Tutu experiment

Flexibility, innovation in the Tutu experiment

Education for Rural Deve lopment: The Tutu Experi ment and its Relevance in the Pacific. Published by the Insti tute of Pacific Studies, Univer sity of the South Pacific.

Tutu is a Marist training centre on Taveuni Island, Fiji. More than 10 years ago, it started off as a training venue for candi dates for the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers). With owner ship of a fertile 486 ha. freehold estate at Tutu, and the realisa tion that rural development is a major problem in almost every island of the Pacific, the Marist Fathers decided to diversify and extend training to others.

This book is an honest evaluation of this training its achievements, its shortcomings.

But it is far more. It looks at the problems and challenges of ru ral development education in the Pacific and squarely faces its root problems.

Education for rural deve lopment is not necessarily syno nomous with training in agricul ture. At Tutu, this was realised and any myopic view was dis carded for a more global perspective in viewing prob lems such as the gaps between mral and urban society, rich and poor, under-privileged and privileged. A comprehensive course of four years duration was therefore designed.

Flexibility has been the hall mark of the Tutu training, and the course was later reduced to two years to suit the needs of its participants.

Tutu has an intake of over 100 students, predominantly male, at a time. Participants have primary school level and on the whole have been denied both entry into secondary school and the work force.

They are often, therefore, de pressed and see the city as a refuge. The usual age of intake is 18 or over. Students come from different religious de nominations and also different parts of the Pacific, although most are Fijian. Instruction is in the Fijian language. As the course progressed, it was de cided not to specify any set period for training and to allow

young men to enter and leave Tutu when they felt the need.

Most students stay a year.

The staff at Tutu numbered 20 in 1977 and, although most ly highly qualified, they re ceived less than SFISOO per year. It was realised that to raise the level of agriculture, agro industrial development must take place in the rural areas.

Also, to reverse the drift from rural to urban areas, the rural economy needed to offer a greater variety of occupations to its members. Formal training (seven hours per week) is offered in agriculture, building, mechanics, law and current affairs. One day is spent in the students’ gardens in their home village. In addition, each stu dent is given four square chains on which he can produce crops to sell for his personal income.

Another day is spent making cement blocks which the stu dents, as a group, sell for profit.

Half the profit from income earning activities goes to com pulsory saving.

The course alternates there fore, between institutional train ing and extension training on the basis that: “It is what they do at home that really matters, and that is where the breakthrough must be sought. ”

Tutu staff members pay periodic visits to the trainees’ village plots and attempt to relate what students are doing to what they are learning. There are deeper problems. An early graduate of Tutu noted that; “Our work will be wasted unless others attend successful ly to land tenure reform, marketing facilities, and exten sion to the rural areas of . . . and equal share of improve ments and facilities as they become available ...” Study into motivational patterns, land tenure systems, social obliga tions, ethnic relations, social justice and the distribution of power at all levels are all impor tant to rural development.

An attempt was made to determine the root causes for the drift to urban areas through observation and discussion. It appeared that the young were trying to free themselves of the

control by the elders. This con trol, some youth believed, was oppressive at times. Assertions were made that the young were: (i) allowed very little control over money; (ii) given no secure tenure of their land; and (iii) issued little control over their time allocation.

To assist in the general uplift of rural life, Tutu embarked on an innovative Married Couples’

Course. It was hoped that not only would the lot of the particular married couples be improved, but that also these couples would act as catalysts to influence co-villagers to get better use from the resources available. The course runs for six months and is open to married couples who have been married approximately five years (average age 25-30).

Like the Comprehensive Course, training and extension work is alternated. Four weeks are spent at Tutu, followed by three weeks at home. Men learn a modified version of the skills taught in the Comprehen sive Course while the women’s course is adapted from the South Pacific Home Economic Course which includes child care, nutrition, clothes-making, crop cultivation and consumer education.

Tutu has been concerned to balance institutionalisation with the practice of skills learnt at home. Chapter 16 looks at the effect of institutionalisation on agricultural training. Four diffe rent agricultural courses, includ ing that at Tutu, were studied to observe their institutional arrangements, approach to training and significant prob lems. Three hypotheses were tested as to the effects of institutionalisation. These were that with increasing institu tionalisation: (i) the proportion of students who do not com plete the course and/or do not go farming within two years of completing training increases; (ii) the “usefulness” of training decreases and a divergence occurs between the institution’s “solutions” and the students’

“problems”; and (iii) the unit cost of training both in capital and running rises.

The conclusion was reached, after measurements by various factors and on a four-point scale, that a link exists between institutionalisation and in creased wastage, diminished usefulness and rising costs. The

recommendation, however, is

not to jettison all institutional training but to balance it with

non-institutional agricultural

training so both will support each other.

The major recommendations were: 1. That priority be given to improving the effectiveness of the home-release parts of the courses. 2. That a higher percentage of time and resources be put into short courses and extension work. 3. That the existing plant at Tutu be more fully utilised. 4. That the policy of continu ous exploration and innovation continue.

For those interested in train ing and/or rural development in the Pacific, this book provides much interesting material to consider. — Sandra Rennie.

Books received

The Golden Spike. By Ted Morrisby.

Published 1984 by Brolga Books Pty.

Ltd., 17 Main North Road, Medindie, SA 5081, Australia. ISBN 0 909912 12 2.

Price SA16.95.

Why China? Recollections of China 1923-1950. By C. P. FitzGerald. Pub lished 1985 by Melbourne University Press, PO Box 278, Carlton South, Vic. 3053, Australia. ISBN 0 522 84300 X.

Price SA26.50.

Southeast Asia: An Illustrated In troductory History. By Milton Osborne.

Published 1985 by Allen & Unwin Australia Pty. Ltd., PO Box 764, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia. ISBN 0 86861 668 0. Price SA11.95.

So Much That Is New: Baldwin Spen cer, 1860-1929. A Biography. By D. J.

Mulvaney and J. H. Calaby. Published 1985 by Melbourne University Press, PO Box 278, Carlton South, Vic. 3053, Australia. ISBN 0 522 84169 4. Price SA33.50.

The Phosphateers: A History of The British Phosphate Commissioners and the Christmas Island Phosphate Com mission. By Maslyn Williams and Barrie MacDonald. Published 1985 by Mel bourne University Press, PO Box 278, Carlton South, Vic. 3053, Australia.

Isbn 0 522 84302 6. Sa24.00.

Kanaka Boy: An Autobiography. By Sir Frederick Osifelo. Published 1985 by Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, PO Box 1168, Suva, Fiji. No ISBN provided. Price $F3.00.

Kiribati: A Changing Atoll Culture.

Published 1985 by Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, PO Box 1168, Suva, Fiji. No ISBN provided. Price $F11.00.