THE Ministry of Education is working closely with the Australian-funded Access to Quality Education Program in regularly assessing literacy and numeracy rates of targeted schools.
The ministry noted that 60 per cent of Year 5 girls and 50 per cent of boys in the same grade scored above the national median in literacy and numeracy.
This was mentioned by Australian High Commissioner to Fiji Margaret Twomey during the handover of AQEP knowledge products and two vehicles to the Minister for Education, Dr Mahendra Reddy, on Wednesday.
“Education is the key pillar of Australia’s aid program and we recognise that access to quality education is every child’s right,” she said.
“We believe that contributing to quality education for all is a means to achieve economic growth and to improve the wellbeing of society.”
Since 2011, AQEP has assisted 222 primary and secondary schools, with all projects now worth $F65m.
In total, AQEP has supported 45,927 pre-school, primary and secondary school students.
“The program has been focusing on improving the ability of girls and boys from very poor communities, including children with disabilities, to enrol and stay in school,” said Ms Twomey.
“The program has been improving school facilities to ensure safer and better learning environments.”
Dr Reddy said the partnership between the Fijian and Australian governments allowed children to access quality education.
“This partnership has no doubt contributed to improvements in the quality of the education product at levels of our education system,” he said.
“The importance of quality education cannot be understated in this day and age and the partnership has been very timely.”
