Fiji does not have a legislated quality assurance system for Early Childhood Education (ECE), leaving both private and non-private providers to operate without enforceable regulation, the Education Commission has told lawmakers. Commissioner Anaseini Raivoce warned the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights that without a statutory mandate the country's Early Childhood Education Development (ECED) Quality Standards risk remaining fragmented and unenforceable.
Raivoce outlined the commission’s proposal for an ECED Quality Assurance Framework to be housed under the independent National Curriculum and Assessment Authority. The framework would make quality oversight a core function of the authority and introduce formal mechanisms for registration and licensing of early childhood institutions. It would also set out clear curriculum expectations, minimum workforce qualifications and systems for continuous improvement and monitoring.
A central recommendation from the commission, Raivoce said, is that the framework’s substantive content be prescribed through published regulations. That, she argued, would allow standards to be updated and adapted as sector needs evolve while giving regulators the legal tools to enforce compliance. Without regulations underpinned by enabling legislation, Raivoce told the committee, many provisions of the ECED standards would lack legal force.
To illustrate international practice, she pointed to bodies such as Australia’s Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, New Zealand’s Education Review Office and the UK’s Ofsted, all of which operate under enabling legislation that grants them authority to inspect, accredit and, where necessary, sanction providers. Raivoce used these examples to stress that statutory backing is not merely bureaucratic detail but central to meaningful, consistent quality assurance.
The Education Commission’s proposal responds to longstanding concerns that early childhood provision can vary widely in quality and oversight across Fiji, with implications for child safety, learning readiness and equitable access to quality early education. By formalising registration, workforce qualification requirements and continuous improvement processes, the commission says the framework would reduce fragmentation and create a unified regulatory baseline for the sector.
The commission's submission to the Standing Committee marks the latest development in efforts to strengthen early learning in Fiji. The next steps will likely involve legislative drafting and consultation between the commission, the National Curriculum and Assessment Authority and parliamentary committees before any enabling law or regulations are introduced. Raivoce’s presentation makes clear the commission views statutory reform as essential to preserve standards and protect the quality of early childhood education nationwide.
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