Hon. Dr 'Ana Maui Taufe'ulungaki, Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, August 2013.

By Pesi Fonua

Tonga's current education system hampers the development of the talents of Tongan children, and it has to be changed to counter the mounting youth unemployment and school dropouts, believes Tonga's Minister of Education and Training, Dr 'Ana Maui Taufe'ulungaki.

She believes that because they were not colonized, Tongans have fallen asleep.

Educational transformation is a key that can unlock the talents, vitality and creativity of its people to help them flourish.

The changes she is implementing are leading a transformation of Tongan attitudes to their livelihoods, their surroundings and also to each other. 'Ana also recognizes the formidable obstacles faced by many children growing-up in impoverished “at risk families” and the urgent need to find a solution.

A long-term program aims to encourage children to be creative and to find new ways of making a living from whatever they have in their surroundings, and also to encourage entrepreneurship.

School leavers, and dropouts who are mainly boys, are being offered a life-saving chance to complete their education.

'Ana said that to address the problems her ministry had launched both a short-term and a long-term approach.

She told the Media Council's monthly television program, Tala-talanoa, that a short-term program offers, “a bridge or a short cut for those who dropped out to return and complete their secondary education.”

To achieve this goal, Tonga's Ministry of Education and Training has cooperated with the University of the South Pacific (USP), and the Commonwealth of Learning.

"At USP, the approach is for them to take only two subjects, English and Maths, and once they have completed the Form 7 level, they could proceed and pursue a career, or enter USP and enroll in their Foundation program," she said.

Drop-outs

Tonga has a high rate of dropouts and repeats in primary schools and at secondary schools in Form 3 and 4, according to the ADB Tonga Economic Update and Outlook 2012.

'Ana said that most of these dropouts were boys, and “the sad thing about it is that as they get older they shy away from going back to school, and … we end up with a growing number of ill-disciplined school dropouts.”

The repeats and dropouts at primary school level happen at Class Six when students fail the Secondary School Entrance (SSE) examination. Legally a child can leave school after twice failing the SSE examination.

Tonga has 126 Primary schools, 50 secondary schools and 15 vocational and technical institutes. Government operates 112 of the primary school and 14 of the secondary schools, while the rest are run by churches.

In 2008 14,632 students enrolled in secondary schools.

New curriculum

'Ana said that the government's long-term approach included a rewriting of the curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

To address the problem of children repeating and dropping out at the primary school level, 'Ana identified the solution was for children to be introduced to kindergartens at the age of four. After two years at kindergarten, the children would then be ready for schooling when they entered primary schools.

She said that a major obstacle now was the cost of kindergartens, and unfortunately, the parents of the children most at risk were those who could not afford to send their children to kindergarten.

 "These are the parents who do not have the means and the ability to prepare their children to enter primary schools, such as teaching them to know how to play with other children, how to hold a book, and the importance of sitting still and listening; but unless a solution is found, the problems with drop outs and undisciplined behaviour by primary and secondary schools dropouts will remain a challenge to be dealt with," she said.

With the backdrop of Tonga's new Universal Basic Education, Tongan children should remain at school from age 4 to 18 years old, that is from when they enter kindergarten to when they reach Form 6 at secondary school.

During that time a child will be at kindergarten from four to five, then to primary school at six until 11, before starting secondary school in Form 1 at 12, and leaving secondary school at Form 6 at18 years old to pursue his or her career or to go to university.

'Ana said that work on the curriculum for Class 1 to Form 2 had been completed and implemented four years ago. The pupils who are now in Class 4 started their primary school education under the new curriculum, and the success of this new curriculum could be evaluated when they reached Form 2.

"We are changing the curriculum to enable children to pursue other areas, rather than just academics. A new subject, Creative Technology or the New Technology has been introduced. The intention of this program is to encourage children to utilize whatever they have in their environment in a new way; to commercialize, to make things prettier, to turn objects or products in their surrounding to something useful for their families and their communities. In the top forms this subject will be called Design Technology.

"The intention is to encourage children to create something new, and be able to find a new way of how to make a living from whatever they have in their surroundings.

"To advance the economy, we also introduced Entrepreneurship, for students to find new ways of doing business. " said 'Ana.

But under the Universal Basic Education for Tonga, 'Ana said that her ministry is looking at opportunities for children to follow at the end of their secondary education. They are also currently reviewing vocational and technical training, and a study of the job market, "in Tonga and overseas."

Sports

With regards to sports, particularly Rugby, 'Ana said that a policy had been put in place, though she was certain that most of the schools were not abiding by it, that a student could get involved in sports, athletics or rugby only after the students had completed their classroom work.

'Ana stressed that it was a requirement in Tonga and overseas for students to excel both in class and in the playground.

"Sports is no longer just being physically strong, one has to be well disciplined, to be able to understand and follow the coach’s instructions," said 'Ana.

Starting next year, school sports will become a part of communities sports clubs and help sports development with community involvement. "Each sport will have better full-time coaches. In most schools, the coaches are teachers who just do not have the commitment and the time to concentrate in teaching and also in coaching."

'Ana believed that that is why some of the schools' rugby teams are ill-disciplined and they get into fights and were arrested for disorderly behaviour.

Independence

‘Ana believed that Tonga's history made a difference. She said that one of problems with our system was because Tonga had not been a colony. “When you are a colony of other states you have the incentive to free yourself and to work hard but because we weren’t, we fell asleep,” she said.