Primary education consists of 1 preparatory year (5-6 year olds) followed by 6 years of primary schooling, starting at age 6.  The main purpose of the primary years is to introduce basic skills in reading, writing, mathematics, science, community studies, agriculture, religion and physical education (UNESCO 2008).

Secondary Schools in Solomon Islands fall into 3 categories: National Secondary Schools (NSS), Provincial Secondary Schools (PSS) and Community High Schools (CHS).  NSSs, operated by Government or Church Authorities, take the highest achieving students from across the country and generally offer secondary education up to Form 6, with some offering Form 7. PSSs were initiated by the Government but are run by the respective Provinces.  Initially, PSS were intended to cater to local provincial children but in practice PSS select nationally from students who do not get into NSS, implying that PSS may not benefit local children to the degree to which they were meant to. Provincial schools generally cover Forms 1-3 however most have now expanded to include Forms 4 and 5. Finally, CHSs are secondary day schools attached to existing primary schools and were introduced as a means of extending the level of locally-available education to include junior secondary, Forms 1 to 3 (UNESCO 2008).  

Primary education is not compulsory in Solomon Islands although it is desirable (UNESCO 2008).  The estimated gross enrolment ratio (GER) and net enrolment ratio (NER) in 2010 were 122% and 95 respectively The estimated GER for females this same year was 121% and the NER was 94%, while for males the GER was 123% and the NER was 96%. Approximately 117,592 children were enrolled in over 610 primary schools. However, enrolment rates vary considerably between provinces and it is clear that many school-age children remain outside the system.  Enrolment rates are on the rise due to fee free education. For example, the percentage of children in primary school rose by 7.1% from 2008-10 (Ririmae 2011).  However, the high GER indicates that many primary school children are over-aged and as of 2008, enrolments at all levels of education were among the lowest in the Pacific region (UNESCO 2008).

Secondary education is highly competitive due to the limited number of places (UNESCO 2008).  Approximately 25,726 students were studying in junior secondary schools and about 14,460 were studying in senior secondary schools as of 2010. The GER and NER for junior secondary school are about 70% and 37%, and for senior secondary schools were 28% and 23% respectively (Ririmae 2011). A Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07 conducted by SIG found that the net attendance ratio (NAR) is better in urban areas than in rural areas (47% versus 26%) and that the secondary school NAR rises with family wealth from about 11% attendance in the lowest wealth quintile to 45% in the wealthiest quintile (FMSI and UN ECOSOC 2010). These numbers indicate that access to secondary education varies with wealth and location though the enrollment ratio is generally low. 

Quality issues include aspects of school and classroom management, curriculum, teacher qualifications and expertise, school facilities, teaching-learning materials and equipment and monitoring and evaluation systems.  Overall most basic education facilities are deficient, with serious shortages of classrooms, instructional materials, staff houses, libraries, etc (UNESCO 2008). 

According to national estimates in 2010 only 40% of teachers are qualified. Many of the untrained teachers teach in remote schools while most of the qualified teachers work in schools that are close to urban areas. This issue has become more strained due to inability to keep up with rising school age population and the additional strain of the fee free policy in 2009, which has made education accessible to many more children.  The national Government owns only 2 national secondary schools, while other secondary schools are owned by the provincial governments, churches and private organizations (Ririmae 2011).  

The current curriculum used by secondary schools is heavily theory-based, and thus skills acquired in school do not adequately prepare children for practical life in their villages. The current supply of trained secondary teachers is not sufficient to meet the projected requirements of Solomon Island secondary schools. While primary teachers teach all subjects of the curriculum, subject specialization is a requirement for secondary teachers. In 2005, over 20% of secondary teachers were estimated to be unqualified (Government of Solomon Islands 2007b). At the secondary level, the number of qualified teachers’ increased by 14.9% from 2008 to 2010, and the number of untrained teachers decreased by 33.8% during the same period (Ririmae 2011). Nevertheless, reports indicate that vacant secondary positions, particularly in community high schools, are being filled either by primary teachers who are not appropriately qualified, or by untrained teachers (Government of Solomon Islands 2007b). 

General oversight of primary schools is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education through the relevant provincial education authority. The day-to-day operational management of each school is the responsibility of the Head Teacher, and is subject to the oversight of the local School Committee (Government of Solomon Islands 2007b).

The governance of junior secondary schools is vested in the School Board, but the daily management and running of the school is the responsibility of the School Principal and the staff. School policy is developed and supervised by the School Board. The School Principal is answerable to the community, to parents and to the Ministry of Education through the Provincial/Church Education Authority. The appropriate Provincial/Church Education Authority steps in if the roles of either the board or the principal are compromised. Both the Principal and the School Boards are accountable to Provincial/Church Education Authority and to the Ministry of Education (Government of Solomon Islands 2007b).

The set strategies and priorities under general education include providing equitable access to quality basic education for all children in Solomon Islands and managing resources in an efficient and transparent manner. The main programmes under the basic education goal included in the ESP are: Community Standard Funding for schools; National Teacher management, Training and Development Programme; Curriculum Review and Reform Programme; and National Community School Infrastructure Development Programme (UNESCO 2008).