Letefoho, November 26, 2024 (Média Democracia) – Filial Elementary School number 238 Tata-Mailau, Leobasa lacks classrooms, teachers are required to place grade 5 and 6 students in one class in the teaching and learning process.
This was conveyed by the General Coordinator of EBF No. 238 Tata-Mailau, Leobasa Domingos Soares to journalists in his office, last Wednesday.
EBF School No.238 Tata-Mailau, is currently facing a problem, namely the lack of classrooms for students to study due to the lack of classrooms that must accommodate students in grades 1 and 2 in one class as well as grades 5 and 6 in one room.
“This school only has three classes, but the students consist of classes 1 to 6 and one room is used for storage and office including classrooms, students study next door and we use the other side, because we lack classrooms for students in the teaching and learning process, so class 1 and class 2 are in one class, class 3 and class 4 are in one class and class 5 and class 6 are in one class.” Said the school coordinator.
He said, students had to be placed together because all students attended school in the morning and the total number of students was 189.
“Consisting of 112 female students and 77 male students, while the number of teachers who teach female students is 7 people, besides the lack of classrooms for students to study, we also do not have clean water for the purposes of toilets and cooking school meals.” He said.
That is why on Saturdays students and teachers have to use 5 liter jerry cans to fill up with water and fill the school tank so that it can meet the needs for one week.
On that occasion, the Head of sub-village, Alfredo Maia Pires said that the local authority of Leobasa sub-village together with teachers had written proposed to the Ministry of Education, but until now there has been no answer.
“So far, the hamlet head has coordinated with teachers and parents of students to see the obstacles faced by the school, so we have submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education and Culture, but there has been no response from the relevant parties, so teachers must be patient in placing two classes in one classroom,” he said.
He stressed that it is not good if students from two classes are placed in one room because they study different subjects. Meanwhile, at EBF school no. 238 Tata-mailau, it is accessed by four sub-villages.
“There are four sub-villages, such as Leu-basaa, Abasai, Hatulia Lelo and Le’aba Kraik, therefore as the authority holder of Leobasa hamlet, I would like to recommend to the government, especially the Ministry of Education, to add classes that can be used by students, because we know that students are the future of this country,” he added.
Based on the results of journalists’ monitoring in the field, it is known that the condition of the school is good, but there are still not enough classrooms, making the teaching and learning process difficult, in addition there are no teacher’s desks that can be used for working.
In addition, this information was obtained by journalists through media tour activities because AJTL collaborates with Oxfam in Timor-Leste which receives financial support from Oxfam Hong Kong.
Reported by : Estefania
Picture by : Estefania