Education for Sustainable Rural Development in Solomon Islands

Abstract

Over the last decade, secondary schools have increasingly been built or implanted in existing primary schools around Solomon Islands. The rural nature of the country presents unique challenges to education for sustainable rural development provisions. Ninety one percent of the 173 secondary schools are located in the outer islands and provinces which are classified as rural secondary schools. Some of these rural secondary schools have fewer than 100 students and only few schools have a student population of more than 300 (Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, 2007). It is against this context that this chapter is written. This chapter contributes to the literature on education for sustainable rural development by examining the issues surrounding rural secondary schools. as an agent for sustainable development in one of the most remote and isolated provinces in Solomon Islands. The paper offers a detailed picture of what is happening in one such rural province, where the tensions associated with isolation seems to be affecting the performance of the schools as agents for education for sustainable rural development. Because the analysis of data clearly point to the issues related to quality of education for sustainable rural development, this chapter presents the discussion as a contribution to the literature on rural education in the context of sustainable development. Relying solely on qualitative methodology and focusing solely on one province, the chapter does not provide grounds for strong claims about generalised causal relationships. Nevertheless, the example of what is happening in one rural province IS Instructive, showing the types of development challenges with which other rural provinces might also be confronted with. This chapter is based on a research undertaken in 2007, which was a case study of rural secondary school in a remote island of Santa Cruz in the Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. I thank the Principal, teachers and students and Ministry of Education officials who assisted with the research.