Launch of Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines

(Speech by Counselor AusAID - James Sweeting)

Venue: Studio 6
Time: 3pm, Tuesday 8 December 2009

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Filipe Jitoko
Dr Priscilla Puamau from the PRIDE project
Ministry of Education Representatives
Fiji Education Sector Program Management team
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
In particular, I would like to acknowledge the presence here today of the Girls and Boys of, I understand, Viti Community Kindergarten – after all, they represent what today is all about.

• Ni sa bula / Namaste / Good afternoon.

• Thank you for the opportunity to present at today’s launch of “Na Noda Mataniciva” – the new Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines. It is indeed an honour to be here.

• It is widely acknowledged that education is one of the highest impact development investments, which reaps rewards not just for the individual child, but for society as a whole. It is a fundamental building block for a country’s development.

• In May 2009, the Australian Government delivered a new policy statement on Australia’s international development assistance, reiterating its commitment to helping developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This statement positioned education as a flagship of the Australian aid program, with increased support extending from basic education to technical and vocational training, and improving tertiary level qualifications. Education will become the largest sector in our global aid program as Australia works towards its commitment of 0.5% of ODA to Gross National Income ratio. Investments in education will increase during financial year 2009-10 to over A$690 million - approximately 18 percent of Australia’s ODA.

• Effective Early Childhood Education (ECE) provides an important foundation for later learning, and is internationally recognised as an integral part of lifelong learning. It is pleasing that Fiji’s Education Strategic Development Plan affirms the importance of Early Childhood Education, clearly linking increased pre-school enrolments to Fiji’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education.

• “Na Noda Mataniciva” is the first ever national curriculum for the more than 630 kindergartens across Fiji. It represents a major step forward for better Early Childhood Education in this country. These Guidelines will help teachers to provide more standardised and professional classes to around 9,000 children aged between three and six.

• The new curriculum will hopefully educate and encourage teachers and parents to create safer and more caring environments for children’s physical health, mental alertness and social skills. It should also help stimulate learning among kindergarten children and assist them develop to their full potential.

• Australia is proud to have been able to contribute to the development of the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines, through the Fiji Education Sector Program (FESP), in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the PRIDE project, which is funded by the European Union and New Zealand.

• Australia’s aid program has contributed around F$2.8 million to the Early Childhood Education initiative in Fiji. This assistance has trained over 700 kindergarten teachers to meet the new Curriculum’s standards. It also enabled the development and printing of the Kindergarten Curriculum, as well as teaching support materials and information booklets for parents. A deliberate feature of our assistance was directly employing local teachers to write the new Curriculum, and they themselves becoming trainers to help equip other teachers to implement it. We consider such approaches important in ensuring that the Curriculum is an appropriate “fit” for Fiji’s requirements and environment.

• As part of our assistance to the Early Childhood Education initiative, Australia has provided over F$500,000 in classroom resources. These include furniture, books, toys, games and puzzles that will complement the new Kindergarten Curriculum. These will be distributed to 200 of the neediest kindergartens across Fiji.

• Australia is delighted to be able to provide these resources, through the Ministry of Education, and we hope this will further raise the profile of kindergartens and Early Childhood Education across the country.

• I would like to take the opportunity to speak briefly on our bilateral aid to Fiji, as well as current and future planned support to Fiji’s Education sector.

• Australia’s aid to Fiji (with overall aid flows of approximately F$56 million in financial year 2009-10) is focused on mitigating the economic and social impacts of political instability and the global recession on the people of Fiji. This includes an emphasis on maintaining essential education and health services; promoting enterprise development and financial inclusion; and targeted support for vulnerable groups (eg working with NGOs and civil society organisations on income generation and service delivery programs; and working with organisations such as the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre to eliminate violence against women in Fiji). We are currently exploring, in consultation with the World Bank and the Department of Social Welfare, options to enhance social protection measures in Fiji, in particular the Family Assistance Program.

• Education will remain at the forefront of our aid to Fiji. The current F$45 million Fiji Education Sector Program commenced in 2003. It has focused on strengthening systems and capacity building to support the Ministry of Education to improve education outcomes for children in Fiji.

• FESP has contributed to some important outcomes over the last six years – not least being the national Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines we are launching here today. It has provided leadership and management training to over 93 percent of school principals and 86 percent of school managers; it has increased enrolments in FESP supported vocational courses by up to 75 percent; it has improved the timely and efficient deployment of teachers through the Fiji Education Staffing Appointments (FESA) database; and improved early childhood education and primary teacher training courses at Lautoka Teachers College.

• This provides us with a solid foundation on which to provide further assistance to Fiji’s education sector, once FESP is completed by the end of this year.

• We are currently developing, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, a new interim phase of education assistance from 2010, with a likely focus on (firstly) reducing financial barriers to accessing education (this may include community/school grants, school levy relief, provision of subsidies for transport, school uniforms and stationery), and (secondly) investing in school infrastructure in the poorest communities to ensure that facilities are adequate and safe.

• This proposed approach takes account of Fiji’s current economic circumstances, and mirrors the Australia aid program’s broader response to the global recession. While there are promising signs of recovery in the world economy, we are still far from assured of a return to sustained and widespread growth, including in Fiji. The approach also reflects our desire to ensure that Australian resources are more deliberately targeted at school level beneficiaries.

• But we also have an eye to the long term, and plan to support targeted research and analysis on some of the systemic challenges to achieving better education outcomes in Fiji. This may include, but not be limited to: expenditure tracking; assessing gender and disability profiles and services; assessing school-based management and resourcing needs; and teacher professional development.

• But that’s for another day. Today is a celebration of an achievement, and I thank you for the opportunity to be able to speak here today, and particularly to see some of the kids, who are Fiji’s future. It truly is an honour.
• Vinaka vakalevu / Dhanyavaad / Thank you