Pacific schools may soon be asked to offer more courses in how to earn a living, so that students have greater options when they leave school.
The Forum Secretary General, Greg Urwin says that each year, the number of school leavers in the Pacific Islands is many times more than the number of jobs available in the private or public sector.
Opportunities for the regions young is one of the aims of a regional workshop to be held on 12-14 April in Nadi, Fiji.
Delegates to the meeting, organised by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, include educators who design the school curricula in the 14 Forum Island Countries.
The discussions will cover how to introduce an Entrepreneurship Education Curriculum in schools, and ways to generate self-employment through a youth in business scheme.
The idea is for young people to master basic entrepreneurial skills so that they have more opportunities to pursue meaningful livelihoods.
The regional workshop is part of a Regional Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy that the Secretariat is implementing in the FICs, with its outcomes to be tabled at next month's Forum Education Ministerial Meeting in Apia, Samoa.
A key focus of the strategy relates to the Government's role in facilitating education, training and skills upgrading to support the development of the private sector.
This includes measures to promote small business and self-employment skills in the school system.
