Pacific Education planners meet in Tonga [1]
Friday, March 20, 2009 - 15:46. Updated on Saturday, May 3, 2014 - 20:39.
A project that aims to develop students' learning by strengthening the capacity of 15 Pacific Islands Ministries of Education to plan and deliver quality basic education, had a regional meeting in Tonga this week.
Called PRIDE, or the Pacific Regional Initiative for the Delivery of Basic Education, the five-year project draws to end this year.
Eighteen Project Coordinators from the Pacific are in Nuku'alofa to report on the status of their respective projects.
The two-day State and National Project Coordinators Workshop was opened on March 18 at the Fa'onelua Centre, and also include a PRIDE team from the University of the South Pacific who are implementing the project.
Director of PRIDE Dr Pricilla Puamau, said after the opening, that the the workshop would discuss challenges faced and prepare a report to be presented to the Pacific Ministers of Education Meeting and the Project Steering Committee to be opened in Nuku'alofa next week.
PRIDE serves the 15 countries of Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
It was initiated in 2004-09 with a joint fund from the European Union of $8 million Euros and NZD$5 million dollars from NZAID. Its objective is to develop students' learning by strengthening the capacity of each Ministry of Education to plan and deliver quality basic education.
Basic education as defined by pride is all education provisions for children and youth except higher education. It includes early childhood, elementary, primary and secondary education, together with Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
Tonga
Dr Pricilla said Tonga joined the project in 2006 and was allocated close to $1 million pa'anga for the implementation of two PRIDE projects of Early Childhood Education and Inclusive Education.
The assistance has been in the form in policy development, capacity building, teachers training and development of resources.
The success of the project is evident in the formation of an Education Policy for Early Childhood Education, which Tonga did not have before as well as the establishment of the first Foundation Certificate Training for teachers in Early Childhood Education provided by the Tonga Institute of Higher Education.
The 10th Pride Regional Meeting will be opened on March 20-24 with the theme 'Sharing Best Practice in Pacific Education', followed by the Pacific Ministers of Education Meeting on March 25.