Education

About a quarter of the entire population is of school-going age and although education is not compulsory at any stage, over 98%  of children between 6 and 14 years of age is attending schools. In 1996 about 70% of the population had already received some secondary education (74% Fijians and 66% Indians). Nearly all children 6-8 years of age were enrolled in schools. In the same year, the literacy rate was 92.9%) and was higher among Fijians (92.9%) than among Indians (89 percent). The rate was higher among males (94%) than among females (91% ).

Government also encourages school attendance by rural and poor children through measures like the free tuition scheme for primary and secondary schools, per capita grants and remission of fees for secondary students. The number of registered/recognised schools totaled 1404 in 2003. Of this number there were 569 pre-schools, 17 special schools, 712 primary schools, 157 secondary schools, 4 teacher training colleges and 63 vocational centres. The primary teachers’ establishment in 2003 was 5129 and the number of civil servant teachers in secondary schools was 2419. A total of 70,616 students were enrolled

in secondary schools in 2003 - 68,178 in straight classes i.e. in forms 1 to 7 and 2,429 in vocational courses. A total of 7,016 students attended as boarders in 56 boarding schools. There is a high degree of community participation in the delivery of education services which is the strength of the system that needs to be maintained, which includes religion (Christian, Hindus and Muslims) and community organisations as well as localised communities. Most schools are managed by non-government organisations. Government operates only 0.3% per cent of the 712 primary schools, 8 per cent of the secondary schools, 8 per cent of vocational and technical education schools, and 2 out of the 5 teacher training institutions. Fiji also has an international school which caters for the international community based locally.

International School Suva is an independent co-educational day school offering pre-school, primary and secondary education. The school was established in 1973 and caters for students from 3 to 18 year olds.