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Abstract
High levels of youth unemployment have been a recurrent problem for decades in Fiji and Solomon Islands, including for those who complete secondary and tertiary education. In this article, I investigate structural issues within the formal education systems of each country and how these contribute to ongoing high unemployment. I also interrogate approaches designed to complement main- stream schooling in addressing unemployment. What emerges is a picture of education structures that are poorly designed and targeted, having little alignment with local needs and sociocultural values. I argue that envisioning the purpose of formal education from both social and economic perspectives will allow for curriculum that better identifies the skills and capabilities of individual students and prepares them to take advantage of livelihood opportunities. Philosophical and practical approaches to addressing these issues that are endogenous to Oceania are offered as guiding principles for creating more effective education systems.
keywords: Fiji, Solomon Islands, education, entrepreneurship, tvet, livelihoods
High youth unemployment rates have become a characteristic of many Pacific states, and there is scant evidence that increasing levels of formal schooling will lower them in the near future. In Fiji, for example, numerous scholars have recognized that there are far more prospective workers for white-collar roles than there are white-collar jobs (Curtain and Vakaoti гоп; Duncan 2014; Kidd 2012; McMurray 2006; Nilan 2007; Nilan and others 2006; spc 2009; Veramu 1992; Woo and Corea 2009). At the same time, however, there are ongoing shortages of suitable applicants for skilled labor and vocational positions. As Jai Narayan, former director of Secondary Education at Fiji's Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, observed, "If you go around some parts of the country, you won't find a qualified plumber, you won't find a qualified electrician, yet you will find unemployed degree holders at home with accounting, economics, and other degrees" (interview, 15 May 2015, Suva). Similarly, in Solomon Islands, employers report difficulties in filling vacant positions requiring skilled labor despite entrenched unemployment (Close 2012; Evans 2019).
For decades, states in the southwestern Pacific have sought to address problems of high youth unemployment and skill shortages. One longstanding approach to these problems has been to expand access to technical and vocational education and training (tvet), though this has had limited success...