WARRENSBURG, Missouri — Kiribati is a remote country of 33 scattered atolls and is one of the least developed Pacific Islands. Its natural resources are scarce and tourism provides more than one-fifth of the country’s GDP. Recently, climate change has been a major factor affecting Kiribati—its human rights policies have been under scrutiny by the U.N., and in 2013, Kiribatian President Anote Tong stated that education in Kiribati is key to the future of his people, who are threatened by climate change.
Kiribati, formerly known as The Gilbert Islands, was granted complete independence from the U.K. in 1979 under its new name. The country is four times the size of Washington, D.C. and its education expenditure in 2001 was 12 percent of GDP—ranking fourth in comparison to the rest of the world.
Kiribati’s education system is operated by the Ministry of Education, Training and Technology, or METT. It covers the primary and secondary schools and the three tertiary institutions—the Tarawa Teachers’ College, the Technical Institute, the Marine Training Centre, the Curriculum Development Unit and the national Library and Archives. Due to collaborative efforts by outsiders, NGOs, offices in Tarawa and more, METT has coordinated non-formal education since 1993.
With the climate change, new year and the U.N. stepping in to review Kiribati’s human rights policies, let us take a look at what Kiribati has done in the past and present, as well as future goals to further develop themselves as a country in terms of education as well as the structure of their education system.
Paragraph 19.8 of the Seventh Development plan states, “The broad aim of the Government is to develop an educational system, which provides to all young and adults, irrespective of age, the means to ample self-fulfillment, which reflects the needs and conditions both in terms of quality and quantity. In this context, the Government aims to provide for a continuous process of education for physical, intellectual, and cultural development of people and to inculcate in them capabilities to cope with emerging situations.”
According to UNESCO, the goals of Kiribati’s early childhood development are to (1) improve the quality of re-school learners, (2) to expand pre-school teaching programs, and (3) to develop early childhood education programs. In Kiribati, the first six years of formal education is within a primary school model that includes grades one through six. The International Council for Open and Distance Education, or ICODE, reports there are 91 government-run primary schools in Kiribati.
UNESCO also reported three goals of Kiribati’s primary education: (1) to improve the standard of education to be more relevant to the needs of the outer islands and higher education, (2) to upgrade teacher training programs to diploma level, and (3) to review the Class 1-6 curriculum.
ICODE also reported, “primary students compete for places in secondary school through a process of entrance examinations with less than 20% being successful in gaining a place. However, they can continue to attend Primary School for grades 7-9. The secondary schools are modeled upon a Junior High (forms 1-3) and Senior High School (forms 4-6) structure.”
The country was not only taking young students into consideration, they also have goals toward the quality of education and adult literacy. On Dec. 12, 1995, Kiribati ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child thereby making a commitment to the child’s right to education. Article 28 of CRC establishes that right expressing that education is recognized to be essential for all children—the article stresses the right must be achieved on the basis of equal opportunity.
This article would help (1) make primary education compulsory and available to all, (2) promote the different forms of secondary education and vocational education, (3) make higher education accessible to all, (4) make educational and vocational information readily available, and (5) take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and reducing dropout rates.
– Eastin Shipman
Sources: ABC, CIA World Factbook, International Council for Open and Distance Education, Radio New Zealand International 1, Radio New Zealand International 2, UNESCO 1, UNESCO 2
Photo: Fly Stream