A Member of the National Parliament considers teachers from the Central Primary School in Maubara, in Liquica District, to have violated children’s rights, by obliging students to bring wood from home to build the school’s fences.
MP César Valente de Jesus raised this issue because he felt the distance from home to the school is very distant and the students need to carry the wood on their heads while walking to school on foot.
He said while he appreciates the teacher’s initiative that the school should not have asked students to carry wood while walking long distances from their home to the school.
The PM urged the Ministry of Education to look into this issue soon and make a decision on how to overcome this problem because Timor-Leste ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such the rights of all children need to be respected.
“This means we are violating child’s rights, since children have to carry wood over large distances on foot and all they eat is porridge,” added MP Valente.
Meanwhile Commissioner Adalgiza Ximenes, from the National Commission of Child’s Rights, says human rights were not designed to prevent people from working or doing a particular task but teachers should find a balance in what they ask students to do.
She feels children carrying wood to build a fence around their school is not a violation of their rights because it is teaching them to think laterally. However, if a teacher gets children to carry heavy wood private interests rather than for the school, this would constitute a violation of a child’s rights.
“If we can use the small one pieces of wood to teach student how to make a good fence, this will help develop their creativity,” said Commissioner Adalgiza from her office, in Colmera, Dili.
She says right now children go to schools and do not have creative outlets so this initiative can help them become more creative and as such is a good initiative. She cautioned though that every situation needs to be assessed individually first.
