Child Friendly Schools in the Solomon Islands

Yesterday we visited schools from the UNICEF NZ and NZAID KOHA-funded Child Friendly Schools (CFS) project in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It’s a 40 minute boat ride from the provincial capital Gizo to Kaza village on Kolombangara island. Kaza was badly affected by the 2007 earthquake and tsunami – the school was completely destroyed and many houses were damaged.

Kaza Primary School Form 1 and 2

Last time I was here in Sept 2008, they had started rebuilding the school through the Education Recovery and Reconstruction Project (RARP) – also coordinated by UNICEF and part-funded by NZAID. So it’s great to see the completed school, new latrine blocks and teacher accommodation – the UNICEF “build back better” approach ensures there is full access to clean drinking water and sanitation for all children.

The teaching staff and many of the community members are there to meet us and we do a quick tour of the primary school. I have a long chat with Bendarcy, the grade 3 and 4 teacher (multi-grade teaching is very common in the village schools). He’s been here a few months and is pleased with the new school and implementation of the Child Friendly Schools methodology of child-centred teaching and making schools safe and welcoming places and therefore better learning environments. Although CFS is not yet officially on the teacher training curriculum, he said he had a CFS session as part of his training, so had a good idea of what to expect. He thinks the children are happier already and believes that they will perform better in the long term. He also says the children don’t want to leave at the end of the day as they like being at school so much! I don’t remember ever feeling that way myself.

His only concerns are lack of reference books (they have a good collection of school texts) and the fact that some community members are losing touch with the school as the ‘fee free’ system has started (school fees were compulsory up to Jan 2009) and they no longer feel they have to contribute to the school.

Another part of the CFS methodology is community involvement in the school – in part by School Committees (Parent Teacher Associations) and also by the community members themselves. This is very often the key to success of Child Friendly Schools – if the community is involved, they are sending all their children to school and School Development Plans (a standard yearly process for all schools) are more often adhered to with the help of community resources.

Today we fly back to the capital Honiara, over Marovo lagoon which must be one of the most beautiful sights I have seen from the air. The colours of the sea and reef, the small islands and dots of fishermen in canoes – it’s simply serene.

I reflect on what we have seen, the progress so far and challenges ahead. The CFS initiative started in the Solomons in 2004 and is now active in three Provinces. The impact in some schools is obvious. The longer term plan is for nationalizing CFS methodology and full inclusion in the teacher training curriculum. However due to the Global Economic Crisis there have been budget cuts this year for the Ministry of Education which already has limited resources. The next year or two will be crucial but I am so impressed by the commitment of teaching staff, community members and Ministry of Education staff, I think I will be seeing more progress on my next visit.