Dulce de Jesus Soares

Dulce de Jesus Soares (born 20 October 1967) is an East Timorese politician who has served as Minister of Education in Timor-Leste's IX Constitutional Government since 2023. A member of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party, she previously served as Minister of Education, Youth and Sport in the VIII Constitutional Government from 2018 to 2020. She served as a deputy minister of education in early governments from 2012 to 2015 and again from 2015 to 2017.

Born in Maliana, she completed her undergraduate education in Indonesia and later earned a master's degree in Australia. She began her career as an English teacher and then became a regional planning official in the Bobonaro Municipality government. Before entering government, she was a program officer with UNICEF working on developing Timor-Leste's laws and policies related to children's rights.

Early life and education Soares was born on 20 October 1967 in Maliana, Portuguese Timor, in what is now Bobonaro Municipality. She grew up in a remote area of Bobonaro, where her father was a teacher at a Catholic school. She later studied at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, from June 2005 to December 2007, earning a Master of Arts in international community development. In the cabinet reshuffle following Rui Maria de Araújo's appointment as prime minister, she was named Deputy Minister of Education I in the VI Constitutional Government, a position she held from 16 February 2015 to 15 September 2017. Following the unexpected death of education minister Fernando de Araújo on 2 June 2015, Soares served as interim minister until the new education minister, António da Conceição, was sworn in.

In these roles, Soares oversaw several significant educational reforms, including revisions to preschool and primary school curricula, advocating for mother-tongue education, and new policies related to educational access and inclusion. Following the breakdown of the ruling coalition in the early months of 2020, the CNRT decided on 20 April 2020 that its members serving in the government would resign their positions. The CNRT informed the government of its decision on 8 May 2020, and Soares resigned on 25 May 2020 along with four other CNRT ministers.

Following her resignation from government, Soares worked coordinating donor aid projects related to COVID-19 pandemic relief from 2020 to 2021.''' She was sworn in along with the other newly-appointed members of government the following day in a ceremony held at Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace in Dili.

Personal life Soares lives in the Palapaso neighborhood of Dili. She is Catholic. In addition to her mother tongue, Tetum, she speaks English, Indonesian, and Portuguese.