Solomon Islands

Experts situated in Solomon Islands

None so far.

Solomon Islands in a nutshell

The Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. Together they cover a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (10,965 sq mi).

The population is 523,000.

The capital is Honiara, located on the island of Guadalcanal.

The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhabited by Melanesian people for thousands of years. The United Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in the 1890s. Some of the most bitter fighting of World War II occurred in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal. Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.

Since 1998 ethnic violence, government misconduct and crime have undermined stability and society. In June 2003 an Australian-led multinational force, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), arrived to restore peace, disarm ethnic militias and improve civil governance.

The North Solomon Islands are divided between the independent Solomon Islands and Bougainville Province in Papua New Guinea.

Education in Solomon Islands

(sourced mainly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Solomon_Islands)

Education in the Solomon Islands is not compulsory and only 60 per cent of school-age children have access to primary education.

From 1990 to 1994, the gross primary school enrollment rose from 84.5 percent to 96.6 percent. Primary school attendance rates were unavailable for the Solomon Islands as of 2001. While enrollment rates indicate a level of commitment to education, they do not always reflect children’s participation in school. Efforts and plans made by the Department of Education and Human Resource Development to expand educational facilities and increase enrollment are said to have been hindered by a lack of government funding, misguided teacher training programs, poor coordination of programmes, and a failure of the government to pay teachers. The percentage of the government=s budget allocated to education was 9.7 percent in 1998, down from 13.2 percent in 1990.

Schools in Solomon Islands

Primary

• Woodford International Primary School
• Kieta Primary School

Secondary/High

• North Solomons International High School
• King Geroge IV
• Goldie College
• St Joseph's School Tenaru
• Su'u Secondary School
• Betikama Adventist College

Further and Higher education

Universities in Solomon Islands

The University of the South Pacific has a campus on Guadalcanal.

ICT in education initiatives

A few schools in urban areas have been building IT strategies and acquiring donated equipments. This seems to be as a result more of enlightened school management than of official IT strategy.

• For instance Betikama Adventist College lays claim to having an in-house IT strategy in place and to having been successful in acquiring 10 donated second-hand computers. However, they have had problems implementing the strategy due to inadequately prepared facilities and lack of support in the form of technicians. Observing the association between these problems and the lack of a central ICT strategy in education, the school recognises the need for further ICT development at a secondary level and would welcome a move in that direction.
• In rural areas the problems are compounded by lack of basic power and communications, poor transportation and shortages of all resource materials. However, this is where the need is greatest. The economic consequences of the ethnic conflict have had serious negative effects upon the ability of the Ministry of Education to continue financing overseas post-secondary scholarships. The Ministry’s priority is basic education, but the magnitude of the problems precludes financing even that properly.

The necessity of finding local solutions to post-secondary training becomes important in this context. In addition, distance education, properly resourced and organised, could assist in reversing the accelerating trend of an increasing number of school ‘push-outs’ and drop-outs throughout the educational system.

• The situation in tertiary education is mixed. The Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) did not have a computer lab until 2007. SICHE has suffered greatly during the economic collapse following the ethnic conflict, and is now undergoing a review for restructuring under an EU-financed program.
• The University of the South Pacific (USP) already has a USP Centre in Solomon Islands, and there are plans to open a campus. USP has identified the need to promote and facilitate more ICT awareness and capacity building for students. The USP Centre is linked to the USP-Net satellite system, which offers a 64kbps Internet link, video conferencing and other facilities. It is a minimum requirement to have PCs available to students for the purposes of supporting them in:
  • (a) research via Internet and through shared resources made available on USP-Net;
  • (b) communication via email; and
  • (c) office computing, so that students are able to present their results in a standardised and efficient manner.

References

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