The students of the Dom Bosco Fatumaca Technical Vocational School (ETV) in Baucau Municipality lodged a complaint with the national parliament against the Ministry of Education because the diplomas they were awarded were hand written.
Student representative Domingos Pereira said the students refused to sign for their diploma because the diploma provided by the ministry was hand written despite being signed already by the school’s director and the education authority.
“We want our diploma to be printed out of a computer, not just hand written. None of us students have signed for it and this is why we came to meet Commission F,” said student representative Pereira at the National Parliament, Dili.
He said the document will have an impact on students especially those wanting to study overseas.
“It won’t be recognized overseas.”
Member of Parliament MP Virgilio da Costa Hornai, President of Commission F (health, education, culture, sport, veteran affairs and gender equality) said diplomas should be standardized.
“I will contact the school’s director to recall all the diplomas, print them and then give them back to the students,” said MP Hornai. “A diploma is something you will keep forever,” he said.
In the meantime the Program Manager of Timor-Leste’s Coalition for Education (TLCE) Matias dos Santos said this was a management mistake on the part of the ministry of education.
“We urge the Ministry of Education to provide them [the students] with standard diplomas with complete information,” he said.
He said hand written diplomas were awarded to all students from public schools including vocational training schools across the country for the 2014 academic year.
