The National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education to provide training to volunteer teachers who so far do not have a tertiary qualification.
Volunteer teachers have long been used in rural areas to fulfill job shortages, but have often only completed their education to high school level.
Education Minister Antonio da Conceição said the ministry had completed an assessment of almost 4000 volunteer teachers working in Timor-Leste.
Of those, about 800 fulfilled the requirements, while more than 3000 were identified as needing training.
“We have an agreement with UNTL to provide training for those who do not fulfill the criteria,” he said.
He said the training provided would be different compared to that received by newly enrolled education students as most volunteer teachers already had good work experience.
“They (volunteer teachers) have work experience, they are professionals, but we need to improve their level of understanding and introduce the bachelor’s degree,” he said.
UNTL Rector Francisco Martins said a schedule would be drawn up for volunteer teachers requiring further training.
The training will begin with five key subjects, including Portuguese, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.
The pilot project will be implemented in Dili first before being rolled out in other municipalities.
Meanwhile, Viqueque Educational Director Emilio Amaral said there were 114 unqualified teachers currently working in the municipality.
“According to the law, the requirements for being a teacher are that you must hold a bachelor’s degree and we have 114 teachers who are not fulfilling the criteria,” he said.
Of those, 53 were male and 61 female, he added.
