Australia Assists with Development of Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines

8 December 2009

The Australian Government, through the Early Childhood Education Initiative, has helped Fiji develop its first ever Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines. These Guidelines will help teachers to provide more standardised and professional classes to around 9,000 children aged between three and six years.

The Guidelines, titled Na Noda Mataniciva, were launched today in Suva.

Speaking at the launch, Australia’s Counsellor for Development Cooperation, Mr James Sweeting, said the new national kindergarten curriculum is a major step forward for better Early Childhood Education in Fiji.

“The new curriculum will educate and encourage teachers and parents to create safe and caring environments that are necessary for children’s physical health, mental alertness and social stimulation. It will also stimulate learning among kindergarten children and assist them develop to their full potential,” Mr Sweeting said.

Australia’s aid program has contributed around F$2.8million to the Early Childhood Education Initiative in Fiji. This has trained over 700 kindergarten teachers to meet the new Curriculum’s standards. It also funded the development and printing of the Kindergarten Curriculum, and teaching materials and information booklets for parents.

As part of this assistance, Australia has provided over F$500,000 in classroom resources. These include furniture, books, toys, games and puzzles that will complement the new Curriculum. These will be distributed to 200 of the neediest kindergartens across Fiji.

The Early Childhood Education initiative has been a partnership between the Fiji Ministry of Education, the Australian Government (through its Fiji Education Sector Program - FESP) and the Pacific Regional Initiative for the Delivery of Basic Education (PRIDE) project funded by the European Union and New Zealand.

Australia, through FESP, has provided F$45 million over six years to assist the Fiji Ministry of Education’s efforts to improve educational outcomes for children. A new phase of Australian education assistance is currently being developed, for implementation from 2010.

**ENDS**

Click here to view related speech.