BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

Situated in the centre of the North West Choiseul, Choiseul Province, the Oliveti community has been facing a crisis that echoes a growing challenge in many remote areas – the absence of a local school.

The community is without a school of its own and situated in the remote bushlands of North West Choiseul; for them, this means walking far to access education in coastal communities.

Responding to the issue, Choisuel province education provider, Chief Education Officer Henry Deva acknowledged the community’s isolation and admitted the fact that they have never visited the community.

“We plan to increase education for our children. We will reach out to remote communities as well. We still have the opportunity to visit Oliveti to ensure that every child is enrolled in the education system in our province,” Deva said.

He also acknowledged the Oliveti community’s eagerness to establish a school in their community.

“Probably we will visit Oliveti in the first quarter of 2026. In previous years, we have done mapping to collect Early Childhood Education (ECE) data, and yet to receive pre-primary and primary data,” he said.  

Deva said there was an ECE school previously operated at Oliveti.

He said their priority now is to visit the community to identify children’s enrolment and seek assistance on how to support the community.

“In fact, the challenges for us are its remoteness and isolation. But it’s in the plan that we will visit them. We want to expand that access to pre-primary and primary from class one to three, while students attending classes four to six can attend the mother school in the coastal communities.

“Having in mind too, the guideline provided in the Education Act, the compulsory age for a child to be enrolled is six and above. So, this is compulsory in terms of access to education. If there are more than 20 children and within and above that age, then a school must be established,” he said.

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