipe Assunção and Odete Barreto are teachers in villages in the administrative post of Maubisse, around 70 kilometers south of Dili, and received their training certificates this month.

“Every week I came to Maubisse twice for training”, Filipe Assunção explained to Lusa.

“For a brighter future, this training needs to continue for teachers. It provides in-depth knowledge, which leads to the country’s development,” said the teacher, adding that in addition to the Portuguese language, he also learned content to teach students.

The opinion is also shared by professor Odete Barreto, who stated that, despite being difficult, the training allowed her to increase her knowledge and defended its continuation.

Despite the constraints and difficulties that many teachers faced, the project’s general coordinator, Estáquio Madeira, highlighted the enthusiasm with which the teachers participated in the training, which aimed to “reinforce and develop their knowledge in the pedagogical part and in the Portuguese language”.

“Many teachers have already been trained, although they still have some difficulties in communication, but it is slowly progressing. In general, the majority of teachers understand the Portuguese language”, he said.

For the Portuguese ambassador to Timor-Leste, Manuela Bairos, who has gone to almost all administrative posts in the country to participate in the ceremonies handing out diplomas to teachers, the project must have a lot of support.

“It is the only project of our cooperation with the coverage of thousands of teachers. In the previous phase I distributed more than three thousand diplomas, now I am distributing a thousand and so many diplomas”, said Manuela Bairos, for whom “learning and training in language You can’t stop.”

“The Portuguese language in Timor-Leste still needs a lot of support, no matter how much motivation people have, there is not really a context, nor are there human resources yet prepared to face this challenge. This project cannot stop, because it is part of a puzzle in which this is also necessary, because this is what reaches remote areas”, highlighted the diplomat.

The puzzle includes the Dili Portuguese School, the Centro de Aprendizagem e Formação Escolar (CAFE) or CAFE schools, and the FOCO program at the National University of Timor-Leste, which aims to improve the quality of teaching and language proficiency Portuguese.

“If it failed, which it won’t fail, this component would fail something in the puzzle. This only makes sense if the four things go together”, said the ambassador.