With a “great desire” to make Portuguese the mother tongue of Timor-Leste, António Leite was pleased with the “total unanimity” of the Timorese leadership for the reinforcement of the language in the country.
The Secretary of State for Education of Portugal said this Friday that he feels “total unanimity” of the Timorese political leadership regarding the objective of strengthening the presence of the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste.
“The most gratifying thing was, regardless of the positions they hold, to see total unanimity in the objective of reinforcing the presence of the Portuguese and increasing our support for the various projects, whether it be the expansion of the Díli Portuguese School or the expansion of the CAFE project”, Learning Centers and School Training, said António Leite, in an interview with Lusa, summarizing his visit to Timor-Leste.
“It was very enlightening to me that there was a such a great consensus in Timor on our cooperation, as there is in Portugal on cooperation with Timor. For us it is very significant. In Timor, like in any other country, we are invited, we are not invited and we will be there when the Governments and the people want it, ”she stressed.
During his visit to Timor-Leste, António Leite visited the Portuguese School in Dili, where he was sworn in to the new management and visited three Learning and School Training Centers (CAFE), a project co-financed by Portugal and Timor-Leste, which involves teachers from both countries.
Portugal and Timor-Leste will study the expansion of the Portuguese School in Dili
The Portuguese official also met with the Timorese head of state, José Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, the president of the National Parliament, Aniceto Guterres Lopes, and the leaders of the two major parties, Mari Alkatiri, secretary-leader of the Revolutionary Front of Independent Timor-Leste (Fretilin), and Xanana Gusmão, president of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT).
In conversations with the Timorese leadership, António Leite analyzed in particular the “expansion project of the Portuguese School of Dili” (EPD) and the expansion of the CAFE project, which are already operating in 12 of the 13 municipalities and in the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse-Ambeno, and which will be extended, in a first phase, to the new municipality of Ataúro.
In the case of the EPD, there are “three possibilities on the table (…) assuming that the school is expanded”, with the new management analyzing the matter before broader negotiations for the final decision to be made, he said. Antonio Leyte.
“In the past there was already a project [de alargamento]. But we have a waiting list of 600 children, which would make EPD one of the largest Portuguese schools abroad. Let’s give the new management time to get to know the school, take its pulse, ”he explained.
The options are to build an additional floor on top of one of the currently existing blocks, “engineering possible”, divide the school into two poles, similar to school clusters in Portugalwith a part of the cycles at one pole and another at the other and, finally, the “most radical, which is of build the school from scratch elsewhere”Leite added.
One of the highlights of the visit was the signing of the protocol that continues and expands the CAFE project, with the implementation of a new school in Ataúro and, in the future, the gradual expansion until the installation of schools in more than 60 administrative positions in the country
“The dream is to bring CAFE to administrative positions and now we have to see if we all have the conditions to do it. One of the advantages is that the project belongs to both nations and is aimed at the entire population”, explained the Portuguese Secretary of State.
“We really want to be able to contribute, as the Government of Timor wants, so that Portuguese becomes, as well as an official language, a mother tongue. It is a difficult process. With a whole generation away from the language, prohibited from learning in the language, persecuted for learning in Portuguese. And Portuguese was no longer spoken by the entire population, and therefore it was not difficult for the invader to significantly reduce the presence of the language,” he noted.
Referring to this “missing link in Portuguese, the generation of parents of current students”, Leite recognized that “parents’ school difficulties, language difficulties, are predictors of student failure”.
“This is how it is here as it is in Portugal. It requires a greater effort from the students, teachers and the families themselves,” she said.
The expansion would help in this effort, said Leite, also consolidating the ‘timorization’ process, with more and more Timorese teachers involved and, eventually, conditions for CAFE to support other schools in the public network.
The Portuguese official, who visited three CAFE schools, said he noticed great “commitment of children and teachers”in an “atmosphere of joy and participation” and “great enthusiasm” on the part of the teachers.
“It was interesting to see a significant involvement of local authorities in all the initiatives. Great joy to feel recognized, both teachers and students. Perhaps this is what makes it more evident that the project is successful, ”he said.
“The project needs more support and investment, and it is a possible solution in conjunction with others, to significantly expand the deployment of Portuguese“Leite pointed out.
In strategic terms, he said, it is “obvious” that it is necessary to demonstrate to children and young people that “it is an advantage for them to learn Portuguese,” in addition to the fact that it is the official language of the country.
“This is insufficient because there will not be a million Timorese learning Portuguese just because it is the official language. A significant part of the population has to realize that there is an advantage in learning this Portuguese language and it is in this relationship that we have to invest”, said Leite.
Source: Observadora
