immediate attention aad solution.
To that end, President Amata Kabua, in his
message to the Pacific Islands Conference: Development the Pacific Way, held at
the
East-West
Center
in
Honolulu,
March
26-29,
1980,
singled
out
telecommunication as one of the most pressing and urgent matters for Pacific
island development.
He said:
We should include in our regional development studies
a
determination
telecommunication
of
investment
priorities
for
the
infrastructure services which can
impact
directly
upon
information
storage
and
transfer,
delivery
of
health
care
services,
agricultural
and
industrial
development,
distribution of goods and services, and energy
conservation.
The Honorable Amata Kabua, however, sounded a clear
warning:
Our Pacific Island communities reflect a unique and
diverse cultural heritage.
Every effort should be
made to preserve that legacy and to ensure that our
young people remain sensitive the the uniqueness of
their traditions. The need for cultural preservation
becomes increasingly urgent in the face of the rapid
social and cultural changes occurring throughout the
world and our region in particular.
H.
Education
Most existing schools on the Marshall Islands are elementary schools.
There
are, however, four High Schools in the capital Majuro: Governemnt, Catholic,
Congregational, and Seventh-day Adventist.
The Marshallese are deeply aware of
the importance of education in the modern world.
They seek every opportunity
possible to ask for help in either upgrading their schools where they have them,
or in starting new ones.
There
seems
to
be
a
certain
hesitancy
on
their
part
to
recognition and respect to teachers who are fellow-Marshallese.
accord
full
They seem to
prefer help from the United States because they perceive, as mentioned before,
that U.S.
teachers by definition are better than Marshallese teachers or other
non-Marshallese such as Filipinos.
Several magistrates from different atolls
extended open invitations, even with a degree of urgnecy, to come and upon up a
school
in their area.
"We'll provide the land for you, and we'll do all we
possibly can to help you, only come," seems to be a typical plea.
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