The evolution of education in Timor Leste has been characterized by three distinct periods, coinciding with (i) the Portuguese colonial rule (from early 1500s to 1975), (ii) the Indonesian occupation (from 1975 to 1999) and (iii) the UNTAET administration (from October 1999 until independence in May 2002). Under Portuguese colonial rule, education was administered via the Catholic Church. Churches were the major providers of education and schooling was mostly available to the elite in urban areas. When, in 1975, Indonesia invaded the country, literacy rates were extremely low, at around five percent (UNDP 2002). Gender disparities were also very large.

The Indonesian government planned to expand education access to the whole population of Timor Leste. Education was used as a means to control the population, and the Portuguese and Tetum languages were abolished. Under the Indonesian education system, children had to enroll in primary school by the age of 7, and were supposed to finish primary school at 12 years old (grade 6). In 1994, basic education was made compulsory up to low secondary school (nine grades of education up to age 15). But, as there was no enforcement mechanism to complete all nine grades, the average schooling level across the population of Timor Leste was still primary school.

Enrolment rates increased dramatically over those years, with gross enrolment ratios around 90 percent. The gender gap also started to close down. In 1995, every village in Timor Leste had a primary school (UNDP 2002). Despite these encouraging figures, education performance under the Indonesian occupation was still characterized by delayed entry to school, high repetition rates and high drop-out rates. The net enrolment ratio in 1995 was 70 percent. In that year, less than half of individuals aged between 15 and 19 had completed primary school education (UNDP 2002).

The main reasons explaining this poor performance were the low quality of school standards, the low quality of teachers, shortages of textbooks and classrooms, and the inability of households to pay for school fees and other additional costs, such as books or uniforms. Another reason was the unwillingness of some Timorese people to send their children to school, as this was seen as a sign of being part of the Indonesian repressive system (UNPD 2002).

After the referendum in 1999, almost all schools were destroyed and most teachers fled to Indonesia. The school system was almost totally destroyed in the ensuing wave of violence, and schools did not reopen until October 2000.<sup>3</sup> The reconstruction process in the aftermath of 1999 was very rapid as significant flows of international aid reached the country. Immediately after 1999, primary school enrolment rates increased significantly with a large number of over-age students enrolling in primary school for the first time. This created an enrolment ―bulge‖ in primary school levels (Nicolai 2004). The net primary school enrolment rose by 10 percentage points (from 65 to

> 3 However, anecdotal evidence shows that some children were still able to attend school in the 1999/00 academic year either in refugee camps or in local schools were people were displaced (Nicolai 2004).

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