The Tonga Education Support Program (TESP), which was to be launched today September 19, has been deferred to mid-November, because of the need to meet new salary increases for civil servants.

Initially, the TESP was a five-year program to be funded jointly by the New Zealand and Tongan governments, and in May the New Zealand government announced that it would contribute $NZ14 million, and the Tongan Government contribution would be made through a loan of $USD 1 million from the World Bank.

Tonga signed an agreement with the World Bank on July 5, for the release of USD$4.82 million, when it was announced that the project would now be financed by US$3.82 million in grants from the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) managed by a World Bank Trust Fund and US$1 million in interest-free loans from the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank.

The difference in the World Bank figures and the original commitent by New Zealand for the project has not been clarified.

Meanwhile, Viliami Takau, Tonga's Director of Education, said that the World Bank and the New Zealand Government had agreed to postpone the launching date, because of the current reallocation of votes within ministries to pay the salary increases that have been demanded by civil servants.

Despite the set back in the date for launching the program Viliami said that in July they had picked the Overall Supervisor and the Procurement Advisor for TESP after interviewing 14 professionals who applied for the two posts from all over the world. He said that the successful applicants would be announced during the next two weeks.

Viliami said that New Zealand is committing to finance the first three years, after which they together with the World Bank will assess the program...’s progress, its impact and development and if satisfied will re-commit for the another two years.

Funds that have been allocated for the program would be managed by the Tongan Treasury.

Upgrading education

He said that under TESP funds would be used to address three main stages, which will run concurrently once the program begins in November.

The first stage is to upgrade the basic universal education for all schools by developing the overall curriculum of the education sector as well as helping church schools to meet an equal level with Government schools.

The second stage addresses skill training for teachers and education workers so they could redefine their performances to meet a set level of requirement for the development of education system in Tonga.

And the third stage looks at upgrading the administration and management of the general education sector.

Viliami said that because New Zealand and the World Bank loan are such a huge fund the Ministry of Education has a Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) that aims for more accountability and transparency on how funds are managed.

He said that SWAP looks at the whole education sector in general in the next 15 years, "it is a long term plan for restructuring, setting requirements, establishing a common standard for all levels, quality control and monitoring of that set standard, planning and policy making."