Through the commitments the Government has made to international conventions and declarations, in particular those outlined below, the Government has also recognised the following national Goals in relation to education.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Fiji ratified the CRC on August 13^th 1993, thereby, making a commitment to the child’s right to education. Article 28 of CRC establishes that right. Education is recognised to be essential for all children. The article stresses the right must be achieved on the basis of equal opportunity". This in summary includes:

• Making primary education compulsory and available free to all;
• Promoting the different forms of secondary education and vocational education;
• Making higher education accessible to all;
• Making educational and vocational information readily available; and
• Taking measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and reducing dropout rates.

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)

Fiji endorsed the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994. As such, the Government pledged:

• To achieve universal access to quality education, with particular priority being given to primary and technical education and job training, to combat illiteracy and to eliminate gender disparities in access to, retention in, and support for, education;
• To promote non-formal education for young people, guaranteeing equal access for women and men to literacy centres; and
• To introduce and improve the content of the curriculum so as to promote greater responsibility and awareness on the interrelationships between population and sustainable development; health issues, including reproductive health; and gender equity.

Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Fiji acceded to the CEDAW . By doing so, the Government acknowledges the strategic objectives contained within CEDAW relating to the elimination of gender discrimination against girls and women. These include:

• Ensuring equal access to education;
• Eradicating illiteracy among women;
• Improving women’s access to vocational training, science and technology and continuing education;
• Developing non-discriminatory education and training;
• Allocating sufficient resources to monitor the implementation of educational reforms.

Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development

• The right of all children to education;
• That school discipline will be administered in a manner consistent with the child’s dignity;
• To encourage the international cooperation in education especially to eliminate ignorance and illiteracy;
• That the education of the child should be directed to developing the personality of the child, their talents and mental and physical abilities: developing respect for the child’s parents, cultural identity, language and values; preparing the child for responsible life in a free society and developing respect for the natural environment;

Table 1

The low gross enrolment for early childhood education shows the lack of awareness of such form of education amongst the communities in Fiji. Early childhood education has only been accessible to children in the urban centres, particularly those in the cities and towns or in areas where there are those who know how to operate this particular type of school. Early Childhood Education was virtually unknown in the rural areas.

With awareness campaigns being initiated by pre-school officers of the Ministry of Education the local communities have now taken the initiative to set up their own pre-school centres. In the last three years the idea has spread quickly to the rural areas and we now see more and more centres being established in the rural community.

Table 2

The percentage of children who enter school with at least one year of Early Childhood Education behind them is slowly increasing as the community awareness and commitment to ECD becomes more apparent.

a] Apparent gross intake rate - total

Table 3

The gross intake rate is very high for Fiji and continues to get higher. The analysis by individual age groups of the new intake in to Class 1 shows that there are a lot of under-age children entering Class 1 every year. There is a high proportion of children who enter class aged 5 years and this may be attributed to the number of children who are now attending pre-school education. The high gross intake may also be a result of some of the recent policies and programmes, such as the Compulsory Education project. It does demonstrate that those children who are legally expected to be in school are actually attending.

b] Apparent gross intake rate – by ethnicity

Table 4

Comparing the gross intake rate for the major ethnic groups in Fiji it can be seen that the ethnic Fijians have the highest gross intake rate. This is followed by the rate for Indians, following the trend set by the Fijians. The two ethnic groups are doing well in getting their children to enter school at the correct age for entry.

Looking at the gross intake for the ‘others’ ethnic group it is seen that they have a low gross intake rate for the years 1996 and 1998. This shows that some children who should have enrolled at school have not yet done so. In 1998 the gross intake rate was 96.32% showing that there was a remaining 3.68% of children who are not yet enrolled at school.

c] Apparent gross intake rare – by gender

Table 5

In comparing the gross intake rates along gender lines, the gross intake rate for males is slightly

higher than that of females. However the difference is not high enough to be a cause for concern

a] Total net intake rates

Table 6

The net intake rate was very low for the three years from 1995 and increased dramatically in 1998. This rate shows that some of the 6 year old students are at other class levels and have entered the school system at an age other than that of the legal age.

b] Net intake rate by ethnicity

Table 7

In comparing the net intake rates for ethnic groups it is noted that the rate for the ethnic Fijians is higher than that of the other ethnic groups. The lower rate for the Indians shows that their children are entering Class 1 as a much lower age that the official age of entry. The low intake rate for the ‘others’ is looked at with some concern due to their correspondingly low gross intake rate.

c] Net intake rate by gender

Table 8

There is not much difference between the net intake rates for male and female.

a] Gross enrolment ratio: Class 1-6

Table 9

The gross enrolment ratio continues to increase from 1996 to 1998 showing the improvement in access to basic education in Fiji. Universal primary education has almost been achieved for lass 1-6 as shown by the large enrolment ratio.

b] Gross enrolment ratio : Class 8

Table 10

Considering the full primary cycle, Class 1-8, Fiji still has a high gross enrolment ratio. There is an overlap between primary and secondary school levels at the Class 7 & 8 levels in primary and Form 1 & 2 at the secondary level. Class 7 & 8 is equivalent to Form 1 & 2 in the secondary school level and the enrolment of the two equivalent levels have to be combined when calculating enrolment ratios up to Class 7 & 8.

The lower gross enrolment, when extended to Class 8, shows the effect of some drop-out after Class 6 or in between classes. Class 6 is the point where students sit the external examination called the Fiji Intermediate Entrance Examination [FIEE] This is usually a cause of drop –out as some students do not make it to Class 7 or Form 1.

c] Gross enrolment ratio – Class 1-8: Ethnic groups

Table 11

The gross enrolment ratio for Class 1-6 is higher for Fijians compared to the other groups. For the ‘others’ the gross enrolment ratio is less than 100% which may indicate a problem of access to schooling for this ethnic group.

d] Gross enrolment ratio – Class 1-8: Ethnic groups

Table 12

When extending the class range to Class 8 it is found that the ethnic Fijians are still enjoying a high gross enrolment ratio compared to the other ethnic groups. The rates for the other two ethnic groups have dropped significantly in comparison.

It may be deduced therefore that access to primary schooling may be better for ethnic Fijians than for the other ethnic groups.