National Parliament Commission F has praised the efforts of the Ministry of Education (ME) to collaborate with civil society to control the implementation of the school feeding program this year.
Member of Commission F (Education, Health, Culture, Veterans and Gender Equality) Member of Parliament (MP) Antonio Ximenes Serpa said ME should cooperate with civil society in order to manage the budget properly.
The National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT) MP said the budget for the school feeding program this year was about $26 million, with 25 cents budgeted for each student daily.
However he said he received information from students that the school feeding program was not working properly.
“We from Commission F will submit more proposals to the National Parliament to monitor (the program) in a short time,” he said.
MP Agostinho Lay said the ME’s Directorate of School Accomplishment would look into the program.
He said sometimes the rice for the program did not reach the rural schools it was destined for due to transport issues caused by bad weather and poor roads.
The rice was instead simply stored in villages. Sometimes, students and parents were forced to carry the rice themselves, making delivery late, he said.
In order for the program to function properly, he said the school headmasters and parents should have some control, as well as ME.
Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) program manager Matias dos Santos said the involvement of civil society in the implementation was good, so changes could be made.
“We cooperate with the Ministry of Education and we also have sent cards in order to give a way to our networks in the districts to conduct monitoring,” he said.
