Population Education in the South Pacific. Report of a Sub-Regional Workshop (Suva, Fiji, October 1-12, 1979).

Overview & Synopsis

The governments of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tonga participated in a workshop designed to stimulate interest and understanding of population education and help the participating countries write proposals for national population education programs for financial and technical support from UNESCO and other agencies. This report is arranged in four parts. Part one discusses curriculum development in population education in each of the four participating countries. The general aims and content of population education are discussed for each country. The participants also discussed the various teaching approaches for introducing population education. There was general agreement that the integration/infusion approach met their needs best. Part two presents an assessment of needs and draft plans for population education in each country. In all of the countries new curricula need to be developed and teachers need to be trained. In Fiji there is also a need to make people aware that family planning is not population education. In Papua New Guinea teachers need to be made aware of the need for population education before an in-school program is introduced. Because population education is a new phenomenon in Tonga, there is a need to orient the whole population toward population awareness. In the Solomon Islands there is a need for assistance in the assessment of the target group's knowledge and attitudes in relation to population education. Part three contains country reports. Each country discusses its population situation and characteristics and its status of population education. Participant lists, the workshop agenda, welcoming and opening addresses, and remarks are included in the apprendices, part four of the report. (Author/RM)