Number of Portuguese teachers in East Timor to double this year

From here in Portuguese today:

The number of Portuguese teachers in East Timor will double this year from the current 80 to approximately 170, according to an announcement from the MNE (Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The increase in teachers in the country is the result of a new protocol signed between the MNE and East Timor.

These teachers "will be placed in all 13 districts of the country, and the Portuguese cooperation will also contribute "to the training of 7000 East Timorese teacher candidates, as well as teachers that currently teach at primary and secondary schools, in an educational system comprising 300,000 students", said a statement by the MNE sent to the Lusa news agency.

The accord "aims to aid the Timorese educational sector during the 2012 - 2014 period, and at the same time to reinforce the use of the Portuguese language in East Timor"...a better education is the primary objective, considering Portuguese diplomacy to be "vital for the reduction of poverty, and consequent social and economic development of East Timorese society."