The Solomon Islands Education Ministry says the number of scholarships for teacher trainees has been cut back because research has found there is an excess of teachers.
Only 100 new trainee teachers have received scholarships this year, compared to about 300 in previous years.
Last year there were concerns that more teachers were needed because a free fee policy was leading to increased enrollments.
But the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mylyn Kuve, says the cutback is based on studies that found there's no need for new teachers.
But she admits that's yet to be verified.
"Some years back. we said we had a shortage of teachers and now we have theses reports saying we have an excess of teachers."
Mylyn Kuve says she expects the findings to be verified before a decision is made on next year's scholarships.
The Teacher Training School says some teacher trainees are giving up their studies because of the cutback.
