School Project
Purpose
Our aim is during the time we are sailing
in the Louisiades in 2008 to disseminate resources we have collected to
as many Elementary Schools as possible.
Background
On our cruise to the Louisiades
in 2007 we made it a priority to visit as many schools as possible to
give the resources we had managed to collect prior to the trip.
We had heard from other yachties how under-resourced schools were
but we had to see this with our own eyes to believe it. Paper and pencils
are precious and every scrap of paper is used, with exercise books being
handed out by the page. We saw very few books and no teaching texts.
They have no access to packaging, therefore no cardboard etc to make things
with. Students work often has to be strung up across bamboo beams, because
there are palm woven walls with few pin boards for this purpose.
We saw no educational posters. And as there is no electricity, there are
no computers. We often heard stories of teachers having to teach
all age groups with 40 in their class and not being paid for 6 months.
It seems that the Louisiades are so far from the mainland and government
that they are almost forgotten about.
Most schools in these islands have between 20 to 100 students, depending
on the size of the villages and the island itself, with the majority being
very small. Children go to these schools from approx. 8 to 11 years.
Parents have to pay a substantial annual fee, otherwise the children cannot
go to school. What tends to happen is, that boys often have preferential
treatment, especially the eldest. Families are usually large, around six
children, but the infant mortality rate is high. Children can continue
to high school which means going away to school on another island for
the week and coming home on the weekend, which explains the lack of teenagers
we encountered during the week.
Sadly even when the students have completed high school many can not find
a job and return to their villages. This can be seen by parents as education
failing them and acts as a discouragement to invest their hard to earn
'kina' in all their children. Small earnings are limited to
backyard copra production, which is very labour intensive and diving for
'beche de mer' during
the season. Statistics show that the average family lives on less
than one US $ per day.
Elementary schools (our Primary schools) teach the children English, in
which they quickly become proficient. We were surprised by the high
calibre of spoken English and their eagerness to learn and to practise.
A few who are lucky to be educated do make it to the mainland for employment
and can be successful. Our aim is to help increase the success rate of
their efforts.
Contact us:
Gina de Vere 0448407768
(Australia 0061)
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