Non-formal Education in the Pacific Islands: An Overview

This article is based on a paper prepared for the Extraordinary Meeting of the Faculty of Education of the University of Papua New Guinea on Non-Formal Education, which was held in Goroka in August 1984. Its focus is the countries which belong to the University of the South Pacific region: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga, Tokelau and Western Samoa, and it is hoped that it will raise questions of relevance to Papua New Guinea. Despite Papua New Guinea's greater size and population, it has many issues in common with the U.S.P region in relation to non-formal education. The paper will look at some of the problems of definition of non-formal education in relation to the Pacific Islands, the problems of scale and diversity, and of history, which make the priorities of the region somewhat different from Asia (with which we are lumped together as a United Nations region), and unique in relation to most other third world regions. It will be suggested that the professional orientation of non-formal and adult educators has been shaped by needs and priorities which do not reflect those of the Pacific Islands, as have the various aid systems and programmes which support non-formal education projects.