Dulce de Jesus Soares

Dulce de Jesus Soares
Soares in 2019
Minister of Education
Assumed office
1 July 2023
PresidentJosé Ramos-Horta
Prime MinisterXanana Gusmão
Preceded byArmindo Maia
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport
In office
22 June 2018 – 25 May 2020
PresidentFrancisco Guterres
Prime MinisterTaur Matan Ruak
Preceded byFernando Hanjam
Succeeded byArmindo Maia
Deputy Minister of Education I
In office
16 February 2015 – 15 September 2017
PresidentTaur Matan Ruak
Prime MinisterRui Maria de Araújo
Succeeded byLurdes Maria Bessa
Deputy Minister of Basic Education
In office
8 August 2012 (2012-08-08) – 16 February 2015 (2015-02-16)
PresidentTaur Matan Ruak
Prime MinisterXanana Gusmão
Preceded byPaulo Assis Belo
Personal details
Born (1967-10-20) 20 October 1967
PartyNational Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT)
Alma materUdayana University (BA)
Victoria University (MA)
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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 than as 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.