Education in Fiji: policy, problems and progress in primary and secondary education, 1939-1973

Abstract

This study analyses government education policy in Fiji since 1939, within the context of the development of primary and secondary schooling. It shows how policy has been influenced primarily by the rising tide of social demand for schooling and by the economic importance attached to education as a source of skilled manpower. Throughout the period under review there has been a constant imbalance between the quantity and quality of education, which has been accentuated by the Government's lack of effective control over the growth of schools. Consequently, until recently, educational planning at government level has been characterized by a piecemeal approach. It is the author's contention that the voluntary school principle, the keystone of former British colonial education policy, has out lived its usefulness as the basis on which to build an education system designed to meet Fiji's current and future social and economic needs. Instead, a state or public school system would be more appropriate.