New Caledonia Education

New Caledonia and Dependencies, overseas territory of France, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, east of Australia. The territory comprises the island of New Caledonia and a number of smaller islands and island groups. The dependencies include the Loyalty Islands, east of New Caledonia; the Isle of Pines, to the southeast; the Chesterfield Islands, to the west; and the Huon Islands, to the northwest. The total area is 19,058 sq km (7358 sq mi). The population (1989) was 164,173, yielding an average density of 9 persons per sq km (22 per sq mi). About 43 percent of the population is composed of Melanesians (Kanaks), and about 37 percent is European, mainly French, (Caldoches); the remaining inhabitants include Vietnamese, Polynesians, and Indonesians. The capital, largest city, and main port of the territory is Noumea (population, 1989, 65,110). Most of the inhabitants are Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic. About 50,800 students were enrolled in primary, secondary, and vocational schools in the mid-1980s.
The economy of New Caledonia is based on a variety of activities: agriculture (copra, coffee, and food crops); stock raising; fishing and forestry; tourism; and, most important, mining (especially nickel, iron, and manganese ores). Annual production of nickel ore in the late 1980s was about 2.8 million metric tons. Manufacturing industries, mainly food processing and metallurgy, are being developed. Major exports are unprocessed minerals and refined nickel. Chief imports are petroleum products, coal, coke, machines, and electrical equipment. The unit of currency is the CFP franc, consisting of 100 centimes (103 CFP francs equal U.S.$1; 1990).
The island of New Caledonia was sighted in 1774 by the British navigator James Cook, who gave it the Roman name for Scotland. It was annexed by France in 1853 and was organized as an overseas territory in 1946. In July 1984 the French parliament passed legislation providing for internal autonomy, and territorial elections were held in 1985. Two years later, New Caledonians voted to remain part of France, in an election largely boycotted by Melanesians. After violent outbreaks by Melanesian separatists, France in 1989 introduced a new system of administration. The territory was divided into three provinces, each with an elected assembly; together the three assemblies comprise the 54-member Territorial Congress. An appointed high commissioner represents the French government, and New Caledonia elects two deputies and one senator to the French parliament. The French government has scheduled another independence referendum for New Caledonia for 1998.