This makes teaching a physically risky job, and more and moreteachers say they have had enough of the turmoil in East Timor,ahead of a vote on autonomy or independence, and enough of their students' aggressiveness. In mid-March, some 3,000 teachers staged a rally in front ofthe provincial educational office here to demand from thegovernment that they be sent home. ''We cannot accomplish ourduties with constant fear of terror and physical harassment,''shouted the teachers' spokesman. Amid all this, the education system here has been crippled. Teachers are reluctant to work. Thousands of Timorese students areabandoned.
Schools are quiet, classes are missed and teachingschedules suspended.
Education, along with basic services such as health andmedicine, is suffering in the wakeof a spate of violence here and the departure of many Indonesiansfrom this territory at the eastern end of the country. The reluctance of teachers to come, much less stay in EastTimor is crucial because education here is heavily dependent oninstructors from elsewhere in Indonesia. East Timor is alreadyamong the most backward and poorest areas in Indonesia, in termsof literacy and other human development indicators. Since East Timor was ''integrated'' into Indonesia in 1976, ayear after the military invaded it, some 4,000 teachers fromvarious areas have been assigned here. They make up some 76percent of East Timor's teacher population.