Member of National Parliament (MP) Estanislau da Silva has raised concerns that books which were supposed to be distributed to schools never arrived, despite the fact the government allocates money each year to their purchase. 
“I call on the relevant commission to look into the distribution of those books,” MP da Silva said in National Parliament.
The Fretilin MP said it was an urgent issue and the commission needed to monitor the situation to figure out what the problem was.
“The information I received said that many times those books do not arrive in Baucau district; those books just stay in the warehouse,” MP da Silva said.
Member of Commission F (education, heath, culture, veterans and gender equality) MP IldaMaria da Conceicao said the books that weren’t distributed to the schools wereinappropriate for Timor-Leste.
“Eventually the Ministry of Education should look at which pagesare inappropriate and fix it so that can be distributed to the schools,” the Fretilin MP said.
Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) education network coordinator Matias dos Santos said they didn’t know how many schools did not receive their books.
“There is some information that our members told us that some schools in remote areas haven’t received their books from the Ministry of Education,” Coordinator dos Santos said.
He said some of the schools had received books but they did not have enough copies for teachers.
“Ministry of Education should fix the management so schools have enough books,” he said.
