Vanuatu has achieved universal primary education, but enrollment in secondary education is low. The Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment 2021 revealed that 79% of year 4 students did not meet the minimum reading proficiency standard.
To help students acquire the basic competencies needed to advance through the education system, Vanuatu is working with GPE and other partners to improve literacy rates in primary school by ensuring equitable allocation and implementation of innovative resources, while fostering a holistic curriculum.
Vanuatu’s Partnership Compact details plans to affect transformative change, including improving the skills and knowledge of school leaders and teachers to lead and implement the curriculum.
Equipping classrooms with culturally appropriate literacy materials, expanding access to digital literacy resources, and encouraging families to support their child’s reading journey are expected to help boost literacy.
Better education data collection and analysis will strengthen policy planning, and better resource allocation will address inequities between genders, provinces, language groups, geographic location and learning abilities.