PACIFIC

In 2023, we expanded our program footprint across the wider Pacific region, building on the successes of our digital infrastructure initiatives in classrooms across 15 provinces in Papua New Guinea. The digital divide across the Pacific exacerbates educational disparities, hindering access to quality learning resources and opportunities. Nations in the Pacific are often geographically vast and are some of the most remote on the planet. In regions with limited Internet connectivity or technological infrastructure, students face barriers to online education, essential skills development, and information access crucial for academic success. This divide widens disparities between urban and rural areas, limiting educational equity and socio-economic mobility. Bridging this gap requires concerted efforts in infrastructure development, digital literacy programs, and equitable distribution of resources to ensure all students can access the transformative power of education in the digital age.

In Samoa, we have partnered with E3 Samoa Trust, Bluewave and Code Avengers on their collaborative Pacificode project, designed to improve digital access and build digital literacy amongst the future leaders of Samoa. Targeted at the island of Savai’i, which has a lower standard of living than Upolu, the program has provided digital capability uplift to dozens of schools and church-run study centres. In 2023, we supported the locally-led initiative with 300 laptops which have been deployed into 30 schools across Samoa.

The Solomon Islands faces similar development challenges to its Melanesian neighbour, Papua New Guinea. The provision of quality education is immensely difficult given the remoteness of much of the country. Even in the capital city of Honiara, the main high schools have limited digital capability. In 2003, we provided 75 laptops to schools across Honiara, including King George VI High School and Honiara High School. IT teachers in both institutions reported that this has enabled better students to device ratios as there are very large class sizes in Solomon Islands.

In the years ahead, we plan to broaden our programs across Samoa and Solomon Islands and move to tackling digital inequality in other Pacific nations, where similar challenges abound.