Education in Tuvalu is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 years. Each island has a primary school. The secondary school is located on Vaitupu. Students board at the school during the school term, returning to their home islands each school vacation.
Required attendance at school is 10 years for males and 11 years for females (2001). The adult literacy rate is 99.0% (2002).
The Tuvaluan Employment Ordinance (1966) sets the minimum age for paid employment at 14 years and prohibits children under the age of 15 from performing hazardous
