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Education

THE MOTHER OF INFORMATION

HOW TUVALU’S NATIONAL LIBRARY IS IMPROVING LITERACY

By Samantha Magick

On any given weekday afternoon, the small Tuvalu National
Library and Archive building on Funafuti is a hive of activity.
Under the leadership of Chief Librarian and Archivist, Noa
Petueli Tapumanaia, the library offers a range of interactive
programs for children. On the busiest days, they are so popu-
lar that children have to wait their turn to enter the 10-by-12
metre room for storytelling, grammar and spelling exercises,
numeracy games, videos and other activities.
Tapumanaia introduced the activities in response to the
need he saw to improve literacy in Tuvaluan children.
In 2020, while announcing a US$14 million grant to support
early education and literacy in Tuvalu, the World Bank stated:
“While there is near universal access to basic education,
the quality of schooling is impacted by low literacy which is
exacerbated by under-developed curriculums and a lack of
instructional materials, particularly in the local language.”
Tapumanaia says previously, the library was not popular, as
it is very old and very small. “People used to joke to us, is Photo: Tuvalu National Library and Archive
this a warehouse or a storeroom because it pretty much looks
old,” he says. Two libraries were set up in schools last year. During school
Installing air conditioning helped, as did public awareness hours, they are used by students, and after hours, they be-
programs run by the department’s staff, support from the US come community libraries.
Embassy and the procurement of new books, some 10,000 The Tuvalu National Library and Archive is wedged between
new titles in total. the airport runway and lagoon on Funafuti. Tapumanaia
As an archivist, Tapumanaia says his reading of historical says the previous government approved a A$24 million new
documents showed that the library and archives was estab- building project but the current government said it was not a
lished to develop the literacy and numeracy of the people of priority, so that project has stalled.
Tuvalu because as a “newborn nation” it needed “the future “I feel bad for the children because if it’s full, we can’t
generations of Tuvalu to be fully equipped in education and take any more people inside. We ask them to wait outside
how to manage and look after their country.” and do the first session. And then they can come in after the
Now he says they are trying to teach people that school is first session but then some people don’t want to leave to go
not the only place where people can learn, calling the library outside. The problem is the space.”
the “mother of information.” As with the Vunilagi readers, one of the most popular
He says developing fluency and literacy in English is critical, authors is Dr Seuss, although the donation of books written
and so the library is an English-only zone, and that the chil- both in Tuvaluan and English relating the myths and legends of
dren themselves have been instrumental in encouraging each Tuvalu are becoming increasingly popular amongst children.
other to use English in the space. For Tapumanaia, the most satisfying result of their work is
“It’s a big challenge now for students here when applying the familiarity of children with the library.
for a scholarship…When they apply for scholarships, students “When children come to do their research, we always do
here in Tuvalu get the scholarships from the government but a tour, we show them parts of the library, reference, fiction,
they are rejected by the university, the FNU [Fiji National non-fiction, encyclopedias and things and then we let them
University] or the medicine school because they don’t meet explore by themselves. It took a while but now when children
the entry requirements.” come to do their assignments, they don’t need guidance from
“I tell them, when you go to Fiji to go to USP or FNU, you us, they go straight to the shelf, they pick what they need,
need to be part of the library. The library should be your best and they start doing their assignment. And the feedback from
friend. You can’t rely on the Internet, you have to rely on the the teachers is that they start to see children are writing
library. Because when a teacher marks your assignment, they academic essays, they know how to cite references and
need real facts to back up your argument.” things.”
Tapumanaia says they would like to expand their reach to
outer islands, although funding continues to be a problem. editor@islandsbusiness.com

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