Schools in the Marshalls
RMI-USP Joint Education Program students. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
The Ministry of Education is the umbrella for the RMI Public Schools System (PSS). In October, 2017, long-time Education employee Kanchi Hosia was made the Commissioner for PSS with a two-year contract.
The PSS has a website (see link below), but overall unearthing information about the school system in the Marshall Islands can prove to be a challenge. The following information was culled from a document titled ‘The Republic of the Marshall Islands Education for All Mid-Decade Assessment’ that was prepared by the Ministry late in the last decade.
Elementary Schools
Under the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Training, there are 75 public elementary schools in the RMI . Eight are in Majuro Atoll, one is in Ebeye, and the remainder are on the outer islands. There are also 27 private elementary schools throughout the country. About 8,000 students are enrolled in the public elementary schools and 2,200 in the private system.The public schools in Majuro are relatively large with the ones in the urban center enrolling around 500 or more students. There are four rural schools in Majuro that enroll between 100 and 500 students a year. Ebeye Elementary School in Kwajalein Atoll is the largest in the country, with more than 1000 students. The outer islands schools generally have between 50 and 100 students, although a few schools enroll up to 200 children.
The military base on Kwajalein is home to the George Seitz Elementary School.
There are about 850 primary school teachers, with the majority working in the outer islands, where the student-teacher ratios are quite low due to the much smaller populations.
Secondary Education
The MOE Secondary Education program is responsible for the delivery of education to students in grades nine through 12. There are six public secondary schools in the RMI: three on Majuro, one on Kwajalein and two in the outer islands. The two outer islands high schools are public boarding schools with student populations serving students from the outer islands elementary schools. The public secondary system enrolls about 2,000 students. There are 14 private secondary schools enrolling about 1,000 students. The military base on Kwajalein is host to the Kwajalein Junior/Senior High School.
Tertiary Education
Faculty of the College of the Marshall Islands at a graduation ceremony. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
There are two tertiary institutions: the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) and the University of the South Pacific (USP). CMI provides a two-year Associates degree in a variety of subjects and is the main training center for RMI teachers.
In 2017, USP opened its new facility in Long Island. It houses two programs: One is the RMI-USP Joint Education Program, which prepares students for attending universities overseas; second is the USP school for certificate-level courses in subjects such as Early Childhood Education.
MOE has also partnered with off-island institutions such as Brigham Young University Hawaii and Park University to enroll teachers in Bachelor of Arts in Education programs.
Scholarship Board
A small percentage of students are able to access colleges and universities elsewhere through the RMI scholarship program. The Marshall Islands Scholarship Grants and Loan Board is a statutory body that offers scholarships, grants and loans to students attending CMI and various colleges and universities abroad.
