The Solomon Islands education system consists of the following stages: Early Childhood Education (ECE) for ages 3–5, Primary Education for ages 6–11 (Years 1–6), Secondary Education for ages 12–18 (Forms 1–7); and Higher Education for adults over the age of 18. As elsewhere in the Pacific, these age limits are approximate. Many children remain in ECE beyond 5 years of age. Others begin ECE when they are older than 5, and some children begin primary education at seven years of age.
Education in the Solomon Islands was disrupted by civil turmoil between 1998–2003 and the tsunami in 2007. Despite extensive reconstruction, the education system fails to meet the needs of the country’s young people. Although primary education is free, school attendance is not compulsory, with the result that only 60% of students attend primary school. Adult literacy rates are around 75% and may be linked to poor school attendance issues.
Annual school fees, the costs of uniforms, bus fares and textbooks are a significant barrier to participation in secondary education by the children of poor families. Secondary school entry is also highly competitive. Places are allocated on the basis of performance in end of year examinations, with fewer and fewer places available at each level of secondary schooling. In consequence, very few students are able to complete the full seven years of secondary study.
Even for these students, outcomes are often poor. The education system suffers from a lack of qualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, poor facilities, a shortage of basic teaching materials and an inadequate supply of textbooks. Half of all primary teachers in the Solomon Islands are unqualified or uncertified. Less than half the schools in the country provide safe drinking water and have adequate sanitation.
Language policy is another cause of concern. The language of instruction in all Solomon Island schools is English, although only a small proportion of the population in rural areas or on remote islands is competent in this language.
a) School education
Pre-Primary Level
Community-based and privately-run preschools have existed in the Solomon Islands for many years. In 2006, there were 455 early childhood centres in the country. Facilities in the community-based and private preschools are often poor and many lack safe water supplies or adequate sanitation.
Primary Level
Primary education extends from grades 1-6. Around 60% of students in this age range actually attend primary school. Evidence suggests that lack of provision of resources by the government has caused a shortage of schools, equipment, trained teachers and even inability to pay teachers at times.
In 2005, there were 537 primary schools in the Solomon Islands. The proportion of government-run and church-managed schools is uncertain.
Secondary Level
Only approximately 17% of students in the secondary age-group are enrolled in a school. There are three categories of secondary schools in the Solomon Islands:
- National Secondary Schools (NSS). These are boarding schools run by the Solomon Islands Government or church authorities that take students from across the country.
- Provincial Secondary Schools (PSS). These are schools managed by the Provincial Governments. Their students are restricted to the provinces only.
- Community High Schools (CHS). These are secondary schools that began as primary schools, but were later expanded to provide secondary classes. These schools are built and managed by communities, with the assistance of the church authorities or the Provinces.
In 2005, there were 10 National Secondary Schools, 15 Provincial Secondary Schools and 111 Community High Schools. More recent figures are not available.
Non-Government Schools
Non-government schools exist in the Solomon Islands but details are unclear in the literature. The Seventh Day Adventist Church operates a total of four schools, two secondary and two vocational in nature.
Church-run primary and secondary schools are an essential part of the Solomon Islands education system. Many of these schools receive financial support from the Solomon Islands Government. There are schools managed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Melanesia, the Uniting Church, the South Seas Evangelical Church and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
b) Vocational education and training (VET)
There are two post-secondary education providers. The Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament and is the main state supported tertiary institution in the Solomon Islands. It offers both vocational and tertiary courses. Areas include: nursing, teacher training, fisheries, secretarial studies, forestry and agriculture. It is the largest TVET provider in the Solomon Islands. SICHE has seven schools: (i) Industrial Development, (ii) Natural Resources, (iii) Finance and Administration, (iv) Humanities, Science and Media, (v) Nursing and Health Studies, (vi) Education and (vii) Marine and Fisheries. The College has five campuses: three are in eastern Honiara and one each in the Western Province and Malaita Province. The 2011 enrolment is 1,077 students.
SICHE offers 42 different programs at a range of levels: Certificate, Advanced Certificate, Diploma, Graduate Diploma and Advanced Diploma. Courses include plumbing, electrical trades, marine engineering, building, tropical agriculture, tourism, business studies, finance, journalism, nursing, midwifery, teaching, maritime safety, fisheries and seamanship. In addition, SICHE provides short courses in subjects such as chainsaw overhaul, tiling, grading, painting and using MYOB. The School of Marine and Fisheries Studies also offers Class 4 Master, Class 5 Master and Class 6 Master/Engineer training.
SICHE is not the only TVET provider in the Solomon Islands. The Catholic Church has a Seminary and a Rural Teacher Training College. Church groups, NGOs and community-based organisations provide TVET through Community-Based Training Centres (CBTCs) and Rural Training Centres (RTCs) in rural and remote areas of the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands Association of Rural Training Centres (SIARTC) represents 34 RTCs across the country. Courses delivered at local centres include literacy, agriculture, carpentry, building, mechanics, home economics, bookkeeping, business skills and life skills. The Solomon Island Government provides funding to meet teachers’ salaries for RTCs.
c) Higher education
The University of the South Pacific (USP), in which Solomon Islands is a regional partner, operates a campus in Honiara, the nation’s capital. The main campus is based in Suva, Fiji and offers a range of distance education courses. USP enrolments in the Solomon Islands were 741 EFTS in 2008.
The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) also has a campus on Honiara. The UPNG Open Campus on Honiara shares facilities with SICHE. In addition to the Honiara Open Campus, the UPNG has set up four sub-centres in the provinces.
Historical Overview of Distance Education
Until recently, USP and SICHE were the major distance education providers in the Solomons. The USP has been in the country since the early 1970s. The USP’s Campus on Guadalcanal provides local USP students with access to video broadcast courses, online learning materials and teleconferencing facilities (both video and audio). This access has been greatly enhanced since the USPNet upgrade in 2006.
SICHE has offered distance education courses since the mid 1990s. SICHE offers a number of distance education-based bridging courses targeting students pushed out of the secondary system due to the shortage of places. NZAid is working with SICHE to convert a number of existing mainstream vocational courses to distance education mode.
UPNG is a recent entrant to the distance education marketplace. The UPNG Open Campus in Honiara was only established in 2009. The UPNG opened its Open Campus in the Solomon Islands in order to tap into unmet demand for distance programs in the country. Although the recent progress of the UPNG initiative in the Solomons is unclear, media reports indicate that the opening of the UPNG Campus in Honiara has adversely affected the demand for courses offered through USP Solomon Islands.
Administration and Finance
Unknown.
Higher Education Reforms
Reform of higher education in the Solomon Islands is largely dependent on the direction of policies set elsewhere. For example, overseas scholarship training opportunities (opportunity lists) are determined by the availability of scholarships rather than by any predetermined needs of the economy of the country and this is being addressed by the Ministry OF Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD).
Future Direction of Tertiary Education
At present, the future of tertiary education in the Solomons is uncertain. Many young Solomon Islanders prefer to study overseas, particularly in New Zealand. The preference for overseas study and continued population decline threaten to undermine the longer-term viability of the small tertiary education sector in the country.
Information and Communications Technology Initiatives
a) Information society strategy
Telecommunications in the Solomon Islands lag behind most other Pacific states and are among the most expensive in the world. Internet access is poor and expensive. These deficiencies are largely the result of the monopoly exercised by Solomons Telekom—the local telecommunications provider. At the end of 2009, the first step towards deregulation occurred when PNG Telikom’s beMOBILE was granted a license to provide mobile phone services. Since then, mobile phone coverage in the Solomon Islands has expanded dramatically. In 2011, the Solomons Island Government announced that it would issue licences allowing local businesses to provide Internet access. The Government’s goal is to encourage local entrepreneurs to offer small-scale Internet services based on a satellite earth stations. The feasibility of such an approach is uncertain. Until better Internet access is available, the prospects for successful ICT-based distance education are poor.
b) Major e-learning initiatives
The Solomon Islands is part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Oceania initiative. In 2008, a trial deployment of XO laptops occurred in three schools in Western Province. This was followed up by a full deployment in 2009. The project was evaluated by the Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) in a report published in 2010. The project was considered a success, yielding important lessons for future OLPC initiatives.
c) Benchmarking e-learning
None identified.
d) Support for OER
The Solomon Islands is a member of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC). As a VUSSC member, the Solomon Islands Government participates in the development of open educational resources. Representatives from the Solomon Islands have attended regional workshops and meetings in relation to VUSSC and other related initiatives. The Solomon Islands Government hosted a Learning4Content (L4C) workshop in 2008.
e) Government entities
Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
f) Associations and networks
Pacific Regional Initiatives for the Delivery of Basic Education (PRIDE)
g) Distance Education journals
None identified.
Interesting Distance Education Initiatives
The Solomon People First Network (PFnet) initiative began in 2000. PFnet was intended to provide email access to people in the remote parts of the Solomons. Ultimately, PFnet made use of HF radio and a network of solar-powered modems in remote areas. PFnet received funding and technical support from a host of development agencies, as well as from the governments of Britain, Japan and Taiwan and the European Union (EU). In 2002, PFnet was involved in distance learning trials with the University of the South Pacific (USP) Honiara Centre. These trials led to the Distance Learning Centre Project (DLCP), funded by the EU and NZAid. As part of this project, a pilot Distance Learning Centre was established in each of the nine provinces in the Solomons. The Centres were attached to rural community high schools. Each Centre had a full-time manager and a small computer lab of six machines, providing local students with access to DE programs through a satellite ground station (VSAT). The courses delivered through DLCP included a range of short courses on vocational topics. In 2003, PFNet and UNDP partnered a stakeholder consultation process intended to develop a national ICT strategy for the Solomon Islands. Despite the enormous amount of energy devoted to PFNet and related initiatives, many of the results were ultimately disappointing. The national ICT strategy for the Solomon Islands never eventuated. The DLCP project appears to have lapsed. In 2010, the Solomon Islands Government withdrew its financial support for PFnet.
One of the lessons learnt from PFnet that it is hard for small-scale projects to build momentum. When project reach is limited, it is difficult to demonstrate project value to national governments and aid agencies. It is harder still to achieve a broad base of community support. Without these essential ingredients, even the best intentioned projects can fail.