Rural education in Palau: A second look at Tobi Elementary School

Type Thesis or Dissertation
Title Rural education in Palau: A second look at Tobi Elementary School
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2002
URL http://www.friendsoftobi.org/misc/research/hoseiruraleducationpalau2002.pdf
Abstract
This document reports the results of a survey research carried out to measure Hatohobei (Tobi) community members’ perceptions on the importance of having a school on their own island. The Republic of Palau is comprised of sixteen State governments. Hatohobei is one of them. The political jurisdiction of Hatohobei State consists of the main island of Hatohobei, Helen Reef (Hotsarihie), and a submerged reef (Pieraurou), in a nearby vicinity of Helen Reef. The location of Hatohobei “is about four hundred miles southeast of Mindanao in the Philippines and half that distance north of Halmahera in Indonesia” (Black, 1977:1). On this small coral island of Hatohobei, a school named “Tobi Elementary School” was established in the late 1960s under the auspices of the United States Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Schooling on Hatohobei for the young serves as a causal nexus between remote home-island life and the outside world. In the early part of the school year 2001-2002, the Palau Ministry of Education closed down the school for the first time since it was established. This document contains historical accounts and current issues surrounding Tobi Elementary School. The findings of a conducted survey are discussed and presented in frequencies, percentages, and cross-tabulations. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to determine the significance of this study to aid the reader to gain a better knowledge and understanding of the importance of having a school on the island of Hatohobei.

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