Vanuatu has achieved nearly 100% enrolment for primary education. However, the net enrolment rate for secondary school is under 50%. Enrolment rates decline even more at the tertiary level with a gross enrolment rate of around 5% (UIS n.d.). Aside from barriers to secondary education, access to tertiary and TVET is limited as well. The geographic concentration of post-primary institutions in certain provinces, coupled with the difficulties in transportation and communication between islands means that many students are unable to attend school beyond year 8. In the past, school fees were a barrier to the poorest children attending school as they were prohibitively high for many families. The provision of fee free primary schooling in Vanuatu began in 2009 with the assistance of development partners and achieved full coverage by 2010 (Bibi 2011). Compulsory primary school contributions have been phased out and replaced by grants paid directly to schools.  Parents still find it difficult to meet additional expenses such as uniforms, lunch, transport and stationary. Access to tertiary and TVET is unevenly distributed between girls and boys. Finally, students with disabilities face significant barriers to post-primary education (UNESCO 2008). 

Linguistic diversity also creates challenges in terms of access. The languages of education are English and French. However Bislama, English and French are all national languages and the Ni-Vanuatu speak over 100 additional local languages. This has consequences for teacher availability, choice of school, textbook provision and examinations (UNESCO 2008). The government of Vanuatu has addressed this challenge with the introduction of a bilingual harmonization programme. This programme attempts to strengthen the cooperation between the two systems for a common cause, common themes and to promote bilingualism rather than either French or English.  The Vanuatu Institute of teacher education is actively working to develop teacher-training programmes to support harmonization. 

Despite a high primary school enrolment ratio, Vanuatu has serious issues of quality across all levels of education, which affect the competitiveness of its labour force and therefore limit development opportunities. Several factors contribute to this low quality. Linguistic diversity poses challenges in terms of finding qualified teachers and textbook provision, which affect the quality of education and student learning outcomes. As of 2009, only 82% of the adult population was literate (World Bank n.d.). Limited resources and other development constraints hinder improvement to the education system. Another restriction to improving quality is the high cost of education. The cost of transporting materials between islands, a proliferation of small primary schools and the ensuing low student-teacher ratio coupled with high teacher salaries affect the provision of quality education. Additionally, secondary and tertiary education and TVET do not always provide relevant skills for the job market (UNESCO 2008).

The allocation of school funds in Vanuatu is based on unverified school enrolment data or simple division of the budget between the six provinces. As of 2007 about 24% of total government spending was allocated to education, which represents about 5% of the GDP. About 55% of these resources were allocated to primary education and 30% to secondary (UIS n.d.). Due to high transportation cost and proliferation of small French and English primary schools with low student-teacher ratio (24/1 in 2007) (UIS n.d.) and consequently high teacher salaries, per student cost of education is high and the government funding provided is not adequate and parents are asked to contribute financially.  Such school funding system is not in favor of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Development partners also play a major role in financing expansion of the system. The government’s main challenge is to decrease the cost of education so that it can provide better access and quality at every level (UNESCO 2008).

In recent years, the Ministry of Education has worked to restructure the education system as part of the Vanuatu Education Sector Wide Approach (SWAp). This includes decentralizing school administration and support to the provincial level, strengthening planning, monitoring and auditing at the national level, and consulting school and communities and stakeholders. However, financial functions have yet to be decentralized, which has slowed down the process of decentralization within the education sector (Government of Vanuatu 2006).

The Vanuatu Education Sector Strategy (VESS) for 2007-16 forms the basis for SWAp and focuses on self-reliance and education as a right achieved through long-term commitment with some short-term results. The VESS sets forth seven goals regarding improving the quality and completion rates of primary school, creating a pre-school and teacher training programme, expanding and improving upon secondary and tertiary level education, improving relevancy of curricula and assessments, improving professional competence of teachers, improving education, management and facilities at every school, strengthening effectiveness, productivity, transparency and accountability and decentralization of the education system, strengthening partnerships at all levels and empower schools (Government of Vanuatu 2006).

Vanuatu’s Government Priorities and Action Agenda (PAA) for 2006-15 identifies national strategic priorities for the allocation of development resources, policy initiatives and implementation. Education and Human Resources Development is a key priority area of the PAA. The policy objectives in this area are: to improve access to education and ensure gender balance; raise the quality and relevance of education; improve planning, fiscal and financial management in the sector; and develop and implement a national human resources development (HRD) plan (Government of Vanuatu 2006).

The Vanuatu Educational Road Map (VERM) sets out the agenda for the development of education sector over the medium term. It is based on the Millennium Development Goals, principally the second Millennium Development Goal that strives to achieve universal primary education. It incorporates the strategic vision outlined in VESS, though VESS remains the policy document that sets the framework for the Vanuatu education sector (Government of Vanuatu 2009).