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Address by H.E. Ambassador Liu Hongyang at the Opening Ceremony of New Classrooms of Becussi Primary School

(From Chinese Embassy in East Timor)

2015-08-19 23:26

Your Excellency Madame Kirsty Sword Gusmao,
Your Excellency Minister Xanana Gusmao,
Your Excellency Vice Minister Dulce de Jesus Soares,
Dear Young Friends of Becussi Primary School,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It's my great pleasure to attend the opening ceremony of new classrooms of Becussi Primary School. This newly expanded school is a fruit of close cooperation between us in the education sector. Back in 2013, at the request of Madame Kirsty Sword Gusmao, Goodwill Ambassador for Education of Timor-Leste, the Chinese Embassy funded the new classrooms building program for Becussi Primary School, in joint efforts with kind-hearted people from all walks of life. Thanks to the leadership and coordination by the Office of Goodwill Ambassador for Education, and with great support from Ministry of Education and relevant personnel of Timor-Leste, the new classrooms of Becussi Primary School are finally put into educational use after a two-year period of construction. I feel honored to witness such an important moment today. On behalf of my predecessor Ambassador Tian Guangfeng, and my colleagues from the Chinese Embassy, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to our young friends of the Becussi Primary School.

Before I came here, I was told that the local residents have waited 17 years for this school to be expanded. In the past, over 300 pupils of this school had to endure the crowdedness of classrooms built from a former military depot of Portuguese times, and the teachers had to group all the pupils of 6 grades into 3 shifts a day and gave them respective lectures. Now, the expanded school has 3 new classrooms and 1 teachers' room, covering a total area of 315 square meters. Besides the over 300 pupils at the current stage, it will be able to accommodate an additional 200 pupils from neighboring sucos, offering better educational opportunities for them.

There is an old Chinese saying, which goes, when planning for one year, grow rice, when planning for ten years, plant trees, when planning for a hundred years, educate people. It is needless to emphasize upon the importance of education to poverty reduction and alleviation, promotion of labor quality, and improvement of overall social productivity. The very first sight at the brand-new Becussi Primary School brings me back to my memory of China's Hope Project started from the 1980s. It was out of the great importance attached to education, that the Chinese government established and implemented the Hope Project, to construct more than 15,000 Hope Primary Schools in China's remotest and least developed areas, and to fund more than 3 million children from the poorest rural families to receive basic education. Now, after nearly 3 decades, those young pupils who were assisted by the Hope Project have grown to become a supportive force in China's economic and social development.

Education not only changes the quality of life, but also alters the destiny of a country. That is why education is one of the major areas of cooperation between China and Timor-Leste. Ever since 2006, the Chinese government has been offering scholarships to nationals of Timor-Leste. As of August 2015, more than 80 students from Timor-Leste were granted the Chinese government scholarship to receive university education in China. In addition, China also offers high-level master degree scholarships to government officials of Timor-Leste. Up till now, 13 government officials and university graduates of Timor-Leste were granted scholarships for their postgraduate studies in China.

China will be committed to strengthening our educational cooperation with Timor-Leste. We will offer necessary software and hardware assistance within our capacity, support your educational development, primary education included, and assist Timor-Leste in cultivating more and more talents to serve as active building force for the economic and social development of Timor-Leste.

I hope my young friends of Becussi Primary School can study hard and grow up quickly, to become contributors to national construction of Timor-Leste, and carry forward the traditional friendship between our two countries and our two peoples.

Thank you.

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