Page 25 - IB February 2024

Education

“How might we
ensure that students
across the region
receive high quality
education despite
the impacts of
climate change
and other related
challenges?”
- EQAP Director, Dr
Michelle Belisle

Children in a remote village in Fiji cross a river daily using a
bamboo raft to reach school. Photo: Fiji Ministry of Education

DROPOUTS DECLINING, BUT

EDUCATION CHALLENGES REMAIN

By Richard Naidu “There is a huge bulge of a youth population less than 30
years old in PNG,” says Samof.
Analysis of 2021 data on student retention and attrition Economist Naren Prasad, originally from Fiji and who is now
of students indicates that student dropouts are gradually the head of education and training at the International Labor
decreasing in the region. Organization (ILO), wrote recently that migration of teachers
Data collected by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, also has the potential to affect education in the region, and
Scientific and Cultural Organization) Institute of Statistics that to ensure Pacific children get an equitable and high-
shows that less than 3% of primary school-aged children and a quality secondary education, “the curricular would need
third of adolescents and youth of secondary age in the Pacific to be aligned with labour-market needs to avoid structural
Islands are not enrolled in school. unemployment.”
However, qualitative data from the region suggests that He noted in the Oxford Handbook of Governance and Public
increasing dropout rates – at different levels of the education Management for Social Policy published last year, that other
system – still pose a significant challenge for the education challenges in the region relate to the quality of education
ministries in the region, according to the Pacific Community’s in rural schools in particular, and financing management
Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP). and building costs, “which depends on the community’s
In terms of student retention, EQAP says the latest income level and results in poorly equipped schools in poor
available data shows that on average, 85% of students communities.”
reach the last grade of primary education, while 15% of Addressing International Day of Education celebrations in
students drop out of primary education in selected Pacific Suva last month, EQAP Director, Dr Michelle Belisle, put the
Island countries. Data at the secondary school level is “not challenge of delivering education to the region in the context
consistent to carry out the required analysis,” says EQAP. of its development challenges.
Overall, the out-of-school rate is relatively low for smaller “More than 45% of the population lacks access to basic
Pacific Island countries such as Niue, Tonga, and Samoa, drinking water facilities, and more than two thirds live
but in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, a significant without access to basic sanitation. In addition, drinking water
proportion of students are not enrolled in primary education. and wastewater facilities are continuously impacted by the
The number of children not in school, is a major worry. increase in extreme weather events, especially 60% of the
In PNG every year, an estimated 20,000 Grade 12 students region’s infrastructure [is] located within 500 meters of the
don’t continue their education at tertiary level and are coast. So, with those statistics in mind, how might we ensure
unaccounted for, and roughly 50,000 Grade 10 students that students across the region receive high quality education
don’t continue to Grade 11. Kelly Samof, economics lecturer despite the impacts of climate change and other related
with the University of Papua New Guinea, says this means challenges?” Belisle asked.
the country will have about one million unemployed school- The Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF) is a
leavers in 10 years’ time (see cover story, page 16). regional initiative designed to support Pacific Island countries

Islands Business, February 2024 25