the South Pacific ?
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
A baccalaureate of the South Pacific ?
Jean Geoffrey, from the
French ministry of educa tion, spent two weeks in Vanuatu in April to assess the education system and explore possibilities of creating a South Pacific version of the French bac calaureate.
In practice, if the concept eventuates, it would set the rules for a new examination at the end of secundary education.
“Vanuatu’s linguistic history is compli
cated and students must be open to all sys tems,” Geoffrey says, adding that if this new examination is to come into exis tence, it must be recognised by by all fur ther education institutions of the region -
English-speaking and French-speaking.”
After his stay in Vanuatu, where he met education officials, Geoffrey met officials from the Universite Francaise du Pacifique (UFP) and asked them to liaise with other institutions of the region, the main one being the University of the South Pacific (USP) based in Suva. It, however, remains unclear as yet what this new diploma will consist of: “There could be something like the French baccalaure ate, but there could also be a professional, more technical, ‘bac’ because, here, tech nical skills are very important. One thing for sure, it has to take into account the two
teaching channels currently existing in
Vanuatu, that is, French and English.”
In Vanuatu, a former French-British condominium of the New Hebrides and
independent in 1980, the linguistic legacy
still remains: the two languages officially recognised by the constitution in educa tion are French and English, hence, according to Geoffroy, the possibility of coming up with an examination in two languages - but one not necessarily being a verbatim translation of the other.
“It’s also important to be in touch with the economic sector, the administrations, the private sector, through technical schools.” “It’s going to have to be a com promise. In any case, this is a country of
compromises. It’s only through regional
cooperation that we can manage a region al education system.” ■