The ministers of education of East Timor and Portugal announced an increase in the number of teachers for the Learning and School Training Center project, known as CAFE Schools, according to information released today by the East Timorese government.
The announcement was made during a meeting held on Tuesday between the Portuguese Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, and the East Timorese Minister of Education, Dulce Soares. Soares is part of the delegation led by East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, who is on a working visit to Portugal until Friday.
During the meeting, the minister reported that a “special competition aimed at recruiting 200 East Timorese teachers for those schools is underway, advocating for the strengthening of continuous training and pedagogical monitoring for those professionals,” according to the executive’s statement.
Fernando Alexandre stated that Portugal “intends to strengthen” cooperation in the field of education and announced that next year there will be 150 Portuguese teachers instructing in CAFE schools.
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The Learning and School Training Center project, or CAFE schools, began in 2014 and is already present across all 14 East Timorese municipalities, with plans to extend these educational establishments to the country’s administrative posts.
These schools, where classes are taught by Portuguese and East Timorese teachers, are currently attended by more than 11,100 East Timorese students. CAFE stands on two main pillars, namely quality classroom teaching and the complementary training of East Timorese teachers.
In these schools, classes are taught in Portuguese, but students also have classes in Tetum, East Timor’s other official language.
Minister Dulce Soares also reiterated the importance of ensuring the continuity of the project and clarified that the ministerial decree currently being prepared by the Ministry of Education regarding CAFE solely aims to regulate the internal operation of those schools within the context of the East Timorese educational system and does not seek to alter the existing protocol in force between the two countries.
