Rethinking Education on the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands education experts, ministers and other high level officials gathered from 25 February to 2 March 2007 at the national "Rethinking Education Conference" to develop a human resource development framework that includes a national training policy. In addition, the importance of indigenous knowledge was examined.

The two keynote presenters at the meeting were Rupert Maclean, Director of UNESCO-UNEVOC (on vocationalisation of secondary education) and Prof. Graham Smith, University of British Columbia (on indigenous knowledge). Both speakers actively participated in the various discussion groups that took place throughout the meeting. Local stakeholders provided input on a variety of matters. The conference was co-sponsored by the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Ministry of Education, Pacific Resources for Education & Learning (PREL) and the National Training Council (NTC).

In light of the outcomes of the conference, the Marshall Islands plan to redraft their education bill to better reflect TVET and increase funding for the provision and development of TVET. Education officials regarded Rupert Maclean’s contribution at the conference as particularly important and influential in this regard. The Marshall Islands will continue to involve UNESCO-UNEVOC in the advancement of TVET and will organise follow-up activities to the workshop.

Background

In the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the matter of strengthening and upgrading TVET is an important educational issue. The population of the RMI is growing, despite high out-migration to the U.S., and there is increasing urbanisation. Seventy percent of the people now live in Majuro and Ebeye. This situation makes subsistence lifestyles impossible for many families. It also creates food and housing shortages, places high demand on limited infrastructure and adds to escalating social problems. Sixty-five percent of the population is under the age of 24, which creates a high dependency ratio and large household size.

There are significant shortages in almost all professions and trades in the Marshall islands. Foreign workers are often recruited to fill positions. Many Marshallese lack basic competencies in English literacy and numeracy, critical thinking and other life skills necessary for employment and advancement.

Approximately 70 per cent of students who start school do not complete their secondary education and only a small number continue on to tertiary institutions (2% of non-public employees are college educated). Less than half of the 1,300 students who complete grade 8 annually can be accommodated in existing high schools. Some “push-outs” attend upgrading programs but most are idle, unemployable and increasingly unstable. The education and employment crisis is most critical on Ebeye, where there are almost no employment options for unskilled youth.

But given the narrow economic base of the Marshalls, improving wage-employment skills alone cannot solve the unemployment problem. Opportunities must be created for self employment and micro enterprise development, and appropriate training for these areas must be provided.

A report, based on recent government statistics and a regional TVET analysis by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), proposed five areas of action to turn the situation around:

1. Increasing basic literacy, numeracy and life skills of school drop-outs;

2. Skills training for personal and national development;

3. Promoting employment in domestic and overseas markets;

4. Strengthening the TVET policy environment and increasing the capacity of service providers and regulators; and

5. Securing reliable financing for TVET.

Over the past fifteen years, one fifth of the population (12,000 people) has migrated to the U.S in search of better jobs and services. There is concern about the employability and overall welfare of Marshallese who have migrated and the impact of decreasing remittances.

Documents

A review of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy and Planning in the Pacific Islands (PDF, 190 KB)