Schooling in a climate crisis: Inside a Kiribati classroom

The walk to school at Sunrise Primary School.
Photo: Mwarikina Kaikai, teacher in Kiribati

A teacher in Kiribati contends with climate change and calls on unions everywhere to act, writes Lucy Meyer.

“Our country is losing its people,” says Tinia James, a teacher in the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. The 32-year-old mother of three is witnessing an exodus from her home country.

The low-lying nation, located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, is on the front lines of climate change.

According to a report from the World Bank, Kiribati is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the climate crisis.

Scientists have long predicted that many – if not all – of Kiribati’s citizens will become climate refugees. It remains to be seen which generation will be the last to live out their lives on their island home.

James’s students are only in their first year of high school, but climate change is already part of their daily existence, regularly keeping many of them from the classroom.

The young teacher has a class of 40 at Animwarao Junior Secondary School on Kiribati’s main atoll, Tarawa. But when it rains heavily – which it does often these days, even in the dry season – only a dozen students make it to school. In the weeks before IE went to press, “it’s been happening constantly”.

"It is truly a calamity on our doorstep."

Tinia James, a teacher on Kiribati

Endless hurdles

Like lots of schools in Kiribati, Animwarao Junior Secondary School can be reached only by a very narrow, muddy path, says James. Heavy rain and high tides can cut off access, and her students often need to stay home to help protect their houses from floodwaters.

Even when it’s not raining, the waters don’t recede, she says. To get to school, students need to walk through stagnant, polluted water. Some are barefoot, others are in sandals, and James says that walking through the contaminated water can lead to infections. It’s not the only health issue her students are facing. Most have scabies, and some teachers do too, but the hospital doesn’t have enough medication, James says.

At a nearby school, students must walk past a broken substation with exposed wires, James says. The heavy rain and high tides mean that the electrical wires are often underneath the water. James sits on the executive at the Kiribati Union of Teachers (KUT) and members tell her that a few people have already been electrocuted, including a pupil. She says that there’s pressure on teachers to monitor students and protect them from electrocution.

Holes in the balcony at Tebwanimwaneka Primary School. Photo: Tinia James

Unions act on climate

The story of Kiribati’s teachers is one James feels needs to be told. In March, she spoke to teachers, support staff, and union delegates from across the Pacific at a Council of Pacific Education conference in Nadi, Fiji.

It was her first time addressing an overseas crowd. “I was really nervous,” she says. But as the Youth President of the KUT, James knew she needed to explain what is happening in Kiribati.

Veronica Yewdall, Assistant Federal Secretary of the Independent Education Union of Australia (see All about your federal union, p18) was deeply moved by James’s presentation. “It is truly a calamity on our doorstep,” she says.

Yewdall, together with QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke and an organiser in the NSW/ACT Branch, Lee Cunningham, represented the IEU at the conference. Attendees finalised a motion to support action on climate change. It will be put to a vote at the Education International world congress in July in Buenos Aires, where delegates from the IEU will join education unions from across the globe.

Buenos Aires is a chance “to help Kiribati be heard”, says James. She hopes union leaders will be moved by the plight of Pacific Island countries and come together to act. Yewdall believes unions have a responsibility to do so, by providing “practical care and support to all those unfairly impacted by changes in the climate”.

Damaged classroom balcony at Animwarao Junior Secondary School. Photo: Tinia James

Against the elements

Back on Kiribati, James’s students and community need help now. In most schools in Kiribati, the classrooms are in very poor condition, she says. “They are very dangerous”, with holes in the balconies of school buildings, and some students have got their legs trapped inside.

“When we report it to the Ministry of Education, they just come in, they put on some board to cover the holes,” James says. But the patchy work doesn’t last, she says, especially with rising sea levels and high tides.

Water regularly comes inside classrooms, and it’s up to the teachers and their students to mop it up. Often, she says, it can be hours before class can begin. Her students don’t complain because they have already “experienced the same at home. They know. They know what it’s like.”

The KUT is doing everything it can to support members struggling with the effects of climate change, James says. Teachers on the outer islands have been worst hit. Some schools have shut or relocated, and many teachers’ homes have collapsed, she says. According to James, the KUT has been negotiating with the Ministry of Education, but most teachers don’t contact the union because they fear for their jobs.

Throughout Kiribati, intense and worsened heat makes being in the classroom even harder. At James’s school, some rooms have ceiling fans. When students perform well, “we reward them with fans”.

Five years ago, a student played with the school’s switchboard, James remembers, and power has been tricky ever since. She says that despite complaints to the Ministry of Education the switchboard remains broken, so only some classrooms have power.

Despite it all, James loves teaching. You can hear the excitement in her voice when she talks about being in the classroom. “It’s a very tiring job but it’s fun. You get to enjoy every moment of it with your students.”

James understands why people are fleeing Kiribati, but once they’ve left, they lose their sense of belonging, she says. “As for me, leaving is not the solution.”

James wants to help her nation and her people survive. “I think it’s better to stay and fight for your country.” After all, James says, no matter where she goes, there’s no escaping climate change.