[TimorLesteStudies] New book chapter on education in Timor-Leste
Bob Boughton
bob.boughton at une.edu.au
Wed May 15 18:03:46 EST 2013
Boughton, B. (2013). Timor-Leste: Education, decolonisation and
development. In L. Symaco (Ed.), Education in South East Asia (pp.
299-321). London: Continuum.
Introduction
In May 2002, Timor-Leste became the first country in the world to
achieve its independence in the 21st Century, ending over four
hundred years of colonial rule which had begun with the arrival of
the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. In 1974-5, a revolution in
Portugal prompted a short-lived attempt by FRETILIN, the political
party which founded the Timor-Leste independence movement, to
decolonise the education system, but this was aborted by the military
invasion and occupation of the country by its largest neighbour, the
Republic of Indonesia in December 1975. Independence was finally won
only after a protracted war of national liberation forced the
eventual withdrawal of the Indonesians in September 1999, and a
period of direct rule of the United Nations until 2002 (Cabral 2002).
For ten years, now, this tiny country of one million people,
occupying the eastern half of a rugged island six hundred kilometres
north of Australia, has struggled to build its first fully-developed
independent education system, out of the ruins left by colonialism
and war. However, unlike many other ex-colonies which achieved
independence in the second half of the last century, the newly
emerging education system in Timor-Leste has been the site of a major
multinational aid and reconstruction effort, initially coordinated by
the United Nations and the World Bank. Its recent history therefore
provides an object lesson in the role of international actors in
educational development in countries of the Global South.
--
Dr. Bob Boughton
Associate Professor, Adult Education & Training
School of Education
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351, Australia
phone: +61 2 67732913/66492642
email: bob.boughton at une.edu.au
The UNE Branch of the NTEU is engaged in industrial action commencing
4th March 2013. In solidarity with this action, I am not working
(unpaid) overtime, and I can allocate no more than 20% of my time to
administration. Apologies in advance for any inconvenience this may
cause.
For more information, please go to
<http://www.nteu.org.au/une>http://www.nteu.org.au/une
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