Habele is an all-volunteer US-based nonprofit organization striving to expand access to quality instruction for students of Micronesia's remote Outer Island community.

This brief overview of data, taken from 2007 state and federal sources in Micronesia, provides a general glimpse of public school characteristics in the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Total K-12 Public School Enrollment

Chuuk 14,271
Kosrae 2,382
Pohnpei 10,825
Yap  3,125

Number of Public Schools

Chuuk 155
Kosrae 10
Pohnpei 34
Yap 60

Number of Public School Classroom Teachers (and % with 4-year college degrees)

Chuuk 948 (10%)
Kosrae 201 (15%)
Pohnpei 731 (21%
Yap 375 (5%)

Estimated High School Graduation Rate (the % of 8th completers who finished high school)

Chuuk 41%
Kosrae 84%
Pohnpei 68%
Yap 82%

Per-Student Spending in Micronesian Public Schools

Chuuk $565
Kosrae $2,051
Pohnpei $1,120
Yap $1,899

Nationwide enrollment in higher education (2-year community college system): 2,700 pupils

In 2009, Habele provided full tuition scholarships to 16 Outer Island students attending private elementary and high schools on Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei. The average tuition was just under $500.00.

Research conducted by the Micronesian Seminar indicates that student achievement at Outer Island public schools is "well below" the performance of public school students on Yap Proper, as measured by statewide 8th exit exams.

The author of that report, Francis X. Hezel, S.J., also found that private school students in the FSM consistently outperformed their public school peers on exit exams and college entrance tests. The independent schools charge tuition fees ranging from 40 to 60% of public per-pupil school spending.

Not many people in South Carolina are familiar with Micronesia, a group of isolated islands in the Pacific once called the “Carolines.”

Students there face many challenges, but a small South Carolina charity is working to help.

Per-capita income in the islands is under $3,500. Limited natural resources and extreme isolation hamper economic development. The landmass of the islands totals just 300 square miles, but the chain spans over 1,800 miles of open ocean.

Public schools in Micronesia, which receive large sums of aid from the United States, remain under-resourced and rarely employ teachers with a full four-year degree. Only a small number of families can afford the modest tuition charged by the handful of missionary and nonprofit private schools operating in the islands.

The financial and logistical obstacles are particularly high for students who live in the isolated “outer islands” located far beyond the reef of the state capitals.

Many of these low-lying coral Atolls are thousands of miles away from a major port of call. They all lack regular power and indoor plumbing. Most of the islanders there still engage in subsistence farming and fishing. For parents in the outer islands, sending their children to a nationally competitive independent school is just a dream.

That’s where Columbia- based “Habele” enters the picture.


The word Habele is Ulithian term meaning to wish for and realize a future. It is a compound of the words “to be” and “to make.”

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that works to promote academic attainment and opportunities for outer islands students.

Habele works with local educators and traditional leaders to build libraries, provide school supplies, and issue tuition scholarships for deserving students to attend prestigious private schools on the more populated “high islands” that serve as Micronesia’s state capitals.

This year Habele has awarded over $7,500.00 in scholarships, paying the major part of tuition for sixteen of the outer island’s most ambitious young scholars.

Senator Glenn McConnell of Charleston, President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate, has praised the work. "The ‘Habele’ organization is a great example of South Carolinians opening their hearts and wallets for students in need and who seek opportunities to learn.”

Senator Robert Ford, another Charleston Senator seated on the other side of the political aisle, echoed McConnell’s sentiments. “Education is the key. People know that, and they are willing to give when money goes straight to the student.”

Tuition scholarships were awarded to students from the islands of Kutu, Ta, and Lekinioch in Chuuk State, and from Ulithi, Woleai, Ifaluk, Eauripik, Satawal, and Fais in Yap State. Parents of the students have committed to paying transportation and other fees, as well as to provide Habele with report cards and progress reports. Checks were mailed directly to schools in Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei.

The average Habele scholarship for 2009-10 was just under $500.00. The awards were funded by the gifts of seventeen individual donors and two corporations, representing states from across the United States.

Habele is an IRS recognized, not-for-profit corporation, headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina. South Carolina has a special connection with Micronesia thanks to the work of Palmetto State native Jim Boykin, who spearheaded the establishment of an outer island school district during the 1960s.

For more information about how you can support a student or provide school materials to outer island Micronesian classrooms visit www.habele.org.
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The Guam-based Pacific Daily News is reporting on Habele's 2009-10 tuition scholarships.



Sixteen young scholars from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) have been awarded educational aid to attend private K-12 primary and high schools.

Included in the article is a comment from Louis J. Rama, a senior consul at the Federated States of Micronesia Consulate on Guam

"They've been helping a lot of kids from the Micronesian Islands. They're helping kids whose parents are not able to send them off to better schools. It's a pretty good program."

Kind words for Habele from an official of the FSM Government who is an Outer Islander himself.

Sixteen students in the Central Pacific Island nation of Micronesia will be enrolling in prestigious independent schools this fall, thanks to more than $7,500.00 in scholarships awarded by a South Carolina based charity.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer, US-based, nonprofit organization that works to promote academic attainment and opportunities for outer islands students.

Habele works with local educators and traditional leaders to stock libraries, provide school supplies, and issue tuition scholarships for deserving students to attend prestigious private schools on the more populated “high islands” that serve as Micronesia’s state capitals.

Need-based tuition scholarships were awarded to students from the islands of Kutu, Ta, and Lekinioch in Chuuk State, and from Ulithi, Woleai, Ifaluk, Eauripik, Satawal, and Fais in Yap State.

Parents of the students have committed to paying transportation and other fees, as well as to provide Habele with report cards and progress reports. Checks were mailed directly to schools in Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei.

David Reside, a former US Peace Corps official in Micronesia, has praised the work of Habele, noting that “it is particularly important that there be opportunities for those students who show great promise but are at a great disadvantage in accessing continued education.”


The average Habele scholarship for 2009-10 was just under $500.00. The awards were funded by the gifts of seventeen individual donors and two corporations, representing cities from across the United States.

The full press release about the scholarships can be found at the College of Micronesia's website.

Learn more about Habele at www.habele.org and check out photos of Habele students and the schools it supports at the HabeleFund Picasa picture gallery.

The Habele Outer Island Education is again sending school supplies to students at the public school on Asor Island.

Asor is one of four permanently inhabited islands on the Atoll of Ultithi in Yap State, Micronesia.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer, US-based, nonprofit organization that works to promote academic attainment and opportunities for outer islands students.

Habele works with local educators and traditional leaders to build libraries, provide school supplies, and issue tuition scholarships for deserving students to attend prestigious private schools on the more populated “high islands” that serve as Micronesia’s state capitals.

Habele, a US-based nonprofit serving the Outer Islands of Micronesia, has posted new photos from the Atoll of Eauripik on it's Picasso Web Album.

The photo set includes pictures of books and school supplies donated to the school and library by the Habele Outer Island Education Fund. There are also photos of community fishing and children playing.

The Habele Outer Island is preparing to announce the winners of it's 2009-10 school year tuition scholarships.

We hope to provide tuition assistance to K-12 students throughout Yap and Chuuk States seeking to attend independent schools on the main islands of Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei.

In the meantime, you can read about our 2006, 2007 and 2008 scholarships.

To date over $10,000 in tuition and fees have been issued to deserving students from the tiny islands of the Central Pacific.

Habele is an all-volunteer, IRS-recognized, nonprofit serving the educational needs of Micronesia's remote outer islands.

Habele donors are again sending basic supplies to under-resourced public schools in the Central Pacific.

This box of materials is headed for the Island of Kuttu, of the Mortlock group, in Chuuk State Micronesia.

Basic materials are essential to effective classroom instruction but many schools in the lagoon and outer islands lack them. The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is an all-volunteer group that gathers such supplies and sends them to educators in Micronesia.

Last year Habele made similar donations to schools and libraries in Ulithi, Eauripik, Wooleai, and Moch. The all-volunteer Fund also provides student scholarships to Outer Island children attending private and independent schools in the region. Habele is currently sponsoring Jodie Sam of Kuttu, who is attending the prestigious Berea High School in Weno.

Learn more at www.habele.org.

Shania and her cousin Glimmer horse around beside the Yapese Cargo Ship Hapilmogol. Both are attending Yap SDA School with scholarships from Habele.

Shania Marpa, a bright eyed and friendly fourth grader, is a committed student.

"I know school is the key to my future," she says.

Shania is an Outer Island Micronesian, living on the Pacific Island of Yap with her grandparents Gregoria and Moses Marpa. While Micronesia is a remote and impoverished country, with few of the amenities most Americans take for granted, education is a priority.

Still, the public schools on Yap, and particularly in the Outer Islands that surround it, struggle with limited resources, high student-to-teacher-ratios, and a limited pool of qualified teachers.

A growing number of independent and private schools have been established in recent years, often with foreign national teachers in the form of Peace Corps and missionary volunteers. This has importantly expanded options for students and raised community expectations about student accomplishment. Existence of these schools has also allowed for the limited resources in the public system to be more effectively focused on a smaller student population.

The modest tuition charged by these schools, often less than a thousand US dollars per year, limits the ability of some students to attend. This is particularly true in the case of families from the Outer Islands, where the western-style cash economy is far less developed.

A group of Americans is working to help. Through "Habele," a non-profit scholarship granting organization, they are expanding access to quality private education. In the last four years they have issued over $10,000.oo in tuition assistance to students including Shania and her cousin Glimmer. They've also provided hundreds of dollars in school supplies to support the public schools.

Parochial schools, like Yap SDA, provide assistance to these low-income, low-caste students, and work with charities such as Habele to supplement the families' tuition payments.

"We know that success in grades K through 12 will be the key to getting into and succeeding in higher education," explains Moses, "Habele is helping is toward that important goal."


The scholarships are working. Shania's grades (see photo) are excellent and she is on-track to build on her success in the classroom. Moses and Gregoria are very proud. So is Shania.

To learn more, and to make a tax deductible contribution to Habele, visit www.habele.org.

Eager attitudes, engaged parents and committed qualified teachers are all essential for learning.

Public school students on the remote Island of Fais have all these, but they often lack basic materials that students in more developed countries take for granted.

Habele, an all-volunteer charity that serves Micronesian students, is working to help. This week Habele mailed a box packed full of pens, pencils, markers and other basic classroom materials to teachers on Fais.


"Habele is committed to supporting under-resourced and isolated classrooms," explained Regina Raglmar Raigeta, a member of Habele's Board of Directors. "It is part of our larger effort to expand educational access and promote academic accomplishment in the Outer Islands of Micronesia that span from Yap in the west to Chuuk Lagoon in the east."

Last year Habele made similar donations to schools and libraries in Ulithi, Eauripik, Wooleai, and Moch. The all-volunteer Fund also provides student scholarships to Outer Island children attending private and independent schools in the region. Learn more at www.habele.org.