The number of illiterates is high in Timor-Leste. From the Portuguese period up to the end of Indonesian
colonialism, illiteracy was reduced but not by a significant number. The total population according to the
2004 census was 923,198 people. Of this total 520, 265 are aged 15 and over. Forty-six percent (46%),
close to half, identified as illiterate with the illiterate women estimated to be 52% compared with 40% of
men. Therefore the biggest literacy problems are found with women. People over thirty are much more
likely to be illiterate than those under, 62% compared with 25%. In rural areas, many of the more remote
sub-districts and sucos had illiteracy rates of 70% and higher; and youth illiteracy was highest in the rural
districts which experienced the most serious disorder during the political and social crisis in 2006/2007.
(Boughton 2008:5)
During the period of Portuguese colonization there was no adult literacy campaign or even
literacy program. Conversely in 1975 FRETILIN, the newly formed political party advocating national
independence, implemented a literacy campaign as one way to mobilize people to struggle for
independence. According to the Journal Libertasaun
=FRETILIN developed the education to serve the people. The Education and Cultural
Committee (a department of education) of FRETILIN led by Antonio Carvarino alias Maulear,
prioritizedadult literacy for Maubere people. FRETILIN started their program in the area which
was speaking Tetun language. One objective of this program was to define as learning to be a
new citizen whom is to be liberated from all kinds of oppression and ready to understand
aspect of history and exploitation politics and the oppression of the people. All the programs
were made to improve people capacity and help their struggle for needs One of the
organizations inside FRETILIN was Organizasaun Popular Mulhers de Timor (OPMT),a
women‘s organization which had a big role in running education. The activity of this
organization was to develop a method to teach illiterate adults with the objectives to liberate
the Maubere people from colonialism and to liberate people from being illiterate. This program
was not continued because of the Indonesian invasion in 1975 of Timor Timur.‘ (SAHE 2003)
Hill explains FRETILIN‘s rationale as follows:
=The attitudes which FRETILIN want to overcome in Timor were the same ones which
Paulo Freire and his colleagues in the Northeast of Brazil had found among the peasant they
worked with, namely that they had accepted the officials‘ definition of themselves as lazy,
ignorant, and uncultured, and held what Freire calls =a naive view of the world‘, i.e. they tend
to superstition and believe that their poverty and powerlessness was given and could not be
changed‘. (Hill 2002:110)
Later the Indonesian government provided many schools and scholarships for Timorese peoples in
advanced studies. However the school system was a general system with the purpose to advance
nationalism among youth with an ideology called Pancasila. The old colonial teaching method limited
transferring skills. Many Timorese people have been taught by that system during Indonesian colonial
times. Colonized people lost the opportunity to develop literal, creative or critical ways of thinking, in
which social conditions and culture were not able to move forward into modern ideas. For example most
women were not educated which led to today‘s high illiteracy problems. The social environment during
colonial times also did not allow people to value a quality education. Many parents said, =You want to
study for what? To be a president? We already have a president!‘Because of those things, the illiterates
were victims of an unequal schooling system and cultural influences. 279
Pinto (2009), explains:
=..feto Timor barak mak seidauk hatene lee no hakerek ida-ne‘e tamba laiha inan-aman
ida mak haree didiak edukasaun labarik feto sira nian, dala barak labarik feto sira lahetan
oportuniade atu eskola ho razaun ajuda inan halo servisu iha uma. Inan-aman balun halo tuir
kustumi hanesan viza avo nian ne‘ebe hateten katak labarik feto sira di‘ak liu lalika eskola,
eskola mos hanesan de‘it, iha loron ikus sei la lori buat ida ba familia‘.
(A lot of women are illiterate because their parents did not pay attention to their
daughters, sometimes girls did not get the opportunity to go to school because they were
needed to help their mothers at homes. They believe it was better for girls not to go to school.
It is just the same if they go to school or not because in the end they will contribute nothing to
the family). Pinto 2009:7
Therefore in 2005 the government decided to promote adult literacy as a national campaign in the country
to ensure people‘s participation in the development process. The high illiteracy rates in Timor-Leste
reflect the unequal structure of the society. Illiteracy is an enormous problem for progress as it prevents
people from participating effectively in political and economic development and building democracy. The
concept of a national adult literacy campaign is the focus of this paper based on my research for my
undergraduate thesis.