The education system of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is based on a United States model and largely funded by the US. There are four levels: Preschool for age 5, Primary for ages 6–14 (Grades 1–8), Secondary for ages 15–18 (Grades 9–12) and Post-Secondary for ages 18 and over.
Although education is legally compulsory between the ages of 4–18, enforcement is lacking. The RMI Ministry of Education (MOE) admits that there are insufficient places to provide kindergarten for four year olds as required by the Education Act. Moreover, a third of primary school-aged children do not attend school due to the financial burden of school fees, the lack of school places and other factors. In addition, selective high school entrance exams prevent many primary students from continuing to secondary school. There are too few public high-school places to accommodate the number of students of secondary school age. The tuition fees charged by private secondary schools are also well beyond the means of most Marshallese families.
The public education system in the Marshall Islands is in a poor state. Conditions in some schools are rudimentary, with poor standards of accommodation and no electricity connection. Many teachers are unqualified and teacher absenteeism is serious problem. Many schools outside the main islands are overcrowded and lack electricity as well as running water. There are also serious shortages of textbooks and other teaching materials.
a) School education
Pre-Primary Level
In recent years, the RMI has established a national kindergarten program delivered through public elementary schools. This has led to a significant expansion of preschool services, although at the expense of public places for younger children. There are also a limited number of private school-based kindergartens.
Primary Level
According to the latest available figures (2007), there are 76 public elementary schools and 25 private schools.
Attendance is compulsory from grades 1-8. While most students speak Marshallese, English is also taught making the program bilingual and bicultural.
Secondary Level
The latest available figures (2007) are 6 public high schools and 15 private high schools. Enrolment into secondary school is highly competitive, being based on a selection process. Both Marshallese and English are taught. The total number of students in government operated schools is approximately 10,000.
Non-Government Schools
Private schools are an essential part of the country’s education system. Most of the private schools are affiliated with different churches. Standards in private schools tend to be higher than in the public system, in part due to better management. Collectively there are approximately 5,000 students attending the 26 privately operated primary (elementary) schools and 10 privately operated secondary schools.
b) Vocational education and training (VET)
The College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) is the major post-secondary education provider in the country. The CMI is a US-accredited two-year community college offering a range of associate degree programs. In 2010, CMI enrolments were 1,178 students. The CMI has a main campus at Uliga on Majuro and a smaller campus at Arrak. The CMI’s Ebeye campus is currently closed, but could be reactivated.
Students at the CMI are able to enrol in associate degree programs in Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Nursing and Elementary Education. The CMI also provides foundational programs to learners enrolled in the General Education Diploma (GED) and Upward Bound programs. The CMI’s Arrak Campus hosts an ABC Construction Boot Camp program, which had 50 students in 2010.
The National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) on Majuro provides courses to students who have not completed secondary school. The Institute offers training in subjects such as basic literacy, numeracy and computer skills.
Non-formal TVET programs are also run through the National Training Council (NTC), which works through private sector training providers. The NTC also engages with partners, such as the University of the South Pacific (USP), to provide small-scale training in areas such as literacy and life skills to unemployed youth.
c) Higher education
The USP offers a range of courses at its small campus on Majuro. These include programs in Accounting, Banking, Management, Official Statistics, Bachelor of Education Early Childhood Education, Information Systems, Library and Geographical Information Studies. Short courses available through Continuing Education include computing, book-keeping, basic tourism and hospitality, medicinal plants and traditional medicine and weaving. The USP also offers the Joint Education Programme, a full-time university preparation course funded by the RMI Government. A wide range of certificate, diploma and bachelor level programs are offered by the USP through Distance and Flexible Learning.
Despite the range of courses on offer, USP enrolments in the RMI are relatively low. In 2008, enrolments totaled only 44 EFTS. Although most USP students in the RMI are currently from the main islands of Majuro and Ebeye, enrolments are increasing in the outer islands. The 2006 USPNet upgrade provided USP students at the Majuro Campus with improved access to audio and video-conferencing facilities. Students can now benefit from online learning materials on Moodle and a growing number of electronic resources hosted by the USP Library in Fiji.
Historical Overview of Distance Education
The history of distance education in the RMI effectively began in 1990, when the nation joined the USP consortium. The USP Marshall Islands Campus was established in 1993. The USP remained the major distance education provider during the next two decades.
However, the USP is not the only distance education provider active in the Marshall Islands. As one of the US-aligned states in the Pacific, the RMI was also a participant in the PEACESAT program. PEACESAT is based in Hawai‘i and offers satellite-based audiovisual conferencing to countries in the Pacific region. During the last two decades, the PEACESAT network has been used to deliver a range of training courses in the RMI.
Administration and Finance
Unknown.
Current financial information could not be located. The most recent information readily available is from 2008, when the education budget, including subsidies to non-public schools, was approximately $US9,000,000. About 83% of the budget was from general funds and 13% from special funds such as US grants; about 4% of the annual budget was capital improvement program funds. The total education budget represented about 13% of the government budget. The budget available for public primary and secondary schools less CIP funds means a per pupil allocation of less than $US900.
Higher Education Reforms
The last known major reform in higher education in RMI occurred in the mid 1990s. The College of the Marshall Islands initiated revision and strengthening of the core curriculum, expansion and refinement to the developmental English Program, review and restructuring of teacher education, development of a Marshallese Studies Program, establishment of a Student Services Support Program (SSSP), and strengthening of its physical and administrative infrastructures. Supplemental instruction was provided to students with U.S. Department of Education funding by upward Bound and SSSP. A Job Training Partnership Program (JTPA), funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, complemented the advancement of the School-To- Work transition initiative. To meet the needs of both the College and the Marshall Islands community, outer-island outreach, technical assistance and research, U.S. nursing exchange and extension campus programs were implemented.
Future Direction of Tertiary Education
The College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) intends to offer Baccalaureate degrees in Education and Nursing in the near future. The institution is also hopeful of expanding enrolments to 1,500 students, including up to 100 students at the ABC Construction Boot Camp. The CMI also hopes to reactivate the former Ebeye campus.
Information and Communications Technology Initiatives
a) Information society strategy
Until very recently, Internet access in the RMI was expensive and unreliable. Bandwidth was a major problem. Even a major consumer of Internet services, such as the College of the Marshall Islands, had no more than a 64K link. This situation changed in 2010, when an underwater fibre-optic cable to Ebeye and Majuro began operation. This link provides both Ebeye and Majuro with reliable, high-speed access. As a result of this improved access, the College of the Marshall Islands intends to offer a range of distance education programs in the near future.
b) Major e-learning initiatives
In 2009, the Republic of the Marshall Islands announced its intention to join the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Oceania initiative.
c) Benchmarking e-learning
None identified.
d) Support for OER
None identified.
e) Government entities
Ministry of Education
National Training Council
f) Associations and networks
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL)
Pan-Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT)
g) Distance Education journals
None identified.
Interesting Distance Education Initiatives
In recent years, the Hawai’i-based Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) has been a major provider of distance education programs to the Ministry of Education. PREL’s office in the Ministry of Education was linked to the PREL head office in Hawai’i through PEACESAT. Although this convenient arrangement allows the Ministry to provide professional development training to its personnel, the result were not always ideal. The Ministry has found it difficult to retain staff trained in this manner. In the past, many of the technical staff trained by the Ministry through PREL were lost to the major ICT employer in the RMI, the Bank of the Marshall Islands.
The RMI is one of the US-aligned Pacific nations served by PEACESAT. The first PEACESAT earth-station in the Marshall Islands was established in 1997. Although the original reason for PEACESAT’s presence in the Marshall Islands was emergency management, the network was soon used to deliver distance education. In addition to the earth station at the Emergency Management Centre, there is now an earth station at the CMI. Over the last decade, PEACESAT has delivered a wide range of programs to students, educators and administrators in the Marshall Islands. In particular, a consortium of PEACESAT users consisting of Majuro Hospital, the CMI, the Emergency Management Office, and Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) have made extensive use of PEACESAT’s data and video-teleconferencing for clinical training in medicine and related fields. This consortium is currently the leading user of PEACESAT video-teleconferencing services for e-learning. The RMI Ministry of Education has also been a major user of PEACESAT. However, with the installation of the fibre-optic cable to Majuro and Ebeye in 2010, the future of PEACESAT in the RMI is unclear.