Tuvalu, formerly the Ellice Islands in the Gilbert and Ellice Island colony, comprises nine islands. These are scattered over 1.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean stretching in a North-South direction between latitudes 5 and 11 degrees south and over longitudes 176 and 180 degrees east. The total land area is 25.6 square kilometers. The population of Tuvalu is ethnically Polynesian, having close ties with Samoa and Tokelauans and the local language is Polynesian tongue closely related to that used in Samoa. The population was estimated to be more 11,000 in 2009 in accordance to the household surveys undertaken by the Secretariat of Pacific Community.

Education in Tuvalu

Education has been made mandatory from the age of six up to fifteen by the Tuvalu Government. This is the age group for primary school education up to level two of secondary education. The Government does not impose any fees for primary education. Because of this mandatory and free service, Tuvalu enrollment rates are one of the highest in the world, achieving near-universal primary education for all. The Government of Tuvalu is focusing on improving facilities and infrastructures for schools. Despite these achievements and success the greatest challenge of all is the quality of education. 

Teacher skills and curriculum development remain at the forefront of education challenges for Tuvalu. The Government through the Tuvalu Education Strategic Plan 2006 – 2010, identified the need for providing relevant and responsive curriculum and assessment for Tuvalu. Teacher development and upgrading of educational infrastructural facilities remain as some of the key educational challenges and are clearly outlined in the Tuvalu Governments national educational plans. The Government is very much aware of the need to continuously develop and upgrade the quality of teaching and learning in the schools which is very much dependent on the quality of teachers’ skills, reformation of the curriculum to best fit Tuvalu education needs and to improve the overall students per teacher ratio.

USP Tuvalu Campus

The USP Tuvalu Campus has been embedded well in the Tuvalu educational system and through the campus USP remains as the main provider of university education in Tuvalu. The campus was established as an extension centre in the late 1980s and has since supported print-based teaching and now more recently the upgrade of internet bandwidth through USPNet has observed much wider use of modern teaching and learning methods. 

The Tuvalu campus offers hundreds of courses through the distance learning technology from the main campus in Laucala. Students at the campus can listen to lectures broadcast from Laucala Campus in Fiji, use audio and video-conferencing facilities and employ the USPNet system for communication with lecturers and other students. Tapes of video broadcast sessions and audio conference tutorials are also available for the Tuvalu students on all nine islands. However, printed-based materials form as the primary method of distance delivery which are supplemented by a range of different media such as audio and video tapes; CD-ROMs and DVDs; satellite-based videoconferencing and audio conferencing, and e-learning using the Moodle platform.