Dili, 26 June 2024 (Média Democracia) – Students who have currently accessed full scholarships held a press conference regarding the politics of the IX government which will change full scholarships to half scholarships. This press conference was held at Jardim 5 de Maio, Colmera, Dili.
In a press conference led by students, Reni Gonçalve from Instituto Superior Cristal (ISC), Nelson da Silva from UNTL and José da Costa from Universidade Católica Timorense (UCT) stated that education is a basic right for all citizens, for students whose parents unable to pay for school so through the government program VIII to provide full scholarships for students and help them to access college education in Timor-Leste. Therefore, these students do not agree with the IX government program which changes full scholarships to half scholarships because it is detrimental to students’ needs.
“Unfortunately, with the politics of awarding IX led by Mr. Kay-Rala Xanana Gusmão on the basis of ministerial diploma no. 11/2024 dated February 7, decided to change the full scholarship to a half scholarship. This decision is very imprudent for us because it will not help us as children from poor communities to access education in Timor-Leste, because changing full scholarships to half scholarships is not only an obstacle for us as poor children to study well. “Good, but it also has other consequences for us, therefore we as students who have received full scholarships in Timor Leste strongly disagree and will not sign a new contract for the half scholarships that FDCH has assign to every university by the determined date.” MC said
The students also emphasized that the government did not have a strong reason to change the full scholarship to a half scholarship, so they did not agree and did not sign the letter that had allocated all universities to change the type of scholarship. Regarding some information, students who access full scholarships do not use them well, because the government does not have concrete data regarding this information.
On the other hand, the student who received the scholarship, Angelita Saldanha, stated that as an active student at the Canossa professional institution and already free of theory, she was just waiting for an internship and so far she had been studying based on the eighth government scholarship, and this program was running smoothly, but the new government had just Just change the full scholarship system to a half scholarship, meaning the government only pays school fees but covers the rest.
“As a student, I feel saddened by the mandate of the new government which decided to close the full scholarship system, I do not agree with reasons such as poor people, as orphans who have been studying only depending on full scholarships but the government says it is closed, therefore there is no longer any hope of continuing my studies because no one can afford to pay for my studies, because my father has died, only has my mother but lives as someone with a physical disability, lives in Viqueque and I live alone in Dili.” Angelita Saldanha said
She added that the government wants to maintain this scholarship because this is the eighth government program for the poor, if the government closes this scholarship there will be problems for her because there is no money to pay house rent and internships, therefore it could be an obstacle to her studies.
Luciana Marques Mendes as an active student at the Universidade de Dili (UNDIL), a friend who helped Angelita Saldanha, said that both of them were students and they left their parents in the village to study in Dili, because they received a full scholarship, they asked the ninth government, please not make changes to the full scholarship, because their studies and daily needs only depend on this full scholarship.
“As a student, I also face problems such as my house rent for six months still not being paid because I don’t have money, therefore I really ask the ninth government not to change the full scholarship, because all our daily needs and school fees are based on the money of this full scholarship.” said Luciana
She continued, every day the owner of boarding house always asks them to pay the rent for six months, therefore they always tell the boarding house to wait a moment because currently they don’t have any money.
Reported by : Basilio & Domingas
Picture by : Domingas
