Kiribati's Minister of Education Maere Tekanene is pushing for controls on kava drinking because she says it is affecting children's education.
She told a conference on Women in the Pacific in the Cook Islands despite free schooling, Kiribati has low attendance and early dropout rates.
Ms Tekanene says kava pubs can be open all night, affecting fathers' quality time with their family and contributing to the country's high rates of domestic violence which in turn affect children's attendance at school.
She says pubs should close at ten.
"Because it will cut time of the men to leave home and spend more time with the woman helping in the home. And the women are very supportive of it when you discuss with them. They say, oh yes, this kava thing is really giving us a lot of trouble."
Maere Tekanene says there should also be controls on bingo playing to make people focus more on their children.
