Destruction

An UNTIM office - 95% of the education system in East Timor was destroyed in 1999

In September 1999 when the Indonesian military and their militia rampaged through East Timor destroying vital infrastructure, the education system was a major target for destruction. This was known as the Scorched Earth Operation.

The first buildings to be razed were resistance centres including the CNRT offices and student centres. Then the schools, colleges and the university were destroyed. Ninety-five per cent of school buildings in East Timor were destroyed. The UNTIM and Polytechnic buildings in Dili and in Hera, as well as the Nurses Institute, were looted, smashed and burnt with little surviving the onslaught.

University students fanned across the country before the referendum in 1999 to work for the vote for independence, many being killed in the violence that followed. After the destruction students again went to regional areas to teach classes in burnt out buildings to keep the children learning and the schools open. They also organised classes for tertiary students when no other education facilities were operational.