Get to know » Resource constraints

Resources in the PILNA context refer to the infrastructure, teaching materials and teachers available to a school.

School leaders were asked to indicate the extent to which their schools were affected by resource challenges. They could respond with ‘To a large extent’, ‘To a moderate extent’, ‘To a small extent’, or ‘Not at all’. Questions related to both the quantity and quality of resources available to their school.

Students attending schools with resource constraints

Table SLT3.1 shows the percentage of students from PILNA 2021 who had a school leader indicate that their school was experiencing resource constraints ‘To a large extent’ or ‘To a moderate extent’. Note that responses indicating ‘To a small extent’ and ‘Not at all’ were left out.

Table SLT3.1

Percentage of students attending schools where instruction was hindered by poor resourcing

Percentage of students attending schools where instruction was hindered by poor resourcing, Tonga, PILNA 2021
  • Standard errors appear in parentheses.

About one-third of the students attended schools where school leaders reported a shortage of classrooms, shortage of instructional materials, shortage of teachers, and shortage of or poor conditions of toilets as factors hindering the school’s capacity to provide instruction.

A smaller proportion of students (13%) attended schools where a lack of qualified teachers or teacher absenteeism was reported to hinder instruction.

What does this mean?

Together, these findings show a theme of insufficient or inadequate resourcing in schools, affecting about one-third of students. This is consistent across infrastructure, instruction materials, and teacher availability.