A four-day regional training workshop to support school readiness and reading for Pacific children and teachers, is underway in Nuku’alofa this week with 50 participants from eight Pacific Island countries and development partners, including practitioners, attending.

The workshop is part of the Pacific Early Age Readiness and Learning (PEARL) Program funded through the Global Partnership for Education and led by the World Bank.

In its third year of operation, the initial PEARL pilot project results in Tonga shows teaching practices and reading outcomes for students are improving.

Children up to the age of 5 years develop foundations for language, thought and learning processes, movement and coordination.

Tonga’s Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training, Hon ‘Akilisi Pohiva stated that investing in early childhood learning is important.

“Investments in the early years of children’s lives and in the first grades of their education are among the most important actions governments can take.”

“An important component of PEARL is the sharing of our experiences…to improve the design of interventions on school readiness and reading improvement. It is a privilege for Tonga to be the place for this important event,” he stated,

The workshop will look at case studies from countries around the world such as Mexico, Tuvalu, Tonga and Kenya.

The studies will provide government's insights and learning opportunities to improve the foundations of childhood learning experiences.

Pilot programmes already underway in Tonga will enable workshop participants to view first hand how activities are held including low cost, community, play-based activity groups as well as schools implementing instructional reading programs.

The PEARL programme works with families and communities to create an environment where children can reach their full potential as well as supporting teachers to combine new teaching methods for reading, fluency and comprehension in the Tongan language.

World Bank’s Education Practice Manager, Harry Patrinos said “Early childhood experiences can make big differences to education outcomes for children.”

“Through the PEARL Program we’re piloting a range of new teaching and learning methods and are seeing big improvements in learning outcomes. This workshop will help us to share those lessons and learn from others, so we all go away with new techniques and better practices,” he said.