| The EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports | |
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| Tuvalu |
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Part I Descriptive Section
Introduction
Country
Tuvalu archipelago consists of nine coral atolls dispersed over 1.3 million square kilometres of Pacific Ocean, stretching in a north-south direction over some 560 kilometres between latitudes 5 degrees and 11 degrees south and longitudes 176 degrees and 180 degrees east. The nearest neighbours are Kiribati and Nauru to the north, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the west, Samoa to the south-east, and Fiji and Tonga to the south. The total land area of the country is approximately 26 square kilometres. The atolls vary in size ranging from Vaitupu with a land area of 4.9 square kilometres to Niulakita with an area of only 0.4 square kilometres. The tropical climate brings uniform temperatures ranging between 25 and 32 degrees centigrade, high humidity and heavy rainfall averaging 3064 millimetres per annum. Drought periods of up to three months are common, particularly in the islands situated in the north. Hurricanes and damaging high winds also occur. The high rainfall and porous sandy nature of the soil severely limit agricultural production.
Population
According to the 1991 census, Tuvalu records a population of more than 9045 persons, 40% of whom live on the capital island of Funafuti. About 20% of the Tuvalu people live out of their country, especially in Nauru or as seamen in several shipping companies.
State of Economy
As a small island state with limited resources, Tuvalu faces many severe constraints in quest of sustainable growth and improved living conditions for its people. Subsistence activity, which is concentrated mainly in the fishing and agricultural areas, accounts for almost a quarter of production. Agriculture, fisheries and overseas employment of Tuvaluans are the key factors capable of contributing to Tuvalu’s growth objectives. Tourism and manufacturing for export offer further possibilities but, especially in the case of the former, mainly in the longer term. In any case, future progress is seen as depending heavily on the success of the Education for Life program. The EFL program was created in 1988 and was adapted in 1993 by Education Officers. A meeting on this issue was held at Tuvalu in February 1994 in order to define the education priorities of the country.
1.EFA Goals and Targets
The Kakeega o Tuvalu – National Development Strategy 1995-1998 identifies five priority programs. One of them is the Education For Life Program. Government of Tuvalu cherishes quality education and therefore ranks it as a top priority.
In respect of the six dimensions defined in paragraph 8 of the Framework of Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs, the National EFA Goals and Targets have already been included in the Government white paper known as EFL.
The EFA initiative covers a wide range of goals such as:
Goal : To bring Early Childhood Development under the Education system.
Before the restructuring of the education system Early Childhood Education was
operated by the communities. There was no support given by government.
Pre-schools were operated under voluntary basis and teachers were appointed and paid very poorly. There were no proper buildings for the children and teachers were not trained. After the restructuring of the education system the following strategies were in place:
After the restructuring of the Education System in 1998 some of the National Education For All goals and targets contained in the Tuvalu National Education Policy Document are:
Comments on goals:
(i) Under the National Education Goals the government was convinced that human development, especially through education and training, had a key role to play in the future prosperity of the nation, that is, to ensure efficient and effective delivery of education and training services, and to provide for long term sustainability. The government believed that the outcome of the National EFA/EFL broad Goals would provide all Tuvaluans with equal access to knowledge, skills and values which are necessary to achieve a higher degree of productivity and self-reliance within the framework of the Tuvalu culture and tradition.
(ii) Responsibility for Education
The overall responsibility for education rests with the Minister who may make such arrangements as are considered necessary to ensure that education and training opportunities are provided for children according to their age, aptitude and ability, and for adults.
Government’s overall policy is to provide equal access to education and training to all Tuvaluans, including women and rural people. Children from 3-5 years will have access to a programme of pre-school education which will, in time, be linked to the primary sector. Participation will be on a voluntary basis. A minimum of ten years compulsory education will be provided for all Tuvaluans between the ages of 6 and 15. Normally it will correspond to the completion of schooling from class 1 to 10.
The development of the new curriculum for primary schools has already been started. It is expected that it will be completed by the end of 1999.
The EFA/EFL National Programme places special emphasis on the encouragement of community participation and support for educational infrastructure and activities, responsibilities and ownership. Through its participation in regional initiatives such as the BELS, primary schools have started to implement some of the activities from the BELS programme that enhanced greater participation of the community in school.
Government is undergoing a major refurbishment of the existing classrooms. Its new project for the construction of new classrooms for primary schools has also been started. It is expected that by the year 2004 all new primary school classrooms will be in place.
Faced with the great shortage of trained primary school teachers, government will continue to send students to Teacher Training Colleges abroad for their training. In-country upgrading programmes for teachers will be strengthened to improve the existing teachers’ professionalism.
(viii) Disabled
Education of the disabled had been, and is still, in the hands of the Red Cross. However, government plans to establish a national centre for the education of the disabled. This will go along with other Early Childhood developments in the country that are yet to be accomplished. Teachers are to undertake formal training in this area and are expected to run the Centre when they have completed their training.
1.4 Learning Achievement
At the end of pre-school education pupils are expected to be able to count and recognise the numbers 1 to 5. They are also expected to be able to know the Tuvaluan alphabet.
At the end of each level in primary education there should be an examination to determine how well each student has mastered the content of the syllabus taught at each respective level. Teachers should make sure that the content of the syllabus for each level is covered accordingly.
In-class supervision by the School Supervisor should take place two to three times a year at each primary school.
Class teachers should prepare their student’s progress chart for all subjects. At the end of primary education a national examination is conducted to provide information for each student’s achievement. This will provide information to teachers who teach at the junior secondary school. Another examination is provided at the end of year 10 after the students have completed their junior secondary education. This will determine those students who should move to Senior Secondary, which is Form 5 to Form 7. Those students who fail will repeat their Form 4 and those who pass move on to Form 5.
1.4 Adults/Literacy
Out of the population of 8000 adults in Tuvalu more than 90% can read and write in Tuvaluan language. The National EFA/EFL programme emphasises the development of values and attitudes that will make it possible not only to learn in order to understand but also to learn to share and show solidarity with the aspirations of the community.
1.5 Skills
(a) Educational programmes on Tuvalu culture should be included in the curriculum for primary schools.
1.6 Quality of Life
Some common elements of the accepted quality of standards of living are a reasonable life expectancy, adequate food and nutrition, basic housing, clothing, water and sanitation, adequate income and meaningful employment, access to health and education services and ability to participate in community life and cultural pursuits.
Some further common elements of the accepted quality of standards of living are to eliminate the problem of ignorance among the school leavers, and the ignorance of their basic responsibilities and obligations to their families, community and the nation.
2. EFA strategy and/or plan of action
The national Plan of action is embedded in the EFL Plan of Action . To achieve these objectives the government plans to:
(See Annexe 2)
3.EFA decision-making and management
3.1 Education Ordinance
Under the Education Ordinance, the overall responsibility for education in Tuvalu rests with the Minister of Education who may make such arrangements as are considered necessary to ensure that education and training opportunities are provided for all children according to their age, aptitude and ability and for adults as well.
3.2 Educational Advisory Committee
It is clearly spelt out in Part 3 of the Education Ordinance that an Advisory Committee comprised of six members shall be appointed whose functions shall be:
3.3 The Committee may:
As well:
4.Co-operation in EFA
4.1 The national principal actors in the implementation of EFA activities are the following
Red Cross
Churches
Pre-school Council of Women
Island Communities
4.2 Early Childhood Education
The Department of Education together with the Island Communities are the principal implementers in providing Early Childhood Education. The Red Cross is very active in providing education for the disadvantaged and disabled although the number of children in this category is believed to be not more than twenty for the whole country.
4.3 Basic Education
The Department of Education is the main provider of Basic Education throughout the country and the churches are assisting.
4.4 Adult Education
The Department of Education, other Government Departments and non-governmental organisations provide training to meet Basic Learning Needs of adults. Various training has been given in the form of workshops or seminars either on the capital or on the outer islands. Health and Nutrition, Home Management, Community and Life skills including Art and Craft are some of the activities that have been incorporated into adult education programmes.
5.Investment in EFA since 1990
Significant changes have been made in public expenditure on primary schooling and other basic education. Since 1990, public expenditure on education has been steadily increasing. The Government of Tuvalu cherishes quality education and therefore ranks it at top priority among other things. In practical terms, the increased budgetary allocation has been made from 16 percent of recurrent expenditure in early 1990 to 22 percent in the 1998 budget where the total public expenditure on education alone was 23% of the total government budget, which exceeds allocations to other departments.
5.1 Financing Pre-schools
Pre-schools start from Year 3 to 5. Originally, pre-schools fell outside Government responsibility. They were run and financed by parents. Government only provided a small grant as its contribution towards part of the teachers’ salaries. Beginning from this year, 1998, Government has taken keen interest in the overall development of education in the country as a result of the new restructuring of the education system. Therefore, this new initiative to nationalise all pre-schools, meeting up to three teachers’ salaries per pre-school will require a substantive amount of money to be borne by government out of its meagre financial resources. It will also provide funding for the construction of pre-school classrooms. The communities are expected to meet other operational costs. In spite of this burdensome commitment by Government, they realise that human resources development is the key factor to the nation’s now and future development and as such, Government is according education with top priority
5.2 Primary Education
To provide quality education in primary schools, huge financial assistance has been secured from overseas donors such as the French Government, European Union, Japan and Canada in relation to Tuvalu principal donors namely Australia and New Zealand. Out of Government budgetary allocation to Primary schools provisions are made to meet salaries of primary school teachers and all primary schools supplies annually. Government budgetary allocation is reflected in all its annual budgets.
Some funding is provided by Government. The Maritime School, for example, is fully funded as are many adult workshops. Other activities are funded by NGOs and bi-lateral donors.
Again, the funding for the Education For Living is in part by Government and on part by donors.
To date no funding is provided for special skills development programmes outside of the school and adult education provisions.
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