Paulina Quintao – Educators are using classroom time to conduct business activities, according to Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) program manager Matias dos Santos.

He said the Education Ministry needed to take action on this issue as it had the potential to seriously disrupt the learning process.

"In some schools, we have identified that teachers are selling things," he said. "The ministry must create regulations to stop this."

Teachers were found to be selling things such as noodles, ice and chocolates during class time, he said.

Parents had voiced concern about the sale of food items on road verges. These items presented a health risk as they could be contaminated by dust, the parents claimed.

Commission F (health, education, culture, veterans' affairs and gender equality) president Virgilio da Costa Hornai shrugged off the suggestion that teachers selling items during class time was a major problem, provided they did not abandon their pupils. He said the economic situation was to blame for teachers running businesses.

He urged parents and teachers to work together to open school canteens which would offer food for students as well as supplement schools' incomes.

Deputy Education Minister for Primary Education Dulce de Jesus Soares said she was unaware of the reports of teachers selling things during class time.

"The Ministry will try to find the information; when we get the proof that the teachers are conducting business, we will take the disciplinary action against them in accordance with the public service laws," she said.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/education/12936-teachers-sell-goods-on-class-time