Ministry of Education

Seuula Ioane Tua'au said the Samoan language needs to be used in written and oral exams in all schools.

Seuula is asking schools to move away from speaking English as much as possible.

At the opening of Samoan language celebrations, the minister recommended the establishment of a Samoan language commission to strengthen the national language policy.

The Samoa Observer reports Minister Tua'au saying this would place an emphasis on the use of Gagana Samoa in official documentation in the Government.

The page has the ministry’s name and a photo of the headquarters building as the profile picture.

MESC said “It has come to our attention that there is a fake page that has been created on Facebook under the name as you see in the picture below (Ministry of Education Sports and Culture Samoa Group).”

"We would like to advise the public that we have not given any permission for this person or persons to create this page which may have been giving misleading information to the public.”

 Minister of Education, Premila Kumar said there is no need to test the knowledge of students as they are too young and there needs to be space to allow the students to learn and grow.

The Minister also said they will review all subjects for these students with a view to remove some.

“And focus only on numeracy, literacy, civic and moral education. We want to focus on things like gardening, sports, vernacular, that’s all want to focus so that we are able to teach other things through civic and moral education.”

Children aged 5 to 12 have been at home since April last year while Year 12 and 13 students returned to classes in November.

Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said the coronavirus is now endemic to Fiji and community transmission will lead to the same in schools.

He made the comment at a candlelight service for National Compulsory Education Day.

In a video statement issued by the Ministry on Friday night, Seuula stressed the Ministry's focus on the importance of a child's rights to education and compulsory education, an important part of the Education Act of 2009.

He said, “It is a responsibility to ensure school age children attend school as it is their right, learning in the classroom is relevant and current.”

This comes after the government announced two more cases of Covid-19 in the community, two children - one a student - from a settlement in the capital Suva.

Education Minister Rosy Akbar said it is unfortunate that the details of the student were released and are now circulating on social media.

Ms Akbar said the ministry strives to protect the interest of all the children and she reminded the public to be mindful of the sensitivity surrounding this issue.

She urged people to refrain from sharing such confidential information.

The Education Minister, Joseph Yopyyopy said the teachers were required to begin preparing for classes.

He said the four weeks lost from term one, when the country first took measures to combat Covid-19, would be retrieved by adding an extra period to classes.

Schools should have recovered the lost time by term three, the minister added.

Meanwhile universities and other tertiary institutions are expected to resume their teaching today.

There are plans for a course on writing and moderating exam papers that will be offered by the National University of Samoa.

The aim is to increase the number of certified examiners and moderators for the Samoa Secondary School Leaving Certificate National Examinations.

A total of 1825 students sat the SSLC exams in 2019.

According to results released by the ministry, 1690 or about 92 per cent of the students are able to pursue further studies at NUS this year.

The two are alleged to have involved in the leaking of the Year 8 Samoan Language, Social Studies and English papers, which were used last year before the postponement of exams due to the measles outbreak.

Education Minister Loau Keneti Sio said his ministry's audit division would present a report on the investigation shortly.

But he said he was very disappointed by what he had heard.

"Especially that I have found out that it is from the teachers and also the examiners, one of the employees of the Education Department," Loau said.

The project is aiming to dramatically improve hearing outcomes for Samoan children and deliver positive effects on education and health.

It will target more than 6000 year one students in all government, mission and private schools around the country.

The President of SENESE, Marie To'alepaialii, said they were finding increasing numbers each year with hearing difficulties, which affects their ability to learn.