A girl outside her school. Credit: World Bank/Tom Perry

Partner since:

Total grant support: US$17,572,469

Grant eligibility:

  • Multiplier
  • System capacity
  • System transformation

Partnership Compact

Priority: Improve literacy in early childhood education and primary schools, and numeracy in secondary schools, with a focus on male students, boys and girls from poorer households and children with disabilities.

Other key documents

Coordinating agency: Australia High Commission - Tonga

GPE Team lead: Daisuke Kanazawa

Transforming education in Tonga

Tonga’s participation in the Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment 2021 revealed that only 38% of boys and 56% of girls in year 4 meet the minimum reading proficiency standard. The 2021 national secondary examination for math had a pass rate of 17%.

Tonga is working with GPE and other partners to improve literacy at the early childhood and primary education levels and numeracy at the secondary level, with a focus on improving learning for boys, children from poorer families and children with disabilities.

Tonga’s Partnership Compact explains that this priority reform aligns with national development strategies and encourages a foundation for lifelong learning that will help Tongans contribute to the economy.

To give students a strong start, Tonga will increase enrollment in early childhood education and improve the skills and content knowledge of early childhood and primary teachers. Increasing inclusive curriculum materials, especially for reading in Tongan, aims to enhance students' literacy skills.

At the secondary level, scholarships, extracurricular activities, parent and community engagement, and more qualified male teachers are expected to boost enrollment and reduce gender disparities in access and learning.

To improve students’ numeracy skills, teacher training and curriculum improvements will focus on math.

Result story

Tonga: Building a resilient education system to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and natural disasters

In Tonga, mitigating the impact of the pandemic on learning begins with building a resilient education system.

Grants

(data as of May 09, 2024)

 
  • Type: System capacity

    Years: 2023 - 2025

    Allocation: US$40,000

    Utilization: US$12,939

    Grant agent: Save the Children Australia

  • Type: Program development

    Years: 2023 - 2024

    Allocation: US$200,000

    Utilization: 0

    Grant agent: WB

  • Type: System capacity

    Years: 2022 - 2025

    Allocation: US$700,000

    Utilization: US$480,486

    Grant agent: Save the Children Australia

  • Type: Program implementation

    Years: 2021 - 2025

    Allocation: US$14,997,510

    Utilization: US$887,272

    Grant agent: ADB

Knowledge and innovation

Latest blogs and news

July 11, 2022
Stories of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic
Read inspiring stories of how partner countries are transforming education for millions of children – especially the most vulnerable – as we deal with this extraordinary global health crisis.